I have to take a moment to apologize. When I started this blog a little over a year and a half ago I intended to post a new blog post every week. At the time I was living in Santa Monica, California and my job prospects were low. About a week after my first blog post I was offered a position at a cool company by the Santa Monica Pier. Life instantly sped up, and things were looking increasingly positive.
Then COVID hit. The world as we knew it changed. Grocery stores became battle arenas, offices became empty vestiges of an outdated culture, natural disasters seemed to increase in intensity, and protests erupted all across the country. It was fair to wonder if we were collapsing as a society.
It didn’t help that people didn’t know what to believe. The distrust of media grew to epic proportions which led to nation-wide frustration and confusion. Count me among them.
I had recently graduated college and my move to California was supposed to be a fresh start, if not a dream come true. Well, that didn’t happen. I’ll get into my thoughts about Los Angeles in a later post, but ultimately (due to a multitude of factors) I realized that Los Angeles was not the place for me. I kind of panicked. I grew up wanting to live in California. How could I be over it this quickly? I had a choice. Remain quarantined out of fear for the unknown, or (safely) explore the state that I grew up idolizing. I chose to explore. I was working a 9-5, but that didn’t stop me from exploring the natural beauty of the state on the weekends.
I always loved hiking, so it only felt right to stick it to the man by hiking in places I’ve never been, while most of the country stayed locked down. I saw no problem in exploring the scenery. I was isolated, I didn’t have to wear a mask all the time, and I felt pretty damn free. *Quick side note* If there’s a brand that is awesome for hikers or for people who just want to live free I would highly recommend Lems.
My guess is you felt similarly to me in 2020. Frustrated, confused, and angry at the man for this nightmare of a situation. Ultimately, that’s okay. 2020 was an anomaly of a year.
I eventually moved back to my home town of Chicago where things are less hectic. I will try to post as often as I can, just sharing my thoughts and my experiences, and the occasional product recommendation. To be clear, I would never recommend something I wouldn’t use myself.
Till next time. Peace.
Infinite-West 