If I had to pick a single point when things went pear shaped, it would probably be the evening of Sunday June 27th. On the spur of the moment, I decided to make the drive to Banbury station - an 87 mile round trip, as it turned out - for no other reason than to … Continue reading Chapter 18: Broadening my horizons … and coming to the end of the road →

“Moving on” has not gone as smoothly as I hoped it might. Whilst I know full well that the “1 planned thing” model is my optimal way of living, most days I still give serious consideration to whether I could perhaps try to extract a bit more from myself - and either being disappointed at … Continue reading Chapter 17: A bit of give and take →

There’s a fine line between curiosity and downright stupidity. As it turns out, this is a line that I had unwittingly crossed on multiple occasions during the exploits recorded in the previous chapter. The consequence of this has been an extended cycle of boom and bust - pushing myself to do things and so blowing … Continue reading Chapter 16: Moving on →

This month’s musings again see me making reference to Donald. Not “The Donald” this time, but a different one. Instead, it is that renowned philosopher and thinker - Donald Rumsfeld - to whom I refer. For those unfamiliar with his work, he was the US Secretary of Defence during the Iraq War who introduced the … Continue reading Chapter 15: Staying curious … and continuing to adapt →

When I came around from an induced coma roughly 4 years ago, one of the first things that I remember becoming aware of was that Donald Trump had been declared the new POTUS. With hindsight, that should have been a clue for me that I was now residing in an entirely different dimension to the … Continue reading Chapter 14: A new beginning? →

It took around a week to re-acclimatise to normal daily life after returning from holiday. I had already pressed the panic button at least once - pleading with my wife to allow me to get the cleaner in twice a week because I couldn’t keep up with the vacuuming - and was on the cusp … Continue reading Chapter 13: Letting go … and allowing myself to belong →

Riding less often has been challenging. Like trying to wean yourself off a highly addictive drug, perhaps? You know you really should try not to take it so much, but the feeling that you get from it is like nothing else. I find this drug particularly addictive as it is the only thing that enables … Continue reading Chapter 12: Doing > Being > Becoming > Belonging →

Since being formally introduced to the bear known as “hemiparesis” in Chapter 7, I have been making an effort to get to know him better. Four months on, I certainly feel like I understand much more about him - though I would still rather we had never met. As of the end of June, I … Continue reading Chapter 11: The Goldilocks Principle →

So, off the back of the findings from my previous post - not to try so hard to find a solution to my challenges - what do you think I have been doing over this last period? That’s right - pushing on, trying to find a better answer. Predictable, if nothing else. Buoyed up by … Continue reading Chapter 10: Embracing the bear (but not too often) →

You may recall that back in Chapter 6, I set myself the goal to be more instinctive - both in the activities that I seek out, as well as how I do them - in the hope that it would help me to find a way of living that is not quite so exhausting, cognitively … Continue reading Chapter 9: The conductor (bear?) and the orchestra →