Imagine you're 85. Body slower. Energy thinner. You get one wish: To come back and do it over. You open your eyes. You're here. This age. Strong, adventurous, capable. With people you love still within reach. You have one do-over, and you're sitting in it.
Live like it's your second time around.
This is Bertha - and this is exactly the situation I have been struggling with.
She was my first cow purchase. Bought her as a milk cow and then soon learned she was mostly past time for being a good milk cow.
She’s about 14 or 15 years old. Still gives a calf each year but her time for a natural end is coming quickly.
Many would take her to the sale barn, receive some money for her. It’s difficult to explain but that feels wrong - it’s not, but it feels terrible.
So at this point she will likely live her life out here, she’ll serve as a lead cow (she’s really not great for that either), but she will do okay. She means a lot to me and I just don’t want to think of her at auction or otherwise being transported somewhere away from this farm.
So for now, and likely until her very end, she remains here.
I am so bullish on the real world.
Group events. Cookouts. Sports. Parties. Animals. Music festivals. Phoneless dinners. Co-living centers. Healing centers. Retreat centers. Beautiful views. Group adventures.
These things light me up. Tech, ai, and materialism continue to disguest me more every day.
The pendulum has swung too far. A small group of soulless nerds will continue to obsess over ai, automation, effiency, and the intellect. But those of us connected to our hearts and spirits are becoming disgusted by it. We want real, and we want human.
Expect a huge countersurge of irl businesses and events in the next few years.
One of my uncles Glen has been in hospice and awaiting his journey into the cosmos. He sent me a text message reflecting on his life. I’m not sure why but i think it’s worth sharing. He’s badass and one of his last messages is even more so.
“Since the age of 10, I have despised authority and gave the finger to anyone telling me what to do. Living life on my own terms however required departing my comfort zone. Riding against the wind resulted in countless broken bones, nights in jail, felony charges, jumping out of airplanes, swimming on the sea floor, motorcycle crashes, fist fights, shattered romances, and everything from toe curling ecstasy to stark raving terror. There was no logic to any of this. I did it just because I felt like it. Without a doubt, though it was worth every fucking stitch!”