Thank you for tuning into my introduction to Steemit!

"FREEDOM!!!"

This seems to be common for me to shout at the top of my lungs while cruising down US Interstate I-5, 10, 15, 20, and 40 over the past two weeks. I recently found the courage to leave my career as a chemical engineer supporting the hazardous chemical (mostly petro-chemicals) industry in the Houston, Texas area. Originally from New Jersey, and formally trained as a ChE, I found myself working in the Houston area for 5 years and became very well versed in designing, building, operating, and optimizing highly hazardous chemical production facilities; however, I felt dead on the inside and was continuously winding up in the hospital from exhaustion (likely from working unreasonable amounts of hours for months on end). Now I'm on the road and exploring where the wind takes me.

Long story short, I'm out of there and here are a few reasons why:

Daily Practices :

Today marks Day 123 for my recent new morning routine that includes a morning meditation and calisthenics / push-ups. I start my mornings with a 10-15 minute guided meditation using a free app on the Google Play Store, Insight Timer (link below), and follow that up with at least 30 push-ups and sometimes burpees, pull ups, wall-sits and any other calisthenics that my body seems to be called to that day. I tend to finish the day with 60-120 push-up total, in addition to going on hikes, climbs, or other outdoor adventures every approximately other day.
I do these two things DAILY NO MATTER WHAT! This is my life and my body, I have the time for myself above all else. The 3rd morning routine that I estimate to successfully complete 80% of mornings is ~30 seconds of a cold water shower. This practice is very invigorating and usually results in a loud - "I AM ALIVE!".

Cryptocurrencies:

By combination of luck and action, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have become a portion of my investment portfolio starting in early March 2017. I watched an episode from Morgan Spurlock's - Inside Man : S3:EP5 "Morgan Makes 'Cents' Out of Bitcoin", where Morgan uses Bitcoin for a week to live and successfully, creates a "wallet", travels the country, purchases food, and sends people money (bitcoin). This episode, which I turned on by chance, was the straw that broke the camels back for me in the crypto world because I knew I wanted to use most of my savings to travel the world. I figured, let me invest some of my savings into Bitcoin so that I can easily convert to other currencies and buy plane tickets (plus it may go up over the next few years - little did I know).
Shortly after watching this episode, I purchased my first 1.5 Bitcoin "BTC" around ($1,100/BTC) & (now ~$2700/BTC) and 7.5 Ethereum "ETH" under $20/ETH! & (now ~$230/ETH). At the time the only reason I bought ETH was because it was the only other currency available for purchase on Coinbase. Since then, I have diversified as the value of my holdings grew and have turned the investments into small passive income streams, as well as long term holdings to support my new freelance lifestyle. Trading has been one of my hobbies since I was a teenager which makes cryptocurrency investments and trading a sensible financial leg for the foreseeable future. I truly must thank Morgan Spurlock and Netflix for the approachable, digestible, and fairly comprehensive overview of bitcoin that opened up the crypto world to me as an investor and innovator (Google link to episode info below).

Opportunities and Opening Doors - finding them required.

In order to move forward, one must explore the unknown, and in many cases this means looking for open doors. When an open door is found walking through the door will be required for real change. Recently, my sister and I took a road-trip from Portland, Oregon to San Diego, California. This trip was an exploration of the west coast, especially the Pacific Northwest, as I'd never been north of Lake Tahoe on the west coast. While in Oregon, we linked up with two good friends from my childhood and they both expressed the need for my process design and project management skill sets within medical cannabis industries. I had no idea that these doors existed before actively wandering and/or seeking new opportunities. One must not expect their future to change without taking some action towards a new future. These new opportunities are extremely risky from a job stability perspective; however, they offer a possibility of a future where I can passionately support the plant medicine industry ( including other plants such as turmeric, ginger, moringa, lavender, frankincense, etc.) and live a more balanced life filled with more personal FREEDOM!!!

My current status:

Road-tripping from Texas to Oregon. I've made many stops along the way in West Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and California. Some of my favorite photos from the Grand Canyon in Arizona have been included with this post for your enjoyment. The sense of freedom and happiness that I experience on daily basis from regular and meaningful activities in truly awesome. I'm relaxing in San Diego this morning before packing up and starting my way north to unload my belongings in Oregon from my tiny Mazda3! Then, I'm off to the great state of Colorado for a few days to enjoy Pretty Lights Music at Red Rocks Amphitheater followed by The Oregon Eclipse Festival :-D What a time to be alive my friends and fellow Steemians! I'll likely have a spot or two in my car when leaving Colorado around 8/13 and could pick up another Steemian or two with gas money towards Oregon for the OEF - comment below if you're looking to rideshare to the festival.

My real name is Adam; however, I will go by OffToTheEther for the most part on the inter-webs. Please feel free to reach out to me as either. Also, this channel is a way for me to share beneficial information with the world, my friends, and fellow Steemians so please reach out with your requests on future content such as; books, outdoor activities, cryptocurrency interests, permaculture / gardening , travel / road trips, wanderlust, and others.

Links / References :

Insight Timer: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spotlightsix.zentimerlite2&hl=en
Morgan Spurlock's - Inside Man Episode: https://g.co/kgs/QyjLnQ
Coinbase Referral Link (US dollar to Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin): https://www.coinbase.com/join/58c2311ebb2ebc01869cc606