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Homesteading, in particular, doesn’t work very well as a solitary sport. We need people. We weren’t meant to do it alone. So writes Victoria Gazeley, experienced rural homesteader and blogger for Grit Magazine and Mother Earth News online editions.
Posting on her own blog in an article titled: Living Your Dream:
Three Strategies for Embracing Fear and Resistance, at modernhomesteading.ca, Victoria writes: Sharing with others, leaning on others and recognizing that you can’t live without others (not very well, anyway) is critical to living a joyful, fulfilled life – especially in a rural area.
Our subscribers and regular online community listeners know, that Lynne and I couldn’t agree more, with what Victoria is saying about the importance and the value of community for rural homesteading or small farming self-sufficient, sustainable living.
Rural homesteading blossoms in the fertile soil of local community and grows exponentially worldwide through online communities.
In this episode we share that in addition to the blessings of our local community, we are also being blessed to be part of a growing online community.
Our online community is abundant with many people who aren’t afraid to dream or think too big, and who have the “right stuff”, matched with the wise know-how to turn their dreams into reality.
In this episode we share a call-in to our Listener Feedback Line from Emily Josephine, a wife, mother, blogger and podcaster. Emily, her husband Jerry and their small son are not afraid to dream big. Emily and Jerry are great examples of good folks in our listening community, who have the “right stuff”, and who are taking measurable steps of action in faith, to make their dreams of becoming rural mountain homesteaders a reality for them. Listen in to enjoy Emily’s comments and learn more about their dreams and journey back to their rural roots.
We are always so pleased to learn of others who have what I like to sometimes refer to as the Field of Dreams…Dream. But more than just learning about other folks having similar back to the land and homesteading or small farming dreams, as pleased as we are to learn about you folks, we really get excited about learning about folks who are taking action to make their dreams a reality like Lynne and I did, and like Tim and Liz Young from Natures Harmony Farm.com did before us.
In our episode #25, Lynne and I have had the great pleasure, fun and learning experience to have Tim and Liz Young on as our guests on the Living the Simple Good Life show. During this interview Tim and Liz shared from their inspiring and informative eye opening book The Accidental Farmers
: An urban couple, a rural calling and a dream of farming in harmony with nature.
I mention Tim Young of Nature’s Harmony Farm because when Tim was on our show in episode 25, Tim talked very passionately about this subject of dreams and Tim addresses the subject of farm and country dreams with a lot of wisdom in his book.
Excerpts from the Accidental Farmers from Chapter 10 titled: Downshifting
Tim writes: From the endless questions and comments we receive on our farm tours I know that our life farming in the country is a dream that is shared by many.
For most it’s just a fantasy that they can indulge in by visiting farms like ours or following us online. Then there are others who truly endeavor to pry themselves from their urban cubicles as we did so that they can live off the land and perhaps produce enough food for others to pay the bills.
They dream of living in the country but just aren’t sure how to get there. For a dream to become reality rather than remaining a wish the dream must morph into a personal vision. Whereas a dream can creep into my self-consciousness on its own, I on the other hand become the architect of a vision.
At this point it’s really no longer an abstract dream, semantics aside, but a vision that I see for myself. My vision. The question becomes whether I can make that vision a reality.
I must take action by defining a series of measurable steps to do just that. If I can’t, I am content to leave the dream in the fantasy category. In my experience it is at precisely this point that most people’s dreams get stuck.
They persist in a perpetual state of “almost ready” as they enter a lasting phase of paralysis by analysis. They never act on their vision beyond that.
We encourage you to get your own copy of The Accidental Farmers and read for yourself the full text of the inspiring wisdom that Tim and Liz share in this chapter and throughout this wonderful read. Below today’s Show Notes we have provided our Amazon affiliate link for you to order The Accidental Farmers and we thank you for your support of our podcasts when ordering through our affiliate links.
Maybe the reason that some people never act on their visions or dreams is because of fear and resistance.
We have a great blog article that we also share with our listeners in this episode that deals with some of the common dream stoppers. The blog post is by Victoria Gazeley, a dreamer who is now also an experienced rural homesteader who shares lessons and insights from her journey from dreamer to one who is actually living her dreams.
In this episode we share some key excerpts from this post by Victoria Gazeley, from ModernHomesteading.ca, titled: Three Strategies for Embracing Fear and Resistance.
Victoria writes: Homesteading, even the modern kind, is ripe with opportunities for fear to rise up and cripple us from living our dream.
Victoria writes: Before we get started, I want to share with you how fear has affected me on my journey from the city to the country (and since). She then gives a bullet list of eight fear stops on her journey, some of which we discuss on today’s show.
Victoria continues: Bottom line – fear kept me from moving forward towards my dreams, and pushed me into frustration, anger and burn out. Not something I would recommend.
Victoria Gazeley
ModernHomesteading.ca
Three Strategies for Embracing Fear and Resistance to Live Your Dreams
Strategy 1: “Get over yourself.” “It’s not about you! We get so wrapped up in our dramas and insecurities, and let’s face it, ‘smallness’, that we fail to see that the big world needs us to show up. It needs us to follow our dreams. It needs us to get over ourselves, get out of the way, and let greatness happen
Strategy 2: Reach out to others. Sharing with others, leaning on others and recognizing that you can’t live without others (not very well, anyway) is critical to living a joyful, fulfilled life – especially in a rural area.
Homesteading, in particular, doesn’t work very well as a solitary sport. We need people. We weren’t meant to do it alone. And the sooner those of us who have had issues with being ‘dependent’ on others get over it, the sooner our dreams will become our reality.
Strategy 3: Surround yourself with people who truly support your dreams. This goes along with ‘reaching out to others’, but it’s beyond that. It’s about choosing to listen to people who have something life-giving to say, and not to those who would prefer you stay ‘small’.
Absorb the messages of those who truly want to see you become the grandest version of yourself. Those are the people you want to listen to. Now just imagine how this could change your world. How it could change the world…
Victoria closes by saying: To sum it up, we’re all in this together, and by you living your dream, I’m encouraged to live mine. And maybe one day soon, everyone will see fear and resistance for what they are – personal pointers to incredible lives.
You can learn more and enjoy the full message of Victoria’s post and learn more about Victoria Gazeley and her story and journey through the links provided above.
Thank you for listening and until next time remember…Join our community of friends and start living the simple good life today!
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