Someone asked me yesterday what I do. I replied that I'm retired.

People think I'm joking when I say that, given how young they say I look, but in many respects it's completely true--I consider myself as having retired from corporate America in 1995 when I walked away from nine-to-five employment to pursue my passion.

It's truly been a retirement of sorts since I didn't come to Saipan to work or build my business. I came to enjoy life. It was a decision based purely on my private and personal desire to experience new things, new people, new lands and new experiences. I've always wanted to travel to this part of the globe, but never allowed myself the freedom to do so--intent as I was on putting things in place for such a departure. Everything I've been doing throughout my working and business life
has been with the express purpose of achieving a state of freedom. The sorts of income I was methodically building were designed to be passive and residual--not requiring my physical presence in any location for them to be sustained. So while the mechanics of how that freedom would be financed were taking shape, I never had the actual location clear in my head. But on that fateful day in Brooklyn in December 2005, when my friend raved about his experience here on Saipan, something clicked and I heard Saipan calling, and made the decision to up and leave!

Now that I'm here, the adventure of learning new languages and experiencing new social norms, is one that provides me with endless amount of enjoyment and satisfaction.

The unique adventure of navigating personal relationships across language and cultural barriers is a fun challenge. (I'll probaly write more on that in a future post)

Not a day goes by that I don't smile a wide smile of happiness at having made the decision to come here.

However, while the decision to come here was mostly personal, the public/activist side of me could not be submerged.

If I see a situation that I feel I can help, I'm duty bound by my commitment to the universe to do so. I can't NOT help. That would be alien to whom I've come to know as my self. (Of course, one's assessment of a situation, and the nature of one's "help" is purely subjective, but hey...) So, everything I've done while here, the workshops, coaching, the Food Co-op, the NFL (National Forensics League) student competition judging, the weekly Saipan Tribune column, the WeLoveSaipan site, the New Saipan ActionTank, have all been engaged in with the intention of lending my perspectives, talents, and ideas to helping people achieve what they wish to.


So as I immerse myself in these projects and ventures, I realize that a metamorphosis is taking place. The nature of the thoughts and activities that fill my day take on a different hue than when I was in the states.

Now, I'm a "volunteer," and a "community leader," titles I wouldn't have typically assigned myself, but which others here have bestowed.

The dilemma that I mentioned in the previous post is one result of that metamorphosis. As the New Walt emerges--one who is involved in establishing industries on a pacific island, it continues a tradition of shifting identities--a transition--that started back in college, and which included (but was not limited to)

student-->radio DJ-->civil engineer-->record label owner-->author--->passionpreneur-->career coach--->nomadpreneur-->?
and is taking a turn to something which is yet to be fully defined.

Much like the New Saipan which is taking shape, there is a new me developing the end result of which cannot be fully predicted, being a conglomeration of numerous inputs, but which can be steered in a particular direction.

So, what's the point of my rambling? Couldn't tell you. Perhaps when I re-read this tomorrow, I'll detect something more coherent in what I wish to impart, and develop it more then. For now, the simple message is....Stay tuned....a change is gonna come...

Labels: Lifestyle, The Universe

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