write « Robin Writes

So we made the big move out to the middle of nowhere. Okay, there’s a “town” of about 200 or so within a few miles, and another of 5000 about 15 miles away. But here in the middle of our 35 acres, it sure SEEMS like that!

The moving went, well, like moving goes: long and exhausting. Even though we did move a lot of stuff over the last few months, the final push still meant finding space for everything in the house.

Turns out, I’m very thankful for the dungeon. Er, lean-to. Once we cleaned it out and started tiling the floor, it looks much better, enough so that I can store some things down there. Like extra liquor. Not sure how we accumulated all that…

Now that I’m mostly unpacked, I can tell you that moving to a homestead isn’t all about a gorgeous sunrise on the deck with your coffee, and hiking through the woods soaking up the warm weather. Or planning a garden, or measuring for your pasture fence.

Well, okay, it is, but likely while you’re gulping down coffee you’re also keeping an eagle eye on the dog so an, um, eagle or something doesn’t swoop down and grab her. And then you’re dodging boxes while trying to decide where to put what. And find stuff.

You know you have to get seeds started, and the garden plowed, and the pasture seeded—you’ve already scheduled that for Tuesday, based on the forecast, but who knows?

And then you realize that your office will actually be able to be worked in if you just stop for a moment and put together that new file cabinet you bought.

This includes an eight-pound bag of “hardware” and a part labelled C4. You realize what that part’s for when you open the directions book—not booklet, book—and decide maybe you’ll just leave your mess on the living room floor and go into the office, file cabinet be damned.

After going over your to-do list, all 124 items, you decide to just tool around on Amazon for a while…

It’ll still be nice out tomorrow, right?

See, that’s the thing—you just don’t know what tomorrow will bring. It could be snow—God forbid—or a storm or too much wind for seeding. Maybe you pull a muscle today and can barely walk tomorrow. On a homestead or farm, things need to be done NOW. You can’t just tell yourself that you’ll “do it later,” you don’t get to take breaks all day long whenever the urge strikes.

Alright, you can cut yourself a little slack, especially at first, because sometimes you’ll wonder when you’re ever going to have time for fun stuff.

You DO need to make time for all that, to do things you enjoy. But you better enjoy the farming or homestead life, or you won’t last long. Me, I can’t wait to start planting, but it’s also (near) the first of the month and the end of the first quarter, so I have work to do. The point is that it’s the PLANTING that I like to do—among other things.

Entertainment, too, can come unexpectedly. For instance, I’ll sure enough be entertained when my husband gets back from the barn and sees the mess of file cabinet pieces I left there…

I’m starting to get a little aggravated by the many, many social media posts/articles about being “kind” and “let’s make the world a better place” and stuff like that.

Why in the world would that irritate anyone?

Because I do these things. Because everyone I know does these things. Because we don’t need reminders to do these things when a major disaster occurs.

Here’s an example:

Women and skin care. The cosmetics industry has many women convinced that, if they buy this product or that one, all their problems—skin and otherwise—will magically disappear.

Let me tell you: I have yet to find the spackle that will do this.

So women everywhere are tense and stressed about looking younger, and constantly seeking the solution.

Okay, fine, YOU are not one of them. Doesn’t change the cosmetics industry’s marketing ploy.

So let’s say you’re carrying on with your daily life and you’re nice to people and you donate time and money to charity, and you try really hard to see the opposite point of view. With me so far?

Then you see posts about how being “kind” will fix the world—and right away you think, “Oh, no! I should do more!”

And the guilt sets in. Whether or not you realize it or acknowledge it.

You hear all the time about how “stressed” we are—sure, it’s the news media and our constant exposure, but it’s all this irrational guilt that says if only you would do MORE . . .

I’m betting, if you’re reading this, that you’re a rational human being, at least mostly, and you do not go out of your way—or even inadvertently—to piss off everyone. You don’t globetrot to blow up things and people, you don’t send subversive messages all over the place.

YOU are not the problem.

In spite of the 70s Coke commercials.

The problem are radicalized individuals and groups who think this shit is fun stuff and they’re going to be rewarded in their version of heaven.

Again, YOU are not the problem. Which means YOU are not the solution. No matter how “kind” you are, YOU are not going to fix the world.

So stop already. Stop feeling guilty and stressed because you don’t think you’re “kind” enough.