It's my life. God damn it.

One thing that has become clear to me after the last decade of bullshit and turmoil is how reluctant people are.

Reluctant to accept that someone like me will do what the hell I want to do with the rest of my life, and say "fuck all" to the rest of the world.

You reach a point where others opinions about what you should be doing bounce off like a ping-pong ball.

People seem to always want so much from others. Not just in what they can give them, but in doing what they expect.

My life, my attitudes, and sometimes even just my existence tends to make people nervous.

How can someone do what I am doing?

No job. No prospects for one in my old field.

No income.

No home of my own.

Spending my days taking photographs of birds and trying to make a life out of that.

They can't understand, comprehend, or appreciate.

Then, I get those people who say how envious they are. That I don't have to go to work, and that I get all that time out with my cameras, enjoying nature and soaking it all in.

In some circumstances, they condemn.

But what is clear is that nobody understands this. At all.

They have no idea what was lost for me to get here. What I had to endure.

They can't comprehend, and think this is like some summer vacation.

But what my book will show (at least to those with half a brain and a heart) is that what most consider essential is not that at all.

What is essential in this life is to live it.

I watch now as so many go through life as if it is a series of motions.

Get up every day.

Go to work.

Put up with abuse, bullshit, crazy inane and sometimes insane bosses.

Backstabbing coworkers.

Petty, insignificant people who don't care about them at all, but want to take you down if it means they can get ahead.

Ahead of what?

That is the question.

What I am doing with my life is fucking LIVING it.

I have no idea how long I have left.

But I do know what I have sacrificed, and what I have lost.

What I am saying to the world in general is "Bring it on".

I am stealing the time. The experiences. I am going out and enjoying the world and my time, and nature and wonders of the world, and capturing that with my cameras.

Not because I am seeking a big paycheck, or a nice house, or to provide for some imaginary wife and family.

But for me.

Why?

Because it's my life.

It's now or never.

I ain't gonna live forever.

I just want to live while I'm alive..

Thank you, Jon Bon Jovi for illuminating that.

People want to tell me what I need to do. What I should do.

My answer to them?

Fuck off.