You'll get strange looks of obvious disapproval and disbelief. Telling people your goals and dreams may seem scary at first but it is how you make it a reality. When we decided to leave our day jobs and risk everything to start a small farm in another state, we heard more than our share of “Why?” and “Can you make any money doing that?” And the best responses we have are usually, “Because it makes me happy.” and “Maybe not.” That first answer is the most important.
The world is not against you, the world simply is. You can make your world, make your farm, write your book, choose your friends, record your album. If you have to be a barista, get a retail job or rely on the kindness of strangers and friends to get it done then do it.
When we moved across the country so I could attend school (taking our farm with us) we got even stranger looks than the first time. It was the roughest trip we could have imagined. We broke down for a week and ran out of money, all while driving directly away from everyone we’d ever known. But we knew we could survive, and you can too.
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| Life sure does throw some curveballs. |
This isn’t about how hard we had or have it, this is about you. This is about you doing it. What do you want to do? How can we help you do it?
Time is a limited resource, I know it sucks to think about, but you have only so much time to be happy and every second spent not being happy is a second lost to the winds. If you fear the possible failure, let me tell you something.
Not trying is failure.
I’m not saying to drop everything and do whatever you want, I’m saying we are entitled to the pursuit of happiness, and we need to chase it. You can pursue happiness relentlessly -be that cop who gets suspended from a case for “Being too close” and keeps searching for the facts until he brings down that suspect. You are that cop searching for your happiness.
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| Making the best of an inconvenient and stressful situation. |
Honestly though, here is a short list of things you can do to pursue your thing. Because as George Watsky says “It’s gotta be somebody. So why not you?”
Podcast.
We started ours last year, we have over 200 plays already and it makes us feel good every time someone listens. I takes us about 5 hours a week to do, and we record on the mic built in to Ashley’s computer. If you have questions, we'd love to help you get started.
Write something.
Write a blog, write a short story to share with your friends, write a poem. I write every time I need to create something. I’m writing a book of poems, a fantasy book, a blog post, and a romance book if i ever get past the opening line. Maybe someone other than Ashley will read one of these, maybe nobody will, but I made them and that makes me proud.
Farm/Plant Something.
Plant some things and watch them grow, care for them and if you have excess share with others and enjoy the bounty of a harvest like man has been doing for generations. Food is at the core of humanity.
Sing.
As cheesy as it sounds, sing. I can’t hold a note or carry a tune, but I sing. Try it out, miss all the notes and give it your all.
Above all of this, practice compassion and love.
It’s hard to be kind and compassionate toward those you see as opposing you, but just remember the concepts of John Green in a speech written for an ALAN Conference, He tells us to imagine others complexly. No person is entirely what you think they are, you can’t fully understand your own thought processes let alone those of another. I try to assume the best in others as much as I can, and I’ll be the first to admit it is the hardest thing I have ever done (And I’ve moved an entire a farm across the country in a broken down Winnebago.)
In closing. You have time to express yourself and pursue your happiness, in fact the only thing you don’t have time for is to not.
- Ric
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