It has been about a month since the Maine Event and I thought I would take a moment and reflect. The month afterwards was a bit crazy, with Cyber Security Awareness Month being in full effect at work and my recovering from a nasty cold turned sinus infection I didn’t really get to sit down and ponder much until recently.

The feeling I had following the event is still with me, though it is a little more refined now. I still struggle with some of the things I said I would give up but overall process has been made. It might have been too much all at once for it all to stick. Or I might be making excuses, it is a toss up.

My 3D printers have been active in the past month or so, minus my overnight trips to different offices, and I have a fine collection of items to paint now as well as the starts to the Christmas season of gifts that I will print out. I picked up a new Patreon subscription, Grumpii, and the girlfriend has been head over heels crazy for them each month. If I get up the gumption I will start posting my painted models here, somewhere. It might encourage me to build a light-box and start selling the little guys, they are beyond cute.

The feeling though is the drive for this post. I stand up straighter than I used to, I take up tasks at work without worrying too much about them, even if it is something that is new to me. Last week I was writing a business plan, something that has been well above my pay-grade for the past umpteen years. But even that phrase, above my pay-grade, it doesn’t sit well with me any longer. I don’t feel like anything is above or below me, it is simply something that needs to be done and it will get done. The feeling of stress and overwhelm that I was experiencing prior to the event seem to have cleared up and have been replaced with drive and grit. I don’t shy away from the challenges around me and I don’t let anxiety drive near as much as it used to.

In a weird way I feel more alive than I have in the past, more drive to complete my goals and confidence that it will all work out in the end. I have a few irons in the fire in other areas of my life that I will bring up later but a month out, I still feel like a new man and ready to take the world by storm.