#natalie sisson

This blog post is in response to Natalie’s 10 Day Freedom Plan Blog Challenge Day 8

This challenge is going ot be , well a challenge. I have the next 48hrs well planned out as the second project I’m running along side this one is working on my 1989 Nissan 300zx. 

However I do know what I have in mind. I will take a few hours off this weekend and work on finishing a first draft of my short story. 

Maybe I’ll go to a cafe in the city or maybe I’ll just go to the library. But I will lug my laptop around to somewhere that is not my home and allow myself the freedom to right. 

I’ll write up a follow up once I’ve done it but I suspect that this will be both a freeing and scary experience as I always find something else to do that is more important than writing. 

This blog post is in response to Natalie’s 10 Day Freedom Plan Blog Challenge Day 4

My super powers!

My first thought here is to be humble - that’s how I was raised. Don’t boast and don’t talk yourself up, because it’ll be that much harder when you fall down. 

It has taken me a while to admit that I’m good at something because: 

1. I didn’t really believe I was good at anything

2. I didn’t like what I had a gift for. (self sabotage much?)

OK so my super powers are: 

Empathy (Talking / Making people feel comfortable)

Cars

Stories

Empathy: 

I don’t like it, but I’m good at talking to people. Once I break through the initial ‘I don’t know you’ banner I can talk to anyone and most importantly, make them feel at ease. I distinctly remember sitting with a guy in high school (we didn’t really like each other) and having him tell me tell me his romantic woes. When he was done he said “I don’t even know why I told you all this”. 

Whatever the reason I’m good at putting people at ease around me. I’m naturally empathetic and I always steer conversations to include everyone involved. 

It’s definitely something I’m born with because for me, it all comes from a gut feeling. When someone is uncomfortable or feeling left out in a conversation, I can feel it in my gut. Something is wrong and I have to fix it.

So why don’t I like it? Because I’ve found is that the loudest guy in the room often is the least intelligent, whereas it’s the quiet people in the corner who will often have the most insightful points. I’m not the loudest guy in the room, but often I can’t keep my mouth shut and it can backfire.

But by recognising it as a strength I’ve been able to curb the blabber and actually cultivate conversation as a skill.

Cars: 

For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved cars. My first memory is of being in a car. I wanted a drivers license on my 16th birthday and the first thing I bought from my job was a car ($500 buys a LOT of happiness)

I love them so much that, if a really nice one drives past me I will stop mid sentence and call it out, then return back to normal conversation. 

I’ve never gotten professionally involved in cars because I believe sustainability is much more important. But they will always be my first love. 

Electric Vehicles is the sweet spot for me here - no emissions and the potential for ludicrously fast cars.

Stories:

This is a fairly new discovery but I love stories, I love the stories of people and place and things (and cars). It’s the one thing that ties all my passions together. 

Whether it’s written or spoken or drawn, stories are a passion.

A dream job would be being a screenwriter and taking real stories from page to script to screen. 

Creating a vision for the future or ‘My perfect day’

I’ll admit this reminds me of high school creative writing. And - those classes were fun. 

From here on in I’m going to go freestyle FPS: 

I wake up just before my alarm. The still unfamiliar birds are singing and the orange glow of autumn is streaming through the full height window. 

I stretch in bed and look over. She’s still asleep but has a soft smile on her face. A smile that makes me smile. 

I get up and put on my running gear. It’s still early enough that most of the city hasn’t woken up yet and I head out into the crisp morning air. The AirBnB that we’re staying in for these 6months is close to an excellent path that follows the river and is perfect for an early morning run. 

As I warm up I pickup the smells of Oslo. Fresh bread, machine oil and the Oslofjord all mix into a cold paste that tickles my sinus. 

I’m warm enough and I start to push myself. After two and a half kilometres I reach the pier and turn around. I wave to the fisherman, try my best to say a convincing ‘God morgen’ and then head back to the apartment. 

By the time I’m back and washed up  my girlfriend is up and already at work. Her clients love her work and are wanting designs from her. We discuss our plans over coffee and then I clean up the space.

Leaving her to her work, I head down to Johannes garage. He’s got an old ‘85 Mercedes that he’s converting to electric and I’d promised I’d help him with it. In his heated garage we work on his car, trying to figure out why the suspension arms keep wearing out and cleaning up the engine bay, getting it ready for the new engine. He loves classic rock and always has some obscure 70′s band going when I turn up.

After a few hours we’ve sorted out the issue and head back to the apartment and I settle down for writing. My first task is to finish off the copywriting project for a client. It’s on the third rewrite but I think I’ve really got it this time and even though I’m ahead of schedule, I want to get it done. 

Time passes, how long I don’t actually know, and I don’t particularly care. But a crick in my neck tells me that I should at least have some water. I make myself some tea and stretch, then come back to review what I’ve written. It’s good and definitely is the message that the client and I want to get across. I’ll park it for now and review it tonight. Then send it off before bed. 

I make myself a light lunch and enjoy on the balcony. It’s chilly but I want to enjoy the view. We’ll be heading home in a couple of weeks and I want soak in as much as possible. I haven’t picked up as much of the language as I wanted to, but we’ve enjoyed exploring the city together and made some good friends these last few months.

After lunch we both head out for a walk and check out a gallery exhibition. And even though the artwork is great I’m itching to head back and get back to writing. 

Post lunch is my social media block. I respond to emails, comments and posts. And catch up with everything that is happening in the world of hashtags.

But then it’s back to writing. This time on my book. After some honest conversations with my editor I’m finally happy with the direction it’s heading in and the story is flowing. 

Again I’m lost in my work until a gentle tapping on my screen brings me back. 

"Come on" says my partner “We’ll be late to meet Pieter an Julia and I don’t want to miss the show”

I rub my eyes and grab my coat. As I leave the I glance back at the now dormant screen.

I know I’ll be back at it after dinner but rather than cringing it brings a smile to my face.

This blog post is in response to Natalie’s 10 Day Freedom Plan Blog Challenge Day 2

Why do I want to live the freedom lifestyle?

The why. Ah Simon Sinek how you torture me. I have many why’s and they are all great to ponder over when procrastinating about ‘doing’.

So what get’s me up in the morning, what lights me up? 

Stories.

I love the stories behind things, behind places and especially behind people. 

It took a lot of thinking and trial and error to come to this conclusion but the only genuine connecting the dots I can find through everything I’m interested in is the stories behind it all. 

I love sustainability because of the stories that mother earth can teach us. I love cars because of how closely human stories are tied in with our methods of transportation. I love movies because of how the wonderful stories can transport us away or educate us. I love comedians because of how they can weave such truth and parables in their humour. I love writing because of the sheer power of the stories that we can craft. 

Through stories we can influence, educate or simply entertain. We can change the course of history or save a park from being destroyed. 

There are few things that I achieve ‘flow’ status with. The main one is talking to people. I love talking to people - I love networking and even enjoy public speaking. 

I realised I love talking to people because of the stories that we can share. Plus I’m actually really good at it. 

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