Sometimes you’re in a spot in life and you wonder, why did I put myself in this situation? Then, hopefully, you try to convince yourself that it is because the hard and scary moments in life are the ones that make it worth living. Well, I’m sure the people throughout history that said those cliché lines like, “what comes easy won’t last, what lasts won’t come easy” said them after the fact. I mean, who really believes that in the moment? It is just something used to get by, and that’s exactly what I’m trying to do, get by.
My life has been pretty good, and in a lot of ways I’d say pretty easy. The challenges I’ve had have all been ones I could face and overcome, to some extent or another. Sure, I’ve failed, had my heartbroken, and broken bones. Both physical and mental pain has come my way, but usually I try to avoid it; don’t most of us? It’s a scary, anxious feeling to be facing some sort of pain, but to avoid it doesn’t make sense in the long the run, according to those cliché sayings I was talking about above. Maybe, that’s why I did this, to face a fear? That would be nice, to think of this effort as a brave one. Or, it could’ve been the whim that it was; you know my spontaneous nature making yet another decision for me. Was I fed up for working for the man? We look for simple answers to questions that are posed simply, but in reality they are not that simple, and that is the case here. All I know is that I am in a town where I know no one, starting my own farm, with about as much experience farming as the amount of people I know here, 0.
I came home from Mexico because of the corona virus, my plans of staying in Latin America uprooted, and that’s okay. When I arrived back in Massachusetts I needed to adapt to the present situation, a pandemic. Well, I don’t have experience with that, and turns out nobody alive on this earth has experience with it, so I began pondering how I could adapt, what could I do? Hmmm, a go to with so much time is to get a job and work, check. See old friends, check. Spend quality time with family, check. Get back in shape, check. But I wanted more. You could even say I needed more because I’m a dreamer, that’s what I do, I daydream.
Ever since I was a little boy I can remember daydreaming long hours away in school, thinking of adventures and different scenarios and how I would handle them. Here I am, 26, and not much has changed, except for the fact that I now have the independence to act on them (oh how I long for childhood boundaries again). The new job I got when I was home was for a farm, which incorporates a side of ecology, being outdoors, service to others, and hard labor; four things I really can get behind for a day well spent. Naturally, I began dreaming about getting out of my parents house, and not working for somebody else, while farming. Now, I don’t know exactly when it turned from a daydream to a reality, but it did.
Here I am typing this, getting my thoughts out, trying to figure this all out for myself, from my room in Vermont, fifteen minutes down the road from the newly leased farm. There is so much opportunity that I have stumbled upon here. From the land itself to the connection I’ve made with the person who owns the land. Now I’m wondering, pondering, sometimes even fretting if my skills, capabilities and knowledge will match the amount of opportunity. Can I make it happen? The truth is yes. I can and I know it. I also, know it won’t be any easy feat. But hey, as another cliché saying says, “the fundamental level of success is doing the hard things first. If you go for the feared thing first, the rest of the day is easy”. Maybe that’s why I made this decision; I’m just trying to make the rest of my days easier.