TKG Sunday . Think Harder

I’m ready. Are you ready? Think Harder.

Nov 17, 2024

Remember that old saying - “stuck in a rut?”

The term "stuck in a rut" originates from the physical grooves or "ruts" formed in muddy or unpaved roads by repeated wheel tracks of carts or wagons. These ruts would often become so deep that wheels would get trapped.

Is it like being trapped in the nice, safe niche we've carefully built? Or dressing how people expect you too? Being age appropriate. Or loving who people expect you to? Or staying where they left you last. Allowing someone else to make our choices for us because we think they know better? Keeping our heads down. Not rocking the boat. In the immortal words of my oldest grand-daughter “Fuck That”.

For the record I am a boat rocker of old. I loved to stand up in the dinghy when we were kids. And rock from one hip to the other. Hair flying. Screaming back at my screaming brother.

When we spend time each day in these spaces - Substack, blogging, LinkedIn, online businesses, Instagram - we find ourselves surrounded by advice. Voices telling us how to grow, how to add value, how to reach more people. The advice is clear: stay on task, stick to the agenda, don’t surprise your readers. Stay within the lines of your brand. Hold tight to your niche.

Yeah. Nah. That is something I find incredibly hard to do.

Because I think the voices are wrong. I think our friends and family and readers are perfectly capable of accepting a change of subject. A change of mind. A deviation in the brand. I think if we talk with our readers like the intelligent questing humans that they are, they will respond in the same vein. We must trust our readers. We ARE readers too, after all!

If you write (and live) from the standards you set for yourself - your own ideals, if you like - and you stick with your core beliefs - your readers will trust you to lead them through the woods when things veer off course. Your ideals and standards will remain the same if you know for sure whatthey are. Think hard - you must be sure of the tenets you hold close, the manifesto you carry within. And then embrace the choice to change your mind, shift direction, and explore new pathways whenever the need arises.

Trust your people.

When was the last time you sat down and had a good think about who you are and what you believe in and what you will fight for. Because times have changed my people. The climate has changed. Our family dynamics have changed. God knows politics have changed. Travel has changed. Life as we know it, has changed. The good old days of a family sitting down on the couch together to watch Happy Days on TV together are gone.

So, it stands to reason - you should have changed, too. As you learn and grow and experience new environments and new writing and new readers you should find that you have changed your mind about some things, too. Or you really are stuck in a rut. Don’t get caught by the highwaymen while you sit in your rut.

Write your manifesto

If you have not done so already - it is time to write your manifesto again.

Are you creating or reacting. Lets get creating.

A manifesto is a written statement that declares the intentions, beliefs, or principles of an individual, group, or organisation. It is often used to outline goals, ideals, or a vision for change and serves as a guiding framework for actions or decisions. A personal philosophy if you will.
But it must be treated as an organic document.

Write your rock solid ideals. Build them brick by brick into magnificent pillars.

My pillars are (in no particular order), (today),

Teaching my people how to grow food.
Teaching my people how to live in a way that the earth can sustain.
Protecting our natural environment.
Honesty.
Fuck the rules.
Everyone has a choice.
Protecting and nourishing Family. (Be where I am needed the most).

Under each of those pillars are a bunch of subheadings of course.

Don’t forget to add How To (achieve this)? And Then What (happens next).

Be independent and robust in your outlook.

We must not depend on the big box stores and government to feed and cherish and entertain us. We can no longer depend on the powers that be to care even if they ever did. We need to build solid metaphorical and realistic structures into our lives then be prepared to blow the whole lot up and change our minds.

All my writing for years and years has been about what happened yesterday. What might get done today. What I am planning for tomorrow. My writing is mired in reality. I try to write as honestly as I can so we can comment and chat and communicate with all the facts from a real life landscape. This won’t change.

(Honesty is hard because are all crippled with bias. Oh mercy are we a mess. But that’s ok. We are human. Stir it up and serve!)

This won’t change either.

And I am not talking about goals. Goals narrow me down too much. They don’t take change into account. Life is a very chaotic and violent game of chess. And though we don’t play it alone we must be prepared to think independently.

My brand is evolving - et tu?

If we narrow our eyes and zoom in; The Kitchens Garden Farm is my brand. But it’s more than that. I am more than cows and pigs and chickens.

Zoom back out, and my brand becomes something bigger: From the cows and pigs and chickens, I share how I learn to observe. Grow food. Forage for our animals. Teach our kids. I learnt how to survive in deep cold. Planning. Scheduling. How to deal with mistakes. Tell the time by the sun. Plant by the moon (when I remember).

We learnt to read the weather. Read the room. Look back. Take notes. Keep up with timely maintenance. See in the dark. Think like a cow. Connect. Disconnect when I needed to. Trap. Track. I learnt to say goodbye - with care and consideration. To treat our food well and eat it too. To look dinner in the eye and still hold a gentle, compassionate empathy for my animals and the world around us.

I am learning all the time. You too I think.

We learn to learn and THEN we learn that we need to keep learning. To change our minds. To pivot. To make new plans. To engage. To build.
To never take a new path is SAD, my people.

Collect little wild Nuggets of Knowledge.

As we go through our lives we collect little nuggets, little treasure boxes of information and stow them in our pockets. Later in life we encounter a challenge, a fork in our path and we think - huh - I have that nugget. I have that treasure. I can use it now. We take it out of our pockets with delight and put that knowledge to work.

When I worked as a nanny for a film director in London and across Europe I used all the stuff I had learned as a mother and then as a teacher to manage his houses and his kids and his schedule, eventually branching out into being his reader and assistant on location using my experience as a writer. We are so much more than our brands.

We bring a ton of knowledge about other stuff with us. Let’s not get so mired in our little niches that we forget to pull our heads up and redirect our navigation as necessary.

Think harder. Are you right where you should be? Or is there a window slowly opening up your right. Just out of sight. Making an imperceptible creaking sound. Maybe we need to turn our heads and look. Maybe there is an owl sitting on the sill waiting for us.

Reevaluation is the doorway to understanding, the invitation to seeing with fresh eyes.

WalkAbout

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

— Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene II

The Round Up

The barn owl called to me the other night, he was perched in the tree outside my window, lit by a magnificent bright full moon, hooting in such a low register I could hear the echo in my chest. Like a hum. Like the sound in the air after a hum is over. A vibration of sound.

The owl has always been a harbinger of change in my life.

The Kitchens Garden Farm

Round Up in pictures.

Cows

PopPops

Big Pigs,

Tima and Wai

Ducks

Dogs

Cats

Chickens

Yes - you are right. That is not a chicken - that is a rooster. There are two extremely beautiful roosters that smuggled themselves onto the farm camouflaged as day old fluffy layer chicks and grew into roosters.

Roosters have big flamboyant tails and high hat combs. Usually their bodies are much bigger than the hens too.

This substack is the very epitome of organic change. Contemplative seasonal change. You get to follow along with all the moves and changes, of seasons and countries and animals and peoples. Amazing. Life is just amazing!

Join me 5 days a week at The Kitchens Garden . Com