Off the Grid!

Hello and welcome back to Nomad Dad Life! Today we are going to take a different direction, not with our driving, but with this post. We are still headed north, but this post is going to be about a personal journey. We have had a lot of changes in our lives, not just with our location, but with ourselves as well. It might be a different story, but I feel it is one that is important to share as well.

Disconnected

Driving through the vast remoteness that is Canada provides a lot of time to think and reflect. There is not much for cell phone service on the Alcan Highway. It was a good time to disconnect from society a little bit. I didn’t have social media before I started this blog, and I only use it now when I have a new blog post or want to share an update on our travels. So, I feel like I’ve always done a pretty good job of disconnecting from that and living in the real world.

One thing I did follow, and I’m a little embarrassed to admit, was politics. I wasn’t a diehard or anything, but I paid attention to what was going on, and honestly how couldn’t you? It is pretty much everywhere these days. After being in the Canadian wilderness for days without cell phone service, I realized how toxic and unimportant that is in concerning what matters to me. No disrespect to people who choose to follow politics or anything for that matter (I still unfortunately am a Minnesota sports fan and follow all the major teams more than I should!) it just wasn’t something I wanted to focus my time or energy on.

Why it Matters

Even if it was 15 minutes a day, the negativity of everything could last way longer and affect how my day was. It really opened my eyes and made me think. Those people who are overly consumed by the news, or politics don’t seem truly happy. They are always worked up about what the other side is doing if it’s politics or all the evil in the world if they watch the news. They argue with their friends and family over people they have never met, and more than likely never will.

Often they ruin friendships and divide families in the process. Everything is negative when you pay attention to that and it only makes sense that it rubs off on you. It was then I made the choice to not pay attention to the news or politics at all. I don’t want any negativity rubbing off on me and impacting what is truly important to me–my family and friends.

Seeing all these friendships ruined because of different beliefs is mind blowing to me, but at the same time it’s something to learn from. I want to teach my children it’s OK to think differently from their friends and still remain friends. People are different and that should be encouraged. If everyone thinks and acts the same way, there is no innovation, no conversation, no creativity, and no freedom.  

I want to teach my children how to think, not what to think. I see a lot of challenges with that in the world we live in today. Everything and everyone has biases, myself included, no matter how much I try not to. I want them to understand individualism is a great thing and they should be themselves and true to who they are no matter what. Will that be easy all the time? No. It’s not easy making your own path or disagreeing with friends or family.

Positive Impact

Personally, I have already noticed a big impact in my decision to stop consuming news and politics. I don’t have that negativity in my life. I’m happier, have more energy, sleep better, and I’ve even been eating healthier! Maybe it’s a placebo effect, but whatever it is, it is working for me. No more time spent worrying about things that are out of my control.

Now I only focus on what I can actually do something about. I don’t see any point in spending time and energy on things that are out of my control, or having arguments with someone who is never going to change his/her mind. I think discussion and having opposing viewpoints is great, but the people who spend hours arguing and fighting only to get nowhere or more entrenched in their beliefs. That just seems like a waste of time. Sometimes you just need to understand you’ll always have differences with people and move on to a different subject. Now I know some people enjoy starting arguments or drama and will say or do things just to get under your skin. Best to just not waste your time or energy arguing with those people.

For the Kids

Being a dad is the most rewarding and challenging thing I have done in my life. Cutting out all the outside negativity in my life has made a huge difference. I want to set my children up for success as best as I can. They should know that we all have challenging days, but the most important thing is a person’s attitude towards the challenges and how a person responds. I want to give my kids the tools to understand that life isn’t fair. It is going to have its ups and downs and their attitude will affect the outcome.

I know we are in a unique position to be able to raise our children ourselves, and that is not something I am taking for granted. We don’t have to put them in daycare so they don’t have to share someone’s attention with a bunch of other kids. They are in activities and go to a lot of playgrounds, so they are getting a lot of social interaction as well before they start school, which was important to us.

It has its tough moments, but that is what being a parent is. We didn’t want to have children and have them spend 40+ hours a week at daycare or drop them off with their grandparents every weekend, as much as their grandparents would love that so Fae and I could have nights out. Fae and I are still able to have date nights. They just look different than before we had children! Our children are always going to know they are our priority, and we will always put their needs before ours.

Lessons for a Lifetime

When we go back to “normal life” things are going to look a lot different for us than they did before. We were never big on material things before and even less so now. We would rather spend our time and money on experiences and creating memories with our children instead of things. Things take time, time that we could be spent focusing on what is important to us and what makes us happy. It’s easy to just give your children more toys, but then what do they want? More toys always. What happens when more just isn’t enough? Are they learning to appreciate what they already have? According to research, less toys create more creativity, a greater appreciation for what you have, and the kids will want to take better care of their toys. We are noticing a positive difference in our children.

We know it will be a challenge going back to a permanent residence, but we are still going to focus on experiences over toys for our children. They are being raised in the outdoors and they know how to use their imagination and creativity to keep themselves entertained without the need for electronics. We don’t deprive them of electronics, because they get their screentime, but they would just prefer to play outside if they had to choose. That is a tricky balance to figure out in our world today. Electronics are a way of life; they need to learn. They also can’t overdo it, or they will fall behind in other areas of their development.

Wrap Up

This post has been about a different journey than our travel ones, but one that I think is important to share. Focus on what is important to you, prioritize people over things, and try your best to block out the negative outside influences on your life. Use your time and energy on the things you can control and you can affect the outcome of. I still have a long way to go with this, but realizing it was an issue and being aware of it has already improved my life. Clear your mind, take a walk outside, and enjoy living in the moment without distractions from the outside world.

The next post will continue our actual journey to Alaska. Please follow us on social media for additional updates about our travels. Click a link below!

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