Coffee thoughts

I'm pretty sure it doesn't have to be like this

We don’t want to be like this. No one wants to be tired and fat and in pain, sad and scared and shallow. I am convinced some part of us all realises there is something wrong with the way the modern world makes us live. We blame it on the Man, the System, the Culture - but we are doing this to ourselves. We so often choose to take the well-trodden path instead of seeking our own. That makes sense - it is so scary to have to bushwhack, to search and stumble and struggle while questioning every step. But anyone who has experienced goodness and realness would choose it over the hollow conveniences we so often turn to. Anyone who knows real food, real connection, real nature would crave that instead of the watered down versions of everything we have access to now.

We have achieved so many incredible things as a species, it’s not all bad - but it is bad. We have lost touch with nature, created a superficial and artificial world that saps our bodies and minds of strength. Creativity is crushed to make way for productivity. There is no room for playfulness and deep rest in a world of 9-to-5. We give up our choices to have more comfort, seeking distraction and entertainment because we feel powerless in the face of so many big problems.

This is not working. We all know deep down that something needs to change. We need to admit that parts of these lives we live are unnecessarily ugly.

I know the love of the wild is still in us. Who could look into the golden eyes of a hare and not be moved and transfixed at once, not have their breath catch and their body go still to not break that moment? I am convinced of the goodness in each of us, no matter how many examples to the contrary I come across. I have seen the careless cruelty, the complacency and some true evil, but equally the endless capacity for kindness, creativity and joy.

We are all capable of putting so much goodness and beauty out into the world, but we are scared to lean fully into ourselves. Know that it is also selfish to make yourself small, to not share what comes easily and naturally to you with the world. You and all your wonderful weirdness are part of this puzzle. Trying to make yourself a different shape, trying to match the shape of others - this will not help us solve our problems. The world needs you with all your sticky-out bits and edges and funny colours. If you can hold your shape while being part of something bigger than yourself, then we might have a chance of changing things for the better.