2026. New year, new me type shit. I said I was going to start journaling this year. Better yet, start blogging again. That will help satisfy my exhibitionist side. Why suffer in silence when I can put the whole shit show on display? I doubt anyone will actually read this anyway.
So….. for the last few years I’ve been bouncing back and forth between Chihuahua and Tennessee. In Tennessee I was staying with my sister and working in coffee shops. In Chihuahua, I was trying to further solidify my endeavors in the coffee business.
For different reasons, for two years in a row, things weren’t flowing. Things weren’t going according to plan. Lack of effort? Lack of passion? Lack of perseverance? Perhaps I’ll never have all the answers to this question. I couldn’t make things work by staying in Chihuahua, with my family. With my partner and my son.
In the spring of 2025, I accepted a position at a Starbucks in El Paso, Texas. Roughly four hours from “home” in Chihuahua, I felt like it was the opportunity I needed. A chance to be closer to my family and still bring home some dollars for support and to keep growing the coffee business.
Oh yeah, I also bought a brand new car. With my sister’s help. She co-signed for me. I managed to keep the car until November. It was too much for me to keep up with. Car payment, insurance, cost of living, sending money home, taking time off to travel home.
It got to a point where I couldn’t keep going at Starbucks. It was too fake. Too corporate. I was losing my shit on a daily basis and for what? I wasn’t accomplishing any of the goals that I thought I would.
So I quit. Maybe not the smartest idea at the time but I was just burned out. It was September. I was in the middle of trying to get a new coffee project launched with a friend and perhaps I was a little more ambitious about the trajectory of said project. I figured I could drive full-time for Uber and have more time to go back and forth to Chihuahua and also grow this coffee business.
In November, I lost my vehicle. I was behind on obligations. The car was my only means for generating income. Things weren’t working out so well. I was making bad decisions. My partner said she was tired of my shit and I was on my own.
By the time December rolled around I was getting pretty desperate. I had a few potential job prospects but nothing was happening. I was running out of money and running up my credit card. I was donating plasma to have money for food and rent. Also, things were getting too weird in the place I was staying.
I was also not making the best decisions as far as who I was hanging out with and what substances I was consuming.
I knew I needed to do something. I started applying for different seasonal jobs with housing. That’s what brought me back to the Pacific Northwest. Out of all the seasonal jobs I was hoping to hear back from, I was the most excited for a position at a farm on the Olympic Peninsla. Very close to another farm I worked at in 2022. I already had some friends and connections in this area.
While waiting it out, I went on a Greyhound journey to Tennessee. I gave away and sold most of my belongings and packed everything else. Said my goodbyes to everyone in El Paso and arrived in Tennessee on New Year’s Eve.
I only stayed in Tennessee for two weeks before I was back on the road to Washington. I had an interview at the farm. The interview worked out, I got the position. Living accommodations are provided as a free perk for employees.
Now as February comes to a close, I’ve been on the farm for a month and a half with a full season ahead of me. Time to figure my shit out for this year and for the future.
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