Living My Soul Existence

This is an introduction to this blog of mine. I am a writer, artist and entrepreneur.

My Background

I have worked as a subtitler, translator, writer and editor for about seven years. Jobs disappeared during the pandemic. Agencies were willing to pay less and less and the jobs were further apart.

Then machine translation became increasingly more popular and translation jobs were replaced by editing machine translations. Essentially you would get half the amount of money for doing twice as much. This is because machine translations are often very bad, so you first have to proofread, research and edit. Only to realise that it would be less time consuming to just translate it yourself.

Last year, in 2023, the few jobs that were left were replaced by AI. My seven year career disappeared in flash.

That was when I decided I couldn’t go back to working for other people. I worked nights, weekends, holidays and sometimes worked days on end and I was neither compensated or valued. If you quit, they have someone fill your seat before you’ve even terminated your contract. You simply aren’t valued. But when you do what you love, and you have no one to answer to but yourself, your stress levels will diminish until they disappear completely.

As an entrepreneur, it isn’t that you end up working less, but more that you end up dedicating your time to something you’d want to be doing even if you weren’t getting paid. Which is good, because turning something into an income isn’t instantaneous.

Writing

I used to be a blogger and I had a fashion blog that was quite popular. Eventually I turned it into an e-magazine. But as I got further on the sustainable path, I couldn’t write about fast fashion or trends anymore. I didn’t want to encourage people to support fast fashion, or to limit themselves by following trends that may or may not suit them.

I have written books since I was fifteen. A couple of years ago I turned to Wattpad and published several books there. Some of them are now being rewritten, edited and published. When it comes to fiction, I mainly write LGBTQIA fiction. There are often fantay/supernatural elements, or what others deem as such. My books are very diverse and that is very intentional. I love reading, but there are so many books out there where all of the characters are straight, cis, white and very stereotypical and that’s just not real to me. I want books to be like the world actually is, in some ways. A wide variety of personalities, sexualities, genders, colours and bodies. That’s what makes the world interesting, and in my opinion, what helps readers relate to characters.

I created my business about 7-8 years ago, and at first it was just a necessity to pay taxes. But as I have moved to my own path, the business is now about consulting and content creation. I write books, create courses, recipes, art and other digital content. I have blogs, newsletters and I am considering starting a YouTube channel and a podcast. Everything is related to personal freedom and sustainability. I am on a quest to help people free themselves from the system and create healthier, happier lives that are catered to their souls, not social norms.

My Life Today

I am pursuing personal freedom and I am creating my dream life.

Right now I am trying to figure out how to live without money and it is really fun.

I am learning how to make more things on my own, how to mend and make do, how to get things for free and how to reduce waste. I keep a container garden and I grow quite a bit of my own food. I also forage. I preserve food by dehydrating it, canning it, freezing it, as well as save the seeds and seed potatoes for next year’s garden. Last year I grew about 10 kg of food per sqm. About half of my container garden is perennial.

I keep a pantry which gives me food security all around. I spend around 50-60 dollars a month on food right now, and most of it is optional. To give you some perspective, I live in Stockholm which is the capital of Sweden. And inflation has definitely reared its ugly head here.

During spring, summer and early fall, I get most of my food (that I otherwise buy) from my garden. With a slightly larger container garden, and a growing cabinet indoor, I could become self-sufficient as far as my food goes. I would still need to purchase a few staples such as oats, sugar, salt, oil and grain every few years or so, but I could get a 2-3 year’s worth of those ingredients for about 100 dollars.

I rent a 10 sqm room with added storage and a 5 sqm space outside to grow food. By spending my money mindfully, I have managed to get my monthly budget down to less than 5000 sek, which is about 500 dollars.

This blog

This blog is essentially my online journal. I will write about random thoughts, ideas, projects, share updates on my art and writing and more. If you are interested in creating the life of your dreams, subscribe and join the community. 🙂

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