Happy New Year, and welcome to 2024!

Hello and welcome to the Vandemonian homesteader. And, of course, welcome to the first post of 2024. I hope 2023 was a brilliant year for you; if not, I’m confident 2024 will be your year to shine.

For me, life is going well. I am making the most of the holiday season and preparing for a fantastic year. I have a lot of great topics lined up and a list of projects as long as my arm is ready to go. I am excited to say that I will kick it all off next Monday with a post about vermiculture or worm farming. So stay tuned and prepare to get your hands dirty as I show you how to breed and make the most of those wriggly little guys.

This time of year is great for parties and celebrations, as we are all undoubtedly aware. But amidst the parties and family events, I tend to spend a lot of time during the final week of the year reflecting on the year that was, and I start planning for the upcoming year. I will often look at and review my long-term goals during this time. If I need to make changes or adjustments to them, I will. The surprises that life throws at you can sometimes hamper your attempts to meet your goals. And this can be frustrating.

A big goal of mine for 2023/24 was to finish renovating my current house and move out onto the bush block within a year of returning to Australia. However, after crunching the numbers and working out how much I would need to save and the most realistic timeframes for booking and dealing with tradesmen, I decided I would have to stay here for at least two years to finish everything. So now it looks like I won’t be able to move out to the land until at least mid-2025.

At first, I was frustrated and tried to alter my plans to make it happen sooner, but the most realistic timeframe I could manage was two years; anything else would have set me up for failure.

However, I spent some time thinking about this and looking for a silver lining. I realised that being in this house for another year isn’t so bad. In the rush to set up my garden for spring after returning from Canada, I made a few mistakes and cut a few corners. Now, I can set myself up properly for next spring. I can go bigger and do better than what I have done this year. I can also try and practice a few ideas that may be useful when I do move out to the land. All in all, being here another year is a good thing.

Now, why am I prattling on about changing my goals? I hear you ask. It is hardly an exciting topic. For some, when they reflect on the past year, they feel as if they may not have achieved as much as they were hoping to. Thinking like that can bring you down and sometimes cause people to give up on their long-term goals.

For me, the goal of this blog has always been to record and share my journey as I work towards achieving my own off-grid life. So that others can learn from my failures and hopefully be inspired to try and make their dreams a reality. The thing is, this is a very long-term goal. And like anything long-term, you need to be flexible and plan for the possibility that life may throw a spanner in your works. This can sometimes be frustrating but remember to keep at it. Look for that silver lining and make adjustments as you need to. Perhaps that spanner was thrown for a reason, to teach you something you hadn’t considered yet or to make you rethink your position.

The point I am making is that regardless of your goal or how far away you are from achieving it. Don’t give up. Learn from your setbacks and apply what you’ve learned from 2023 to 2024. As I said at the beginning of this post, if 2023 was not your year, I am confident that 2024 will be.

With that said, I again wish you and yours a happy new year and all the best for the upcoming year. And until next time, thanks for dropping by. Have yourself a good one, and I will catch you later.