We all have that feeling when we need to do something, but sometimes life just gets in the way. I ask many people, what are you doing and they can give me a detailed answer. But it’s usually always a different answer to the question, what do you want to do? The answer to this question is usually just as detailed… except they have an excuse. Some common things we hear are, ‘I don’t have time’, or ‘I’m too tired’, or even, ‘I’ve been working all day, I just want to relax!’
Well, we all have these excuses, but lets face it. If you keep making these excuses then you will never be doing what you want to do. So you just need to grit your teeth, brace yourself, and get on with it. The reality is, if don’t work towards your own dreams and make them come true, you end up working for someone else to help their dreams come true. So the question is, how much do you really want it, and are you ready to put the work in?
St Marks Summit, Vancouver, B.C, Canada
At sunrise over Howe Sound, from the top of St Marks Summit, I sat watching the clouds dissipate. It was 7am on a Sunday morning. The world was still asleep. A 4am Hike in the dark was worth it for this view, and the camera did not do the colours justice. Listening to the silence and quiet and feeling insignificantly small against the great outdoors, mother nature was putting on the best display for those who wanted to see it. I could have easily made an excuse, ‘It’s too early’, or, ‘I’m tired I want to sleep in’. Well I sure am glad I didn’t because what a view!
While sitting there I had peace, clarity and my mind was racing. What is this life about, what is humanity destined to be? Is our only goal to become consumers? Does our happiness come from buying shiny new things or a little bit of retail therapy? If not, does it come from watching T.V, entertainment and movies? Probably not. I knew that none of these could bring happiness, however looking at that view, thats what brings happiness.
Something must change. We live in a world where we get bread from the shop, fruit and vegetables from the shop, and most people even get their pre cooked dinners from the shop. I learned this while living in Canada, in a city, where I didn’t have space to grow fruit or veg, and I was dependent on the grocery store for my fresh food. Sometimes they were sold out, or sometimes they just decided to put the price up, and I, like everyone else was at their mercy. What if they decide not to sell fruit or veg, or bread. Tough luck, that’s what. All this made me realize that in todays world most people are not cooking, and most people are not growing their own food, and yet most people would love to have the option to grow food, they just don’t know where to start, or think its a lot of work.
We as humans have survived for thousands of generations by living with nature and growing and living off the land. The first grocery store only popped up around 1916 in America, and the first supermarket in Britain opened in 1948. Up until then, where did we get our food?? Well, we grew it, and made it. Nowadays, we are in danger of trusting our food supply to a handful of corporations, who use ingredients most of us cannot even pronounce. I have seen children who do not know where milk and eggs come from, and some do not know that apples grow on trees. This is a dangerous game we are playing; not for our future, but for the future of humanity. In just two generations, we have moved away from our millennia old traditions, and in just two generations aren’t we in a world that is crazier than ever, with power hungry corporations breathing down our necks, watching our every move, more health problems than ever, and more mental health problems? Just like the bee in the picture above, we still need nature. But nature needs us too.
Sitting on that rock looking at that view, I almost forgot about all of that.
My father is a landscaper, but he is from the generation of hardy men. The men who can do it all. He can build, paint, plant, farm, teach, and when we get tired, he still keeps going. Because that’s just how it was for them growing up in rural Ireland in the 1960s. They didn’t have carpenters to fix a door, or call an electrician to fix a plug. They had to use the resources they had to fix it themselves. I grew up helping men like him, and learning everything I could from them. I still learn everyday.
I notice in todays world, a lot of people have become dependent on others. They need a carpenter to fix a door, or put up a shelf. they need a plumber to stop a leak in a tap. They need a gardener to plant a tree. For complex jobs I agree, use the advice and experience of a professional. But for small simple jobs, there comes a time when we should learn that. This isn’t a problem now. But what will our children be like, if they don’t learn, and we have nothing to teach them. Will they become a generation raised by Instagram and TikTok? A generation that only knows what they are taught in school and what the media tells them to think?
On that mountaintop, I saw the future, and because of the peace and quiet, I had time to think of it. A seed was planted in my head and I developed it into an idea, which turned into a thought, a word, a topic of conversation, and one day I sat down and wrote it out. I would return home, work hard with my father and build the business, not only into a landscaping company, but also into an education company, so we can help make a better future.
I have met many wonderful people in my life and each one of them I have learned something from. I have travelled in any different countries and learned about cultures all over the world. For those of you who know me and are reading this, I have to thank you because without my life being exactly the way it is, I would never have gotten here to this point.
I am a big believer of do it yourself, so I challenged myself to see how much of a difference an idea can make. Because if I sit back and make excuses, I will still be thinking ‘what difference could this idea make’, in 50 years. One small step is progress, and progress is progress, no matter how small. For the Past 3 months I have been taking steps to build my company, I have been learning and studying Web Design in my spare time, and I have designed and built this website by myself. I knew nothing about web design, and I still am not an expert, but I am still working towards it. If I can do it, so can anyone.
As Lao Tzu said, ‘the tree that fills the arms, grew from the tiniest sprout’. A small idea could therefore change the world.
If you have made it down this far, I would like to thank you for reading as it’s my first post, and I hope you will stay and support the journey. If you’d like to hear more posts, stories, tips and tricks for your garden, and some more info about education, please leave your email on the contact us page. If you enjoyed reading, you can send a message on whatsapp or instagram!
Thanks again,
Thomas
