[HowlingMad]

Australians have a great term for ‘a short period of wandering bush life engaged in by an Aborigine as an occasional interruption of regular work’; they call it a “walkbout”. It seems to fit where I’m at in life at the moment, which feels lost, without focus.

If this were feudal Japan someone in my position might have been called a ronin, or a Bushi carrying the shame of life with no master. That also seems to fit well.

Here in the U.S. we might simply label it mid-life crisis, and that term is dangerously close too. You see, I’ve always had a focus in life, always been very driven and until recently that gave me purpose, pride and direction. But slowly, that direction became more unclear. Alan Watts hits the nail on the head here:


Whatever you call it, I’ve set out on a quest to find a new mission. The adventure here probably won’t involve a lot of mud, water crossings or harrowing tales. (see here or even better here if you’re looking for that sort of thing). I have no destination, no expected return date and no real plan. It’s just another story of old fat guy on a GS (perfect, eh?) trying to figure out what he wants to do when he grows up.

Back in 2008, my wife and I decided to do things a little differently and did a little ride (here).
Exploring North America from Howling Mad on Vimeo.

Since then we’ve enjoyed time off with more travel, renovating a humble home and working fun, low stress jobs. Sounds perfect, right? It was, but I’m not ready for retirement yet. Although I'm still struggling to separate my sense of self from my occupation, I have come to realize that I need a challenge. That's what leads me here. I need a job, but I keep getting sucked back into the same circles of technology and financial services. I liked what I did, but the learning curve leveled off and now I'd like to move on and learn new things. The problem seems to be exposure. I'm hoping that this little journey will help me figure out my next challenge and maybe even introduce me to someone with a problem that I can fix. More on this later.

Please consider a few things before going any further. I’m a fairly private guy and so I may decide to pull the plug on this experiment at any time. Also, I’ve invited family and friends to follow me here, so I’d ask that you keep it kid friendly.

So, with many mixed emotions, let’s go.