Hello Steem! My name is Colin, and I am excited to be joining this up and coming network/cryptocurrency, which I stumbled upon randomly through this post:
I am currently a mental health professional, but am looking to expand my horizons into other avenues. I live in the Denver area with my partner KarleyI have a few friends who are doing Lyft full-time here in Denver through their rental program, and are doing well with it. I am considering doing more free-lance work, and using Lyft as a way to transition towards something different.
My current job (started approximately 3 months ago) at a residential mental health facility is underwhelming, to say the least. The lack of challenge or stimulation usually leaves me feeling a bit...bored.
My last gig in a mental health setting was dynamic, fast-paced, engaging, but ultimately opened my eyes to the inherent flaws within our social welfare system. I will elaborate more I my experiences there in a future post, but for now I will just say that the institution and the people that manage it can be just as crazy, if not more so than our clients
What led me to the field of social work/mental health initially was my idealistic desire to help society, and to create some sort of impact on the world for the better. Ultimately, I most passionate about issues related to sustainability and moving towards an independent livelihood, free from large corporate/governmental bureaucracies whenever possible.
It’s fairly obvious that the ideals of ‘freedom’, ‘liberty’, and ‘independence’ are not prioritized or understood by mainstream society. I would not claim to be an expert with these ideas, though my understanding has certainly expanded in recent years. Becoming aware of the greater schemes in play that keep most of us caught in the web of dependent servitude was the first step.
A few years back, I did an internship with Earthship Biotecture in Taos, New Mexico, I was interested in furthering my knowledge in the field of sustainable architecture. An Earthship is an off-grid home, built using recycled materials such as tires, bottles, and cans, and incorporates a multitude of sustainable building concepts, such as passive-solar, geothermal, rainwater collection, grey water systems, and solar and wind electricity. The finished product looks something like this:
However, at the time I was not prepared to undertake building my own Earthship, primarily because I didn’t have the funds to do so, but also because the timing wasn't right. I ended up moving back to Mt. Pleasant Michigan, as my girlfriend was finishing up College. Instead of saving and planning for an Earthship build, my partner and I decided we wanted to travel across America before settling down and undertaking the project of building our own home. I worked at a rather thankless job for a year and a half (which I'm sure will be the topic of future posts), and saved up to purchase an old Subaru. Once we had enough savings to make it feasible, we took the plunge and hit the open road.
We worked on farms, volunteered at music festivals, camped in a half dozen national parks.
Walmart parking lots became our home as things got colder. We were able to visit friends and family in several states, with no set itinerary. Participating in the traveling subculture introduced us to many interesting individuals, whom we would often take random adventures with, as this picture from our time in Big Sur illustrates.
Our road trip wasn't just for fun, it was also to research what part of the country we wanted to moved to. We decided on Denver, as we were drawn to the southwest and knew about a dozen people that had already transplanted themselves to the city. Colorado has become a popular place to move to for many reasons, what with an endless supply of jobs, outdoor activities, and legal Marijuana.
The problem, as anyone who lives in the Denver area will tell you, is the rising cost of housing. Karley and I live in a large house on the outskirts of the city with a few friends of ours, making it relatively affordable. We still have the goal of building a sustainable home (if not an Earthship, at least something that uses similar principles), but doing so in the metro area is not easy. We are also weary of staying in a large urban center like Denver for the longterm future, and are interested in eventually making a move to another part of the state, ideally where code is more receptive to certain building techniques.
Well, that's me for now. Thank you for taking the time to read, I am looking forward to becoming more immersed in the Steem community.