My First Post: The obsession begins…

Hello, and welcome to my blog.  At this moment it is Sunday, April 3rd, 2016, and I am sitting in the office in the back of our rented flat in Sacramento, CA, with my cat Leeloo sitting on my lap (He does this every chance he can get).    It was about a month ago that the idea for this blog entered my mind. I don’t really remember the exact date, but it is possible (actually, likely) that I wrote it down somewhere, because writing things down seems to be one of my  great talents (if it even merits the word “great,” haha).

I have been a writer (as in, someone writes) for as long as I can remember, and even had my own blog of sorts a few years back, but then discontinued it because I probably thought it was pointless or stupid or something (actually, I put a lot of time and effort into the 10-15 posts I published).  Maybe I got embarrassed or nervous about putting the posts up, or maybe I decided that I wasn’t supposed to be “a writer,” since at the time I was pretty sure I had a budding future career as a megasuperstar rapper to focus on instead (!), and I guess I thought megasuperstar rappers don’t write detailed, thought-provoking blog posts (while ignoring the fact that megasuperstar rappers also aren’t usually classically trained pianists and piano teachers–more on these things later).  Anyway, I discontinued that blog, and as it happened, a few years later I started a blog on my music artist site and occasionally put some nice posts on that.  But somehow, writing those blog posts stale-mated as well, probably from my own confusion-slash-overthinking of how to effectively run an artist website, as well as the awkwardness  of trying to juggle my various artistic hats (and, to be candid, the fact that my music website just didn’t make me any money, probably due to my own ignorance, fear, confusion, or general resistance in the area of music marketing).

Somehow or another, the idea of blogging recently came back to me with a vengeance.   It all started about six months ago when I started attending monthly meetings here in Sacramento of a group dedicated to the investment ideas of Jack Bogle (founder of Vanguard).  Someone I met there recommended this funny sounding blog by the name of  Mr. Money Mustache.  I went home that day, visited the website curiously, and my head split in half.  Reading Mr. Money Mustache’s site, it was literally as if a baby dinosaur from Jurassic Park broke through the shell that is my skull and got out.  I was forever changed.  Over the ensuing weeks, a new sense of clarity and purpose came over me like nothing I had ever experienced before.  Soon after that I started to think it might be neat to have a blog myself.

I have no idea what will happen.  And no idea:  HOW LONG I will continue writing this blog,  IF it will make money (which in full disclosure I would like, since it seems to be one of the best long-term incentives I can currently think for keeping something like this going), IF I will like what I write, IF you will like what I write, IF I will change my posts (being the obsessive perfectionist that I can be) or keep them as they are over time, and exactly WHAT in the hell I will write about.

But I do know this:  The last sixteen years of my life I have been on a perpetual quest.  I will call it a quest to create my own personal happiness.  It is the one theme that unites pretty much everything I have done or thought about in that time.

So when the title for this blog hit me, I knew it was perfect.  You see, I had toyed with the idea of doing a financial blog like Mr. Money Mustache, but considering I started funding my first IRA a year ago (and probably didn’t know what one was two years ago!), I didn’t exactly consider myself an expert on the subject.  Secondly, there was the obvious idea of a music-based blog, since that is my career and where I have put most of my efforts, hopes and dreams over the past 20+ years (as well as made probably 98% of my money to date).  But somehow, writing solely about music really didn’t seem right either.   And  I didn’t want the blog to be some kind of pseudo-scientific discussion of what it takes to be happy (I would have no clue where to start).  I wanted the blog to be personal… because my own experience is what I know best.   Finally, I have a very keen interest in subjects such as the law of attraction, manifesting, and what you might call New Age spirituality.  However, at this point I prefer to think of myself as a student and enthusiast of these subjects, rather than some all-knowing guru or mentor (To quote Wayne of the legendary “Wayne’s World”:  As if!).

And so this is a blog about my own personal happiness obsession.  It’s what I live and breathe every single day.   I hope this blog will not only be fun for me to write, but fun for you to read.  If I can shed any light into your own personal journey toward happiness, I will be glad of it.

DISCLAIMER: I apologize in advance for any typos, factual errors, misguided reasoning in this blog.  I promise to be authentic.   I do NOT promise to present opinions you agree with (but if you do, great!).  I am not yet sure how often I will update this blog, but I will do my best to do so.   Also, I promise that I WILL mess up something in the process of managing this blog.   As I suggested earlier, there is also the possibility that I will scrap this blog altogether, or change or alter posts or the overall direction as I see fit. After all, my happiness obsession has led to many previous forks in the road (including this one).  It is an ever-evolving thing, and I reserve the right to change along with it!

And with that, welcome aboard!

–Chris Goslow

Sacramento, CA 4/3/16