A few years back, I’m walking through airport security in Heathrow and hand my passport over to the officer. I greet him and say hello how are you doing today, and he looks at me and says sarcastically “just another day living the dream.” I was in Lake Placid just the other night and a hotel manager said the exact same thing to me after I greeted him. You could chalk this up to just greeting two people having a bad day, but it’s no secret that this kind of casual desperation pervades our society. Now I’ve come to see this in a different light.
Reinvention is painful
For me it’s not that I was stuck in a dead-end job, I was just stuck. I knew I needed to make a change. I did. I left comfort and security behind to be in a place of discomfort and in-security. It’s been over a year now and I still have my doubts. Seth Godin talks at length about this and points out you cannot reinvent yourself without going through some major pain. I now know this first hand. There is a reason we stay in our comfort zones and make jokes about the petty crap we have to deal with in the daily grind. Change is hard.
Starting over from scratch? Not a quest lightly accepted.
I’m re-reading The Lord of the Rings right now, which is really all about journeys, both past, present, and future, and the paths that we take, and I’m realizing that reinvention is probably been the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.
There are still many unanswered questions. For ex: we have the opportunity to buy some farmland now but what if the deal falls through? We think we have a good handle on our target market but what if someone taps into it before we even have a chance to get started? You never know. The risks are high for any entrepreneur but I’m committed (or foolish enough) to see this through.
Rise of the Agri-preneur
As a bootstrapping agripreneur, the support network is good but we’re still remote from many of our friends & family. Despite this I am extremely buoyed by the fact that many thought leaders, including guys like Gary Vaynerchuck, say it’s “never been a better time to be an entrepreneur.” And around the Northeast you can see many small farms and business start-ups doing well.
Living the Dream?
So am I living the dream? Yeah, but only part-time. I’m not saying I’m a better than an airport security officer or a hotel manager. I’m just doing the best I can with the resources I have available to stay on this journey. So for my part, that’s the best I can hope for.
“There was never much hope. Just a fool’s hope.” Gandalf the White
