On Hobbies Still Going, MOJO Realignment, and Projects Yet To Got Off The Ground

RC Cars – The Project That Never Quite Got Off The Ground

Back in 2020, I invested in all the components for a remote-controlled car. I bought the batteries, chargers, a very nice Tamiya car and a couple of storage containers to make transporting everything easier. I wasn’t just buying a toy to muck around with in the backyard. I had a bigger plan.

I’d done a fair bit of research and started a Facebook page for a remote-controlled car club on Kangaroo Island. I wanted to create something other people could get involved in, too. I’d even mowed the block behind our house with the intention of building a track. Things were coming together, and I was genuinely excited about what I might achieve.

Then life got in the way.

Around the time Russia invaded Ukraine, my mental health took a significant hit. I was struggling with what was happening in the world and wasn’t in a good place emotionally. I didn’t tell people how badly I was struggling. At the time, I couldn’t find much positivity in anything, and even the dystopian films I watched seemed to add to the state of mind I was already in. Eventually, I reached a point where I felt as though my mind had completely broken down.

Most people had no idea how badly I was struggling. From the outside, I was carrying on with life as best I could, so the RC car project quietly stalled. The car still remains incomplete, the track was never built, plus the club never got beyond the early planning stages.

I don’t regret leaving it unfinished. At the time, I needed to concentrate on myself rather than trying to manage everything happening around me. Looking back, some things simply had to wait.

These days, I’m more careful about how much attention I give to world events. I rarely watch the news, although I’m still aware of what’s happening around the globe. I’ve learnt that I don’t need to immerse myself in every disturbing event to be informed. Sometimes, looking after yourself means knowing when to switch off.

The good news is that I haven’t forgotten the car. It’s sitting in its little case right in front of me while I watch television, a constant reminder of a project I’d still like to finish.

Six years is a long time for something to remain unfinished, and sometimes I wish I’d completed it earlier. But life doesn’t always follow the plans we make, and there’s little point beating myself up over something I wasn’t in the right headspace to pursue.

For now, it’s a project waiting for its turn. I don’t have to finish everything immediately, and I don’t have to abandon an idea just because life interrupted it.