shenanagrazam on the longest day of the year

shenanigans to the point of paroxysmal excitement!

Is this the longest day of the year?

For me it is.

To celebrate, I’m going to spend the day outside.

It’s been demonstrated that when people have Wild Wiring like me, the symptoms of the affliction are diminished by time in nature.

My new business - Outside ADHD is dedicated to helping young men struggling to launch understand how their ADHD impact them, how time in nature improves their lives and how to harness this power to make bold moves forward.

I’ve been sitting on this business for ten months.

I haven’t finished yet.

Partially because I have ADHD and I keep getting distracted.

Partially because I’ve been depressed and rage filled - which is more of the emotional regulation deficit side of ADHD

And partially, I’ve been punishing myself.

Since being diagnosed, I’ve been desperate to make up for lost time.

I’ve been feeling urgent about catching up with the life I likely could have had if I knew then what I know now.

[that’s the regret loop the had me ready to join the Ukrainian Army for about four months back in the winter… screw you Rod Stewart, screw your nasty Faces]

In my desperation, I’ve gotten away from pretty much anything and everything that I did in order to stay mentally healthy.

Performing? Nope.

Yoga or calisthenics? Nope.

Walkin? Nope.

Surfing?

Naw man…

I’d try to ride my bike but would give up before I even got going.

Horses and cats even lost their charm.

In order to create a business about getting outside and doing the things I need to do in order to exist in this fucking bull shit stupid world with far too many status games and pressure and needs and desires and prices and new moral order based on some crappy idea of ‘justice’ …

Yeah…

I read books, whittled, listened to podcasts and ground my teeth.

I didn’t build a business.

I didn’t feel good.

I had been in a pretty miserable state for quite some time.

In that state, I got rid of a lot of things that needed getting rid of.

I allowed myself to be unlikable. (that was super liberating, being unlikable to the world but knowing that I’m LOVED by my extended family made me realize that beyond my family, the world and ‘polite society’ are things that I want little or nothing to do with)

I exist best when I’m outside - outside riding a bike, outside thinning trees or cutting wood, outside swimming, snowshoeing, surfing, hiking.

Outside of normal.

Outside of middle class values.

Outside of polite society.

So I did what I always do. I gave up. I gave up on trying to be good, liked, someone who is easy to work with, someone with a business, someone with a future, goals, ambition - With the bull shit of the expectations of our crass corporatist, overly centralized, codified FAR TOO FUCKING SAFE AND COMFORTABLE western society finally not clogging up my head, I was clear.

With clarity and a ‘fuck it, I’m too young to give up doing stupid young person shit’ , I started riding again. Even better? I started taking time off to fuck off and have fun on MONDAY.

The big day that I decided was the most important day of the week in order for me to gain momentum?

That’s the day I’ve blown off. My busiest day. The day of all the clients and the bills and the billing - all not getting done.

It was terrible for my business.

Maybe?

I don’t know yet.

Either way, I felt better.

With each and every ride I began to get my will to live back. With every moment in the sun, I began to open up and become myself again. I started laughing and singing again.

I started dancing in the back yard.

And after Zeke dragged me around Fight Trail this week, I found myself. The me that I enjoy being.

So, today, on the longest day?

I’m going to be outside, all day, from first light on.

Better yet?

I’m going to do all of the things that I like to do.

I’ll do a lot of the things that clients and I do together. I doing so, I hope to inspire you to get outside and do what you love.

Whether you’re a counseling therapist, an Osteopath or a code monkey, how can you get out and work more closely with nature?

How can you bring your work outside - outside of expectations, outside of the ordinary or just pain outside and onto the sidewalk?

How can you rediscover how you thrive by being outside?

So today?

Check in on me on Instagram. Send me a DM if there’s something you’d like to see me do while I’m out around town.

Ask about how nature and being outside can become a more regular and integral part of your mental health wellness schtuff.

Post pictures and videos of you using the #longestdayoutside

and I’ll respond.

See y’all outside.