“Neuro spicy” - I love it. Being much the same, I can totally relate to living in one’s head, sometimes too much. Congratulations on your ability to converse. I had Spanish in school from kindergarten on, but still can’t conjugate a verb to save my life - I grew up 5 miles from the border. I’m glad that your trip was beneficial. Soul searching is a blessing, even though it’s hard.
Being neuro-picante myself, I can totally relate. I can spend days alone, but I do need to check in with friends and fam now and again to remind myself what's good. Sounds like an educational trip. Welcome home.
Know what you mean. My Dad and I were only diagnosed with Asperger's after my son was way back when he was a baby. Solved a family mystery. And made us all realize how much of a strength being different actually was. My mind is active; I think of ten different things at once and act on all of them. I hope the future is better now that you've had some alone time to just think.
Hank, your words resonate. Thank you. And good work working on self. Please feel hugs from the community you have developed. While empty when you need something most, we still hear you and appreciate you.
"Bring it" my friend...great read and reminder on the importance to stop looking at "squirrels" all the time. White tail deer hunting provides this solace for me annually. I look forward to your dorado recipe. Welcome back!
Reminds me of a line from David James Duncan's 'The River Why': "And so I learned what solitude really was. It was raw material - awesome, malleable,older than men or worlds or water. And it was merciless - for it let a man become precisely what he alone made of himself."
"Neuro spicy"...lol...my psycho-therapist friend/neighbor says the new term for ALL THAT STUFF, is Neuro-Divergent. There ya go! Aren't we all a bit Neuro-Divergent?
I have an old friend who repeatedly asks me "Do you think you will ever amount to anything?". I took that question head on in my thirties. At some point, after countless days on my own in Northern Sacramento duck blinds, walking the High Prairie of North Dakota and eastern Montana, etc., I realized that it was a trick question with no right answer. The question itself is immaterial.
You need the alone time, regardless of your level of "neurospiciness", to sort the wheat from the chaff. Our modern lives are too intrusive and noisy to achieve the level of internal mental quietness we need to achieve that, IMHO. And as you noted, challenging yourself affords great opportunities for self growth. I wish I was better at doing that more often - I fall into the trap too frequently of convincing myself that I will have more fun if I do what I am good at. Which is true, but does not lead to self improvement, which I also like.
Don't let the normal life erode the gains made during your trip. And then let me know how you are able to do that if you nail it. ;)
Great read- looking forward to the Dorado recipe. My wife and I drove up the coast from San Jose Del Cabo and spent an afternoon in Todos Santos. I never heard "Hotel California" so many damn times.
Hank, thanks for sharing your journey. I hope to be able to be with you again as your future takes shape. In the meantime I hoping to get to Oaxaca this winter and would like to get your thoughts. Mike
Btw I was in todos Santos about 35 years ago, before it was much developed, had a plate of enchiladas and a Pacifico at the Hotel California
Glad you “survived” your time away and time alone. For me, they are essential. 👍
“Neuro spicy” - I love it. Being much the same, I can totally relate to living in one’s head, sometimes too much. Congratulations on your ability to converse. I had Spanish in school from kindergarten on, but still can’t conjugate a verb to save my life - I grew up 5 miles from the border. I’m glad that your trip was beneficial. Soul searching is a blessing, even though it’s hard.
Being neuro-picante myself, I can totally relate. I can spend days alone, but I do need to check in with friends and fam now and again to remind myself what's good. Sounds like an educational trip. Welcome home.
Know what you mean. My Dad and I were only diagnosed with Asperger's after my son was way back when he was a baby. Solved a family mystery. And made us all realize how much of a strength being different actually was. My mind is active; I think of ten different things at once and act on all of them. I hope the future is better now that you've had some alone time to just think.
Hank, your words resonate. Thank you. And good work working on self. Please feel hugs from the community you have developed. While empty when you need something most, we still hear you and appreciate you.
Look at that big fucking rock, indeed. Welcome home, brother. xoxox
"Bring it" my friend...great read and reminder on the importance to stop looking at "squirrels" all the time. White tail deer hunting provides this solace for me annually. I look forward to your dorado recipe. Welcome back!
Reminds me of a line from David James Duncan's 'The River Why': "And so I learned what solitude really was. It was raw material - awesome, malleable,older than men or worlds or water. And it was merciless - for it let a man become precisely what he alone made of himself."
"Neuro spicy"...lol...my psycho-therapist friend/neighbor says the new term for ALL THAT STUFF, is Neuro-Divergent. There ya go! Aren't we all a bit Neuro-Divergent?
I have an old friend who repeatedly asks me "Do you think you will ever amount to anything?". I took that question head on in my thirties. At some point, after countless days on my own in Northern Sacramento duck blinds, walking the High Prairie of North Dakota and eastern Montana, etc., I realized that it was a trick question with no right answer. The question itself is immaterial.
You need the alone time, regardless of your level of "neurospiciness", to sort the wheat from the chaff. Our modern lives are too intrusive and noisy to achieve the level of internal mental quietness we need to achieve that, IMHO. And as you noted, challenging yourself affords great opportunities for self growth. I wish I was better at doing that more often - I fall into the trap too frequently of convincing myself that I will have more fun if I do what I am good at. Which is true, but does not lead to self improvement, which I also like.
Don't let the normal life erode the gains made during your trip. And then let me know how you are able to do that if you nail it. ;)
Great read- looking forward to the Dorado recipe. My wife and I drove up the coast from San Jose Del Cabo and spent an afternoon in Todos Santos. I never heard "Hotel California" so many damn times.
Great post! I’ve done the same thing as a reset. Not quite so far down, but I fed myself from my kayak in San Francisquito after a breakup, years ago.
That got lonely, but I had a few guests come by. The army, of course. Mostly the tiny coyotes that live there. And mantas, they seemed to speak to me.
For me, it feels like free diving. Like there is a “down” I can reach and my buoyancy will reverse. Just keep going down.
So I reel in my inner unanomber antisocial urges and rejoin the stream. Which is always good, just not my only option?
Hank, thanks for sharing your journey. I hope to be able to be with you again as your future takes shape. In the meantime I hoping to get to Oaxaca this winter and would like to get your thoughts. Mike
Btw I was in todos Santos about 35 years ago, before it was much developed, had a plate of enchiladas and a Pacifico at the Hotel California
I wrote about Oaxaca here! Scroll back through my posts here, and you'll see some recommendations.