This Happens Every Year

At the end of every year I ask myself: What happened? Where did the past year go? I left so many truck projects unfinished, so many video ideas never executed, and more than anything so many places left unseen. Though I did have some uncontrollable life circumstances interfere with some of my goals; It would be dishonest of me to blame these feelings of failure on them. After all I have been here before.

The truth is I let this year get away from me like I often do. At the end of the day there is really only one place to lay the blame. Every year I tend to get really excited about the next chapter and a fresh opportunity to make this life what I want it to be. But every year the same thing happens… I put a lot of energy and excitement around what I want the end result to be and very little planning and energy around how to get there.

As of right now we are just 5 days into the new year I think its about time I approached things a bit differently. So lets start with…

My latest video:

What do I want to do?

• See Badwater Basin and the Racetrack Playa in Death Valley National Park

• Take a solo photography trip to Yosemite National Park

• Camp along Hot Creek in the Eastern Sierra and maybe soak in one of the nearby hot springs

• Camp on the rim of the Grand Canyon

• Take another trip to Utah

• See the Alvord Desert in Oregon

• Explore parts of the Eastern Sierra I have yet to see (Sonora Pass, Leavitt Lake, Kavanaugh Ridge etc).

• Hold my first ever Patreon members campout

• Start doing landscape photography again

• Buy that telephoto lens I have always wanted and start doing some wildlife photography. Maybe photograph the Bald eagles in Big Bear this spring.

• Learn how to fly fish in the Owens River

• Then return to Monache Meadows and fly fish some more

• Take my two oldest children fishing

• Do a few camping trips with whole family

• Take my dad and brother “Overlanding”

• Do a atleast 1 one on one trip with my two oldest kids

• Go on atleast one trip with my best friend Josh and his wife Emerald

• Go on that camping trip with my old buddy Steve that we keep talking about

• Meet some awesome new like minded people in this community

• Maybe go to an expo???

• Maybe even take my first ever backpacking trip out to Thousand Island Lake

Believe it or not the list is longer but it includes items that are personal and family related so I am going to leave those out.

I am a husband and a father first. If I tackle everything on this list but neglect my family I will have nothing but remorse to look back on this time next year. Raising young kids is tough but I am a firm believer that you do not have to stop chasing your dreams or adventure when you have kids. As I make my plans for the year I want to do so in a way that brings balance. My plan needs to provides the escape for myself on the limited occasions when I need it. The plan also needs to includes the people around me that I care about most as well as making sure I am prioritizing whats important in their life as well.

My Plan To make 2025 different:

• To sit down with my wife, this list and a calendar once a month when her work schedule comes out. Getting stuff on the calendar before the calendar fills up.

• Adapt to my wife’s difficult work schedule and start going on mid week trips. These trips will probably mostly be solo or with just one of my kids. They will also probably end up being most of the videos I make.

• To be more thoughtful and plan trips my wife will want to go on. She has never cared for the off grid trips very much so I will be planning a couple good ole campground trips with the family that she will be more comfortable with.

• To bet on myself and make some important changes to my work situation.

At first glance this list overwhelms me. Is it even possible to accomplish so much in one year? Maybe... There is a lot of items on this list that can be done together in a single trip. But whether or not I do everything on this list or not isn’t really the point. The point is to look back on the previous year and know that I didn’t waste it.

I probably have said this before but I really do think this year is going to be different… but I guess we will see.