“Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.” – Napoleon Hill
My path to a healthy lifestyle
Most everyone experiences some type of trauma in their lives whether physical, emotional, spiritual or even financial. Trauma means our brain is struggling to manage the experience thus find meaning in the experience which would allow us to let go and thrive again. That is the human condition. I want to help others by sharing some of my experiences and techniques for surviving some of the worst life has to give us and discovering a path to becoming a thriving person mentally, physically, spiritually and financially. These pages are about hope and the good things that happen from taking action even when it doesn’t feel good to do so.
Divorce
In February 2012 I was officially divorced. It was a long time coming. The ex-wife had already quit years before, the first time she threatened me with divorce. I fought it and each time it came up I became less respectable as a man, more angry and not a nice person to be around. I probably ruined my children’s heads and given only one out of five talk to me that’s pretty solid hypothesis. By the time marriage was done I was nothing, a loser who was going after multiple college degrees for what I thought was a purposeful field, water resource management. I figured I could at least do something good. However the divorce destroyed me emotionally. One day I went to my favorite hiking location on Sandia Mountain outside Albuquerque with the intention of never returning. The Universe made that not happen, a story for another day, and I started therapy with a man who eventually became a friend and is no longer needed as a therapist.
Medical Diagnosis
In 2014 after a one years worth of testing, and eighteen months of therapy sessions six times a month, I was diagnosed with Asperger’s, Sensory Processing Disorder, emotional dysregulation, PTSD, CPTSD and several other unpronounceable things along with a stupid high IQ. This was another thing I simply did not want to hear. Because this meant all the crap I did in life, all the crap I endured as a stupid emotionally dysregulated child and even teen did not have to happen if my parents would have had me diagnosed. And yes even then diagnosis was available. It was later I realized getting diagnosed back then would have probably got me institutionalized. But for almost a year it haunted me and there was one therapy session after another on this subject for months. Then the worst thing possible happened, the nightmare of thousands of people in this country every year.
Shooting
Then on November 24, 2015 I was severely traumatically injured in a random stranger shooting that should have killed me. For some reason I survived three “un-survivable” physical injuries, one of which has no statistics of survival, and two others having under 6% survival rate. Why I am alive today is beyond any explanation. And yet here I am. But living comes with a permanent price to pay. It is chronic pain in my upper left torso, neck and left arm. Burning, aching, just like being stuck with pins kind of pain non stop. But I choose to manage the pain rather than let it consume me. The second and often more difficult challenge is I basically paralyzed in both feet from the ankle down. Spinal nerve damage? Neuropathy? Probably both. Makes mobility interesting at times.
RV Living
For several years I was a victim, struggling to manage pain and my head. I read a lot, refused to take pharmaceutical drugs for pain and instead successfully used medical marijuana to regulate pain enough for my brain to do other things and want to eat food. This is when I began to experiment with food and began a multi-year elimination diet journey. I learned about nightshades, the toxic plants to avoid and what were considered healthy foods. It was several years of living in an old RV next to a house living on government food and disability programs before I felt well enough to make a move.
Boat Life
I sold RV, bought an old sailboat the was in decent condition in Florida keys. I lived on that for twenty months (Jan 2019 – Sept 2020) through most of “Covid pandemic” living on fish, eggs, some beef, coconuts and few other tropical fruits. During this period I started to thrive, sailed to a lot of cool places and got physically and mentally stronger. I learned to sail on my own, rebuilt parts of the electrical and water systems, lived offshore near a deserted island south of Bahamas for a couple months. I sometimes wish I stayed a lot longer. I was the healthiest I had been in decades. I was able to manage pain more easily, had restful sleep and became totally focused on sailor lifestyle. I was living a dream.
Income Challenges
This is also the period when it became apparent the incorrect amount of Social Security I was getting was not going to change. Government ultimately decided after appeals I should get paid early retirement dollar amount for 62 year old instead of my full 67 year old dollar amount, less than $1200.00 a month, no food assistance. And except for a few periods of available small paying infrequent gig work (art, food delivery) this is still what I live on today.
Bad Decision
At the request of one of my children I decided to live with them in Massachusetts for awhile. I partially sold boat (another story to share) and moved in their home. I made a really bad decision by doing that. Details not important but a couple months later I ended up living in my 2002 Buick LeSabre in a Walmart parking lot for a week with no cash waiting on SS Disability. I moved south in my car to Albuquerque, NM living in a Walmart parking lot for almost two years. I was forced to go back to processed food, junk food and I got physically sicker, more depressed and more angry than I had been in a long time.
I eventually moved further south to South Padre Island area of Texas thanks to some gig work. I was able to earn enough gig money that after a year I was able to purchase a minivan on payments. I converted the van into a mini RV over the course of another year and it is what I live in full time. Sometimes I park on beach, sometimes parks and other times Walmart. Lots of free amenities making it conducive to van life and easing my expenses. The area is relaxing, has fresh salt air and sandy beaches conducive to building a healthy lifestyle and fits within my current budget.
Carnivore Diet
I began to experiment with my elimination diet again. This time I got more aggressive with eliminating many fruits and vegetables and highly processed foods. In late 2023 I learned of the keto diet and began that journey. But even with this diet I found it suggested eating foods I’d already found caused me inflammation. So I modified it by only eating those things that seemed okay to me physically that were in the diet. No more sugars except except for berry type fruit and bananas plus rice. No more seed oils. No more highly processed foods. No more center of the grocery store. I found I was eating way more meat and eggs and starting to feel a little better. I was constantly researching nutrition and eventually ran across Dr Shawn Baker where he was speaking to some people in Europe. I was introduced to his book the Carnivore Diet.
On Carnivore Diet I have lost bad body fat, feel stronger, have clarity of mind and I’m finally feeling anxiety, depression and anger issues disappearing. Circumstances forced creative thinking and patience. However I’ve come to enjoy the freedom of movement, the peace and the solitude while I grow into my new healthy lifestyle. I look forward to sharing these experiences with others in these pages.
Please check out merchandise page for books on how to eat healthier whether on carnivore or keto diets.