The Adventure Machine

Slow Down

Sometimes life has a way of making us slow down, speed up, make some changes, or cry a river. There is laughter, pain, and fresh starts. Life can keep throwing lemons at us, hurdles, challenges, puzzles. We don’t follow the crowds but blaze our own trails. We live in such a way that it is an adventure. A lifestyle. There is learning to cook better – even create new recipes, travel, exercise, forge new habits, design spaces, garden, dance with time, develop self-care glow, or improve the tools we already have. It is not too late to become the person you know you can be…and then push past that.

Fresh

Recently we (we meaning me, my two pups and two chickens) had our cargo van re-wrapped and in the shop for some repair. It is fresh. Selecting a new company to work with made a difference. The age of menopause can do that to a woman. She just stops caring about things she can’t control, but when she does have that control – she is going to expect excellence in workmanship and a mutual respect. That is to say after the pure anger and response to trespasses subsides.

Bless those that will, are going through, or have experienced this.

Excuse My Salt

I will always be too fat, too thin, too ugly, too young, too old, too independent, too dependent, too lazy, too busy, too talkative, too crazy, too pretty (well that is stretching it a lot), too smart, too dumb, too serious, too boring, too enthusiastic, too emotional, too cold, too mean, too nice – to someone. Excuse my salt. But to my pups – I am their world. It isn’t hard to figure out what I care about. One has to learn through heartbreak, that we are enough.

I Don’t Care

It only made sense to wrap The Adventure Machine once again with a respectful nod to Scooby Doo. Am I too old for this? Maybe to some. Do I care about someone categorizing me for this or that to fit their own limits of reality? Nope. I don’t care. Nor should you. May we all live our best lives and define that for ourselves, without fear of what others think or judge.

Killin’ It

The Adventure Machine is killin’ it. It makes people happy. Happiness is contagious and good energy. So dear readers, this blog is mainly for those who strive to better themselves without the societal constraints of age limits, prior skills, experience, or social network. Anything is possible as long as you work hard, smart, and keep learning. Every. Single. Day. When the world gives up on you, it is time to create your own new world. When you reach a certain age, you will see that this is true. It is like aging out of the matrix. It is sudden and for a time, a sense of loss. Where did the time go? Who is this stranger in the mirror?

Introvert

Spreading joy from an introvert is taking adventure to that level of stepping out of one’s comfort zone and taking the path less trampled. Whoosh! The end of life whacks you in the head and pulls out your heart. All the mistakes, the regrets, things you can’t undo drowns you until…you are reborn. You may spend more time defining what it is you truly like and what you won’t put up with. Spiritual strength is having that clean slate of mind to open up to possibilities without a brainwashed interpretation. You don’t follow. You lead. Even if it is a human party for one. Keeping real means you are going to lose a lot of people, trudge through the loneliness, and get to the other side of self-discovery and true gratefulness and wonder. Life just becomes,,,,,beautiful.

Delicate Flower

When have you been followed for your exploration of ideas? Especially with those who seemed to know you best. So much irony to living. Those we love the most will hurt us someday and you realize later how trapped you were to other’s opinions and judgements. The irony is that past prophets and human heroes were mocked and ridiculed by the common man of the time – but later worshipped by the same type of people who ridiculed and shunned. By living your best life and projecting that – mankind will find a way to try to distinguish your shine. Like a delicate flower, we must take great care in protecting our new world by seeking balance, beauty in simple things, and learning as much as we can, being strong for yourself when there is nobody else.

Go forth and explore new ideas and landscapes as a blank canvas. Dig deep and question everything. Start to fill the canvas with your favorite colors. Live your life to the fullest as your own life. Each one of us has something to offer and are here to learn something new. Restrict the availability of those who attempt to hinder your progress.

There is so much to look forward to. If you feel down, defeated, and undervalued…don’t give up. I can say with experience that things get better. But first you have to change the way you look at things and to close doors that need to be closed. Sometimes people and situations just aren’t going to be there for the full term. Especially as you age or come into your own. There will be some grief in letting go.

No matter how hard you want things to be the way they were or you miss certain people or wish things could have turned out different – to feel all these things means that you are alive. You take that feeling, let go, and move on. Because you don’t want to miss what you have now and if you miss what you have now,,,someday you will wish you had that again. Wash, rinse, repeat. The cycle has to be broken and you have to live for TODAY. That’s all you have. I am so grateful for everyone I have met and I have learned from and that truly is part of this adventure called “life.”

Lone Wolf

As you read my blog and travel with me (figuratively) on adventures, there will be words that are in bold italic. These are links to merchandise that I create when I am inspired. I do my own screen printing, old school style of water based/eco friendly paints using prints I create. I have opted to do this instead of running annoying ads, pop ups, or work with another mega-company to “monetize.” Basically, I enjoy being that lone wolf – in human form, who wants to create her own path with her own vehicle. It is your choice whether you click the link or not.

Videos that we create can only be viewed by those who join our community. We want to create a tribe of life explorers who without judgement celebrates each individual experience as belonging to the individual. Respect goes a long way toward healing and we have to give space to each one’s journey in order to move forward with our own. We have to understand how we connect to the world and each spirit without creating harm and holding someone else back from becoming the best version of why they are here in the first place.

These special videos won’t be uploaded to any other social media platform because we want to control our content and take full ownership of what we create. There is a lot to be said about internet fakeness and we want to keep it real. Face it, bots are taking over. The majority of what you see on the internet now by way of comments or material isn’t human. The amount of deception has been fine-tuned and bigger than we are willing to admit or believe.

We strive for realness without focus on the approval of something that isn’t even tangible. We care about trying to do the right thing and live an authentic best life without hurting others. To learn to forgive and be graceful and grateful. To keep moving. And we wish that for you.

Coming soon we will visit the van and what it took to get to where we are today. It certainly has been a journey that has created a foundation of what is to be built. We are a blank canvas of starting over and it is worth coming back to see the final result.

I have uncovered something so unique and off the beaten track of van conversion that it checks all my boxes. While I work at reaching my van conversion goals and then uploading my video van tour (goal by March), I will create new lifestyle content and start a book club. Even as an introvert and perfectly imperfect, there is much to be learned by sharing with others and discussing ideas and experiences.

This forum is not for everyone – and that is completely, utterly unashamedly wonderful.

Stay blessed,

Jessica

Thanks to the Flemings Fleet Repair in Salem, Oregon for completing repair work and the rewrap of The Adventure Machine. It is truly the foundation for our next chapter, a new book, and more adventures. It’s a great start. We can’t stop smiling! It is better this time around. Thanks Oscar (and crew)! I knew you were the right choice.