Ten Things by Jaimie Mantzel

(this post was edited by Dashaina ;))

Alright let's see... This challenge was started by @twodorks and @anutu.

This challenge doesn't have to do anything with Steemit. Each person who decides to do the challenge will have to say at least 10 facts about yourself! Pretty easy right?! After that you need to ask one question and you have to tag that person to play along! Don't forget to use the hashtag #tenrandomthings so we can find your post!

Now that's all done.... on with the show!

Ten things about me.. J-me.

Besides that I follow the virtues of Honesty, Imagination, Love, Courage, Strength, Honor, Humility, and Life. Learn about those here.

1. I did try to make my parents "proud" right up to the point of graduating from an Ivy League school while being a super mega athlete. ...at which time I was about ready to jump off a tall cliff. I decided to move off grid instead. One day I packed my meager possessions into my barely functioning car, drove up to Vermont, walked up "the mountain", made an enormous bonfire, left non-sensical phone messages about fire for all my friends(think Tom Hanks in Castaway) then deactivated my phone, and pitched a tent.
   That is the day I consider my life to have actually started.

2. Living on a mountain was always my 2nd Earthly choice of home. When I had kids I realised that I couldn't show them that it's ok to settle for less so I sold the mountain, and went island hunting without any leads on anything we could afford to buy. A few months of traveling and being stingy and we found our own little paradise in the caribbean then a year of getting to know people who might sell me cheap land... I don't plan to leave.

3. When I was younger I spend a significant amount of time and effort unlearning everything I'd been taught so I could start fresh with "BS" filters turned up all the way. Totally worth it.

4. I rarely read online comments. The terrible comments make me sad for the writer who felt it worth their time to be cruel to a stranger. People often become angry with me if I say their helpful suggestion is something I considered, but won't do. I do very much enjoy the positive messages and connecting with creative people, but I'm too sensitive for internet culture.
   The solution I'm often told is to be more thick skinned.... cold... like a rock... don't let stuff bother me. Problem is I don't want my kids to have a cold dad, and they're more important.

5. I often think about myself at the end of my life. ...how I'll feel about what I did and didn't do. I think about how one day when I'm about to die I'll look back on myself right now and wish that I gave it everything I had. Then I come back to now and do it.

6. I have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder associated with wind. Its under control, but I still get nervous any time I hear a gust. It came from when I first went off grid and built a big dome on the edge of a cliff. The first night I slept in it there was a wind storm. ...that lasted over a week. Laying in my sleeping bag and hearing the gusts slam against the side of the dome I kept imagining the entire thing being thrown over the edge of the cliff. To this day when wind starts I have to remind myself, "Tie down what you can, and what you can't.... deal with after." I've never actually had anything significant destroyed by wind.

7. I generally think that I can do anything... as long as I have enough food to fuel whatever I need to do. Based on this theory at times I've eaten 2 dozen donuts at once. ...or 3 pints of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream. ...and I seriously thought they were going to ban me from the all you can eat Chinese place I used to live near.

8. One of my biggest and oldest goals is to be an amazing dad.

9. I generally never give up on anything. The exception is people. There are important people in my life that I've wanted to help, and eventually accepted that I couldn't. The first time it happened it was someone very close and it was devastating to me.

10. OK, lemme end this with something positive. Hmmm. Even in the most dire situations when there is seemingly absolutely no chance of success... I keep a flicker of hope in a little box in the darkness of my spirit. I've been amazed at how often all isn't lost, and there's some thing that I didn't notice before that makes something possible.

Bonus Question:
What 3 things (that I can easily carry) would I take to an island?

1. Telescope with some nice lenses in it. (making fires is a lot easier with a magnifying glass)
2. An axe/crobar/hammer.
3. Bolt of UV protected waterproof cloth. Like some ruberized canvas or something along those lines.

I'll look through followers for more inspiration... how about an AB & C!
Let's see who to nominate. Looks like the guy who got me to join here hasn't been nominated yet.
@alexbeyman
@benfreed & @brittandjosie
@cmplxty

Bonus question for commenters and nominees :
If you could live anywhere where would it be and what would it be like?