This blog sucks and I know why. It doesn’t take a genius to figure it out either. Look online and you’ll find that the first thing you’re supposed to do when starting a blog is pick a topic. I skipped that step. An Out of the Way Place isn’t really a travel blog and it’s even less of a photography or writing blog. It isn’t even a standard narcissistic blog that’s all about me.
What is this all leading to?
Great for economics, not so much for personal growth.
I know specialization works. It allows for mass production and other, almost unfathomable increases in productivity. In fact, the only reason we have amazing concert pianists and Olympic swimmers is because some people are willing to spend eight hours a day staring at piano keys or the bottom of a pool. Compare the product of all this focus to say the generalized skills of a group of hunter gatherers and the results are, well, pretty amazing.
Still, it’s not all Carnegie Hall and gold medals: specialization has a cost. Think of the maladjusted prodigy or stuffy businessman. These extreme cases are the result of a tunnel vision approach to life. Plato recognized this risk thousands of years ago and recommended a balance of music, sports and mathematics for everyone. Unfortunately we as a society lost sight of this balance somewhere along the way which is why we have people spending 12 hours a day in cubicles and bragging about it.
The only kind of path in life that I enjoy.
Pretty cool, but not my idea of a role-model.
For me, at least, the trade-off just isn’t worth. Why? Because for me it’s more important to be happy than to be the best at something. I love Beethoven and Tchaikovsky, but neither is my role-model. I want to savor all of life’s experiences. Like as kid in a candy store I want to try some of everything until I just can’t stand eating any more.
Am I writer or a photographer? I’m neither. I’m a collector of experience. Not a career? Than I suppose I just don’t have one, but that’s ok with me, because as far as I know we only get one chance at this thing called life and I wouldn’t want to live mine any other way…
So this blog will keep on sucking in its, or my, own unique way. Maybe that means I’m doomed to be a Giazon-of-all-trades. So be it. There are worse role-models than Leonardo DaVinci.
An out of the way place... 
Awesomeness
Thanks Ryan… I enjoyed your photos too. Hope you’ll stop by again sometime!
TRUE THAT…to thine own self be TRUE
I think u just shouldn’t care about the rules..
People tend to create rules everywhere… we r FREE by choice and we decided not to have a ‘regular career’ and ppl created rules on the internet too. Like if u dont have a specific niche your blog is not good. Sometimes I think the same about my blog and then I think it doesnt matter. If ppl like it they will follow it, and everyone has a different style and that makes a niche alone 🙂
Keep it up! I like it in here.
Hey, I love your blog and I think it’s mostly the photography that intrigues me, but your accompanying stories are awesome. Descriptive, etc. True that specialization in something can be beneficial, but for me, I like blogs like yours and yours is top notch. Sorry I don’t comment more often, but I definitely enjoy it here