I have spent years working at the intersection of national security, nonprofit program development, and community-level preparedness planning. My work focuses on the practical question that too few communities are asking right now: if the systems we depend on stop working, what do we do?

I am from a small city called Frederick, Maryland, and I am writing this because I believe the answer to that question starts with food. And I believe the framework I am going to lay out here applies to every community in America, not just mine.

Frederick, Maryland is a place most people outside the mid-Atlantic have never heard of. It sits about 50 miles northwest of Washington, D.C., close enough to feel the economic and political gravity of the capital, far enough to remain agricultural and rural in character. Frederick County has over 1,300 farms covering nearly half the county’s land. It has farmers markets, CSA programs, and a Food Council that connects to state and federal agricultural networks. Farms like Catoctin Mountain Orchard have been supplying local schools since 2011. Operations like Moon Valley Farm represent the kind of diversified, community-connected agriculture that most counties would envy. It looks, from the outside, like a community that has food figured out.

We are not ready. And neither is yours.

Those same farms are now facing 20 to 40% fertilizer cost increases, the loss of nearly $6 million in school food purchasing, and an infrastructure project (the Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project, a 67-mile transmission line) that threatens 409 properties, many of them agricultural. The pressures are compounding from every direction simultaneously.

I want to highlight some principles in this piece, that are not specific to Frederick, but for our general communities’ resilience. These are transferable to any county, any town, any region that grows food, eats food, or depends on supply chains to move food from where it is produced to where it is consumed. That covers everywhere. The details will differ, the partners will have different names, the growing zones will vary, but the architecture of community food resilience is universal. If your community has land, kitchens, and people willing to work, you have everything you need to start.

We need local supply chains and community coordination in order to minimize impacts related to food insecurity.

The World We Are Living In Right Now

I am not going to pretend this is a theoretical exercise. It is April 2026, and the global situation is deteriorating on multiple fronts simultaneously.

The United States is engaged in active military conflict in the Middle East. The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which roughly 20% of the world’s oil supply moves, is under direct pressure from the Iran-Israel escalation. Iran responded by effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping. The numbers are staggering: tanker traffic through the strait dropped approximately 70%, from 138 vessels per day to as few as three. Oil prices are climbing. When oil prices climb, everything that moves by truck, train, or ship gets more expensive. That includes food. The average American meal travels 1,500 miles before it reaches a plate. Every one of those miles just got more costly.

In the recent Substack - “The Double Squeeze,” The Porch Light, the author explain this perfectly a “double squeeze” where natural gas prices spike, driving up fertilizer production costs, while energy disruption triggers cascading budget impacts across every sector of the economy. The fertilizer impact is already measurable. Nitrogen-based fertilizer prices have increased 20 to 40% since late February 2026.

The global fertilizer market, already fractured by the Russia-Ukraine crisis that tripled prices in 2022, is experiencing a second supply shock. This is on top of the 2022 Russia-Ukraine crisis that tripled fertilizer prices and pushed input costs to nearly 45% of operating expenses for American wheat and corn farms. Fertilizer is not reaching American farms at the volumes or prices that make industrial agriculture sustainable. Farmers who were already operating on margins thinner than most people realize are now making planting decisions based on what they can afford, not what the land can produce. That changes what shows up in your grocery store six months from now.

The USDA now projects the fewest wheat acres planted in over a century. That is not a forecast of potential trouble. That is a measurement of trouble that has already arrived. Farmers across the country are making planting decisions right now based on what they can afford, not what the land can produce or what their communities need. That changes what shows up in your grocery store six months from now.

The American economy is contracting. Layoffs are accelerating. Consumer confidence is falling. The population of ALICE households (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) is growing, which is a polite way of saying that more families every week are one car repair, one medical bill, or one missed paycheck away from not being able to feed themselves. Food bank demand is rising. It will continue to rise.

Housing instability is compounding all of it. When families lose income, housing is the first crisis. Food becomes the flexible expense, the bill that can be skipped because hunger does not send an eviction notice. Families in housing crisis cut food first. That is not a statistic. That is what happens in every economic downturn, in every community, without exception.

These pressures are not unique to America. They are global. But the response has to be local, because the systems that are failing are the large-scale, centralized, supply-chain-dependent systems that were designed for stability, not disruption. When those systems strain, the communities that survive are the ones that can feed themselves.

The Assumption We Can No Longer Make

For most of modern American history, communities have been able to assume that in a crisis, the federal government, the state government, or some institutional safety net would step in and provide. FEMA would arrive. SNAP benefits would expand. Emergency food distribution would deploy through established channels. The system would hold because it always had.

That assumption is no longer safe.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed July 4, 2025, eliminated SNAP-Ed (the nutrition education component of food assistance that reached 424,000 Marylanders alone), cut $660 million in Local Food for Schools funding, and initiated $186 billion in federal SNAP cuts projected through 2034. The USDA terminated its Household Food Security Reports, the primary instrument for measuring how many Americans are going hungry. We are not just losing the safety net. We are losing the ability to measure how many people are falling through it.

At the state level, Maryland faces $457.5 million in additional costs just to maintain current service levels in the wake of federal cuts. In Frederick County specifically, the school system lost nearly $6 million annually in local food purchasing capacity. In the 2024-2025 school year, 18,000 Frederick County Public Schools students, 32% of total enrollment, qualified for free or reduced meals. The federal infrastructure that supported those meals is contracting while the number of families who need them is growing.

This is a planning reality.

The velocity of change in the global economy, in geopolitics, in energy markets, and in domestic policy is faster than institutional response systems were designed to handle. Federal agencies are managing multiple simultaneous pressures. State budgets are constrained. The organizations that have historically served as the last line of defense against hunger, food banks, faith-based pantries, community meal programs, are already operating at or near capacity before the current pressures have fully arrived.

The point is not that government will fail. It may not. The point is that responsible planning does not depend on a single assumption about who will help. Responsible planning builds capacity at the community level so that whether or not outside support arrives, people eat.

And here is the thing: even if none of the worst-case scenarios materialize, even if the Middle East de-escalates, the economy stabilizes, and fertilizer flows resume, a community that has built its own food resilience infrastructure is better off than one that has not.

Community gardens produce food. Community kitchens feed people. Trained residents have skills. Coordination networks function. These are not wasted investments in the event that the crisis passes. They are improvements to community health, nutrition, social connection, and economic resilience that pay dividends regardless of what happens globally.

The best time to prepare was years ago. The second best time is now.

The Human Element: Purpose, Not Just Survival

Before I get into the framework, I want to address something that the typical emergency planning document ignores: the human cost of feeling useless in a crisis.

Right now, across this country, there are millions of capable, healthy, strong people who have no work, or whose work has been reduced, or who are watching the trajectory of the economy and feeling a growing sense of dread. They watch the news. They see the conflicts, the layoffs, the price increases, the instability. And they feel powerless, because the problems appear too large for any one person to affect.

That feeling is as dangerous as the food insecurity itself. People without purpose withdraw. They disengage from their communities. They stop believing their effort matters. Social isolation increases. Mental health deteriorates. Civic participation declines. Communities fragment precisely when they most need to come together.

A community food resilience plan is not just a food plan. It is a purpose plan. Every component of the framework I am about to describe puts people to work doing something tangible, visible, and meaningful:

· People get outside. They put their hands in soil. They feel the sun. For someone who has been sitting at home scrolling through bad news for weeks, the simple act of building a raised bed or harvesting greens is a mental health intervention.

· People eat better. Food grown fifty feet from where you stand tastes different than food that traveled 1,500 miles in a refrigerated truck. When communities grow food, communities eat well.

· People meet their neighbors. A community garden is a social infrastructure project as much as a food project. People who garden together talk, cooperate, share knowledge, and build the kind of trust that does not exist between strangers. In a time when social isolation is epidemic, that trust is worth as much as the tomatoes.

· People discover they can do something. The shift from watching a crisis to working through it changes a person’s relationship to their community and their future. Participants become stakeholders. Spectators become builders. That transformation is the real product of this work.

This plan creates pathways for everyone: paid positions for those who need income (if required/needed), stipended roles for those who need structure (interns and fellows), volunteer opportunities for those who need purpose. When you go to the recently unemployed person and say, “We need you. Your community needs your hands, your time, and your energy, and here is exactly where you can put it,” you are offering something more valuable than a meal. You are offering relevance.

A Framework for Community Food Resilience

The framework that follows is organized around six pillars. Each one addresses a specific vulnerability. Together, they create a system where food is grown locally, preserved for storage, prepared in community kitchens, distributed to where it is needed, protected against disruption, and coordinated by the people who live there.

These pillars are not proprietary. They are derived from proven models operating in cities and counties around the world, from Belo Horizonte, Brazil (which feeds 800,000 people annually on less than 2% of its municipal budget) to Lancaster, Pennsylvania (which provides three free meals daily, seven days a week, through multi-church coordination) to Havana, Cuba (which converted an entire city to urban agriculture after losing 90% of its fertilizer imports overnight). The models work. The question is whether your community will build one before it needs one.

Pillar 1: Food Production Education

The most fundamental vulnerability in any modern community is that very few residents know how to grow food. We consume food. We purchase food. We do not produce it. In a stable economy with functioning supply chains, that is fine. In an unstable economy with disrupted supply chains, it is a critical weakness.

Food production education means teaching residents at every level, from the person who has never grown anything to the experienced gardener who wants to scale up, the skills required to produce food in their specific climate and soil conditions. This includes raised bed construction, composting, soil building, seed starting, season extension (hoop houses, cold frames, row covers), and critically, food preservation: canning, pickling, drying, fermenting, and root cellaring.

The preservation piece is often overlooked, and it should not be. Growing food in the summer is only useful if you can store it for the winter. Communities that grow but do not preserve are communities that are food-secure for four months and vulnerable for eight.

The delivery model matters. Education has to be free, accessible, and immediate. Weekly workshops in community spaces. Demonstration gardens where people can see what works. Online modules for people who cannot attend in person. “Train the trainer” models where the first cohort of graduates becomes the next round of instructors, so the system scales without needing more staff or more budget.

Most communities already have assets for this. Agricultural extension programs, master gardener networks, community colleges with horticulture departments, local farms willing to host field days. The infrastructure for education frequently exists. What is missing is coordination and urgency.

Pillar 2: Community Grow Networks

A community grow network is a coordinated system of food production sites at multiple scales: household gardens (a raised bed in a backyard or on a balcony), community gardens (shared plots on donated or public land), and institutional growing sites (larger parcels at schools, churches, municipal properties, or farms).

The key word is “network.” Isolated gardens are valuable but limited. A network of gardens connected through a coordination system can share surplus, distribute seeds and starts, rotate crops across sites, and aggregate harvests for community kitchens and food distribution. The difference between fifty independent gardens and a network of fifty gardens is the difference between a hobby and infrastructure.

Site identification can be systematic. Food desert maps (available free from the USDA), soil quality data, water access, sunlight exposure, population density, and proximity to existing food programs can all inform where new growing sites will have the most impact. Start with the neighborhoods that need it most and have the least access to fresh food.

Scale matters, but do not let scale paralyze you. A household raised bed kit (4x8 feet of growing space, soil, seeds, basic tools) can be built for a few hundred dollars and produce meaningful food for a family within weeks. Community plots require more coordination but produce proportionally more. Institutional sites require the most setup but anchor the network and produce at volumes that supply kitchens and food banks.

Season extension is non-negotiable in most climates. A simple hoop house or cold frame, built for a few hundred dollars, can add two to three months to a growing season. In a crisis scenario, those additional months of production capacity could be the difference between a community that feeds itself through winter and one that does not.

Pillar 3: Community Kitchen Networks

Food production is half the equation. Food preparation is the other half. A community kitchen network is a coordinated system of approved kitchen sites, typically at churches, community centers, schools, business facilities, fire halls, and other established locations, operating on a rotating schedule to provide regular meal coverage.

The model that proves this works most clearly is Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where different congregations host meals on different days of the week, achieving three free meals daily, seven days a week, across the city. No massive central facility. No million-dollar construction project. Just coordination among existing kitchens that were already sitting empty most of the week.

Every community has underutilized kitchen infrastructure. Churches have commercial kitchens that operate on Sunday mornings and sit dormant the rest of the week. Restaurants and catering companies have capacity during off-hours. Community centers have kitchens built to code that are used a few times a month. Schools have cafeteria kitchens that shut down at 2 PM and all summer.

The barriers are not physical. They are organizational: scheduling, food safety compliance, insurance, volunteer coordination, and supply chain logistics. A community kitchen network solves these by providing the coordinating layer that individual sites cannot provide on their own.

All kitchen sites must meet local health department standards. This is non-negotiable. Community food resilience built on food safety shortcuts will collapse the first time someone gets sick. County-approved, health-department-inspected, properly insured kitchen sites staffed by food-safety-trained volunteers. That is the standard. It is achievable. It just requires someone to organize it.

Food preservation can and should happen at these kitchen sites as well. Community canning days, where residents bring garden surplus and leave with shelf-stable jars, are a proven model for converting summer abundance into winter security. The kitchen infrastructure already exists. Use it for more than daily meals.

Pillar 4: Food Flow Coordination

Growing food and cooking food are necessary but not sufficient. The food has to get from where it is to where it is needed. Food flow coordination is the logistics layer that connects every node in the system: farms, gardens, food rescue operations (surplus from restaurants, grocers, and farms), community kitchens, food banks, pantries, community fridges, mobile distribution points, and individual households.

Without coordination, surplus rots in one location while people go hungry in another. A farm in the northern part of a county has produce it cannot sell, but there is no efficient pathway to get that produce to a kitchen twenty miles south. A community garden has a bumper crop of tomatoes, but the nearest food bank does not know about it. A restaurant closes for the night with fifty pounds of usable food that goes into the dumpster because no one came to pick it up.

Coordination technology exists and much of it is free. Feeding America’s MealConnect platform connects food donors with nonprofits nationally. The Open Food Network is a free, open-source platform for local food hub management. Food Rescue US matches surplus with need using volunteer drivers. These tools are not hypothetical. They are deployed in thousands of communities already.

But technology is only the tool. The real coordination is human: someone who knows which gardens are producing, which kitchens need supply, which food banks are running low, and which volunteer drivers are available. In small communities, that coordination can start with a phone, a spreadsheet, and a group chat. Scale the technology as the network grows.

Food flow also includes the locations where people access food. Not everyone can come to a central distribution point. Community fridges (publicly accessible refrigerators stocked daily and available 24/7) extend the reach of the network into neighborhoods that formal programs do not cover. Mobile distribution brings food to rural areas where transportation is a barrier. Meeting people where they are, rather than requiring them to come to you, is the difference between a food program that serves its community and one that serves only the people who can get to its front door.

Pillar 5: Emergency Preparedness Triggers

Everything described above operates in what emergency planners call “steady state,” the normal operating condition where the system runs, serves people, and builds capacity. But the entire reason for building this system is to be ready when steady state breaks down.

An emergency preparedness framework defines what happens when demand surges beyond normal capacity. The simplest model uses three tiers:

Green (Steady State): Community gardens producing. Kitchens operating on schedule. Food flow coordination active. Volunteers engaged. Training programs running. The system is building capacity and serving the current need.

Yellow (Elevated Need): Demand increases 25 to 50% above baseline. Trigger indicators include rising food bank requests, increasing unemployment claims, food price spikes above a defined threshold, or supply chain disruption reports.

Response: expand kitchen hours, activate additional kitchen sites, increase food rescue pickups, mobilize reserve volunteers, accelerate garden production where possible.

Red (Emergency): Demand surges 50% or more above baseline. Trigger indicators include sustained supply chain disruption, regional disaster, mass unemployment event, or institutional food program failure. Response: all kitchen sites at maximum capacity, emergency food distribution activated, mutual aid agreements with neighboring communities activated, coordination with county or regional emergency management.

The triggers should be quantitative where possible: specific food price index thresholds, unemployment rate thresholds, food bank demand metrics. This removes the guesswork and the politics from activation decisions. When the numbers hit the threshold, the response activates.

Mutual aid agreements with neighboring communities are essential. No community is an island. The county next door may have surplus when you have shortage, or vice versa. Pre-negotiated agreements that define what resources are shared, how, and under what conditions mean that when the crisis hits, the phone calls have already been made and the frameworks are already in place.

After every activation, conduct an after-action review. What worked. What did not. What to change. The system gets better every time it is tested.

Pillar 6: Community Coordination & Volunteer Infrastructure

This is the pillar that holds all the others together. Every garden needs someone to organize it. Every kitchen needs a schedule. Every food rescue run needs a driver. Every workshop needs an instructor. Every tier escalation needs someone to make the call. Without a coordination infrastructure and a volunteer base to staff it, the other five pillars are just ideas on paper.

Community coordination means:

A coordinating body. Someone has to own the overall system. This can be a nonprofit, a government office, a coalition, or a task force, but someone has to be responsible for ensuring that the gardens, kitchens, food flow, training, and emergency preparedness components are working together rather than operating in parallel silos. Coordination is not glamorous work. It is scheduling, communication, conflict resolution, data tracking, and logistics. It is the work that makes everything else possible.

A volunteer recruitment and management system. Community food resilience is labor-intensive. It requires people: gardeners, cooks, drivers, organizers, trainers, fridge stockers, data entry workers, event coordinators. Most of these roles can be filled by volunteers. But volunteers need to be recruited, trained, scheduled, supported, recognized, and retained. That does not happen spontaneously. It requires a system.

Volunteer roles should be clearly defined, with specific time commitments and skill requirements: - Garden coordinator: manages a community garden site - Kitchen volunteer: food preparation at a community kitchen - Kitchen lead: manages a kitchen shift, holds food safety certification - Food rescue driver: picks up surplus food and delivers to kitchens or distribution points - Community fridge stocker: daily restocking and temperature monitoring - Distribution volunteer: staffs food distribution events - Workshop instructor: teaches food production or preservation classes - Mobile kitchen crew: operates mobile kitchen deployments in underserved areas - Coordination assistant: data entry, scheduling, communications support

Pathways from volunteer to leader. The person who shows up to build a raised bed on a Saturday morning may be the person who runs a garden site six months later. Design the volunteer experience as a progression: orientation, skill development, increasing responsibility, leadership roles. This is how the system scales without needing proportionally more paid staff. It is also how the system survives leadership transitions, funding fluctuations, and organizational changes. When the knowledge and capability are distributed across hundreds of community members rather than concentrated in a few staff positions, the system is resilient in the same way the food supply it protects is resilient: decentralized, redundant, and rooted in the people who depend on it.

Outreach to those who need it most. Do not wait for volunteers to find you. Go to the unemployment office. Go to the community college. Go to the veterans’ organizations, the recovery programs, the churches, the civic clubs. Go to the neighborhoods where people are sitting at home and say: we need you. Bring a sign-up sheet and a date for the first workday. Make it easy to say yes.

Communication infrastructure. The coordination layer needs communication tools that work for non-technical volunteers. Group messaging for real-time coordination. A shared calendar for kitchen schedules and garden workdays. A simple directory so everyone knows who to call. Start with whatever people already use (text messages, phone calls, a group chat) and formalize as the network grows.

The Proof: This Works

None of this is theoretical. Communities around the world have built exactly these systems, often under far worse conditions than what American communities currently face.

Belo Horizonte, Brazil (population 2.5 million) declared food a right of citizenship in 1993 and built 20 interconnected programs: subsidized restaurants, fixed-price produce stands, over 100 community gardens, food banks, and nutrition education. The entire system costs less than 2% of the city budget, roughly one penny per resident per day. Child mortality dropped 60%. Child malnutrition hospitalizations dropped 75%. 800,000 citizens interact with the programs annually.

Cuba lost 90% of its fertilizer and pesticide imports overnight when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. Average citizens lost 30 pounds. The government responded by granting land-use rights for urban farming and training citizens in organic agriculture. Within a decade, Havana had 8,000 urban farms producing 50 to 80% of the city’s fruits and vegetables within city limits, employing 44,000 workers. The farms survived the crisis that created them and still operate today.

Lancaster, Pennsylvania (population 60,000) coordinates meals across multiple churches so that three free meals are available every day, seven days a week, across the entire city. No central facility. No massive budget. Just coordination.

Detroit, Michigan built 2,200 urban gardens and farms engaging 20,000 residents on former vacant lots. Grassroots. Decades of incremental growth. The Michigan Urban Farming Initiative distributes over 50,000 pounds of free produce annually from a single three-acre site.

DC Central Kitchen in Washington, D.C. prepares 17,000 meals per day from a single facility, combining food rescue, culinary job training (89% placement rate), and distribution to schools, shelters, and nonprofits. It has spawned 68 Campus Kitchen chapters at colleges nationwide.

The models exist. The technology exists. The knowledge exists. The only thing missing in most communities is the decision to start.

Start Where You Are

I started this piece by saying I work in Frederick, Maryland. That is where I am hoping my community will help build this system, and I won’t be doing it alone. But the reason I wrote this for a general audience is that everything I described applies wherever you are reading this.

Several of the data points in this piece were drawn from Janie Monier’s analysis of the fertilizer and federal funding crisis hitting Frederick County (“The Double Squeeze,” The Porch Light). Janie serves on the Frederick County Board of Education and sees these impacts firsthand, from the school cafeteria to the family budget. When elected officials, community organizers, and residents are all looking at the same data and reaching the same conclusion, that is not coincidence.

This work takes journalists, farmers, faith leaders, nonprofit organizers, county officials, and ordinary residents pulling in the same direction. No single person or organization can build a food resilience system. But a community that decides to act can build one fast.

If your community has land (and every community does, even if it is just church lawns, school grounds, and vacant lots), you can grow food.

If your community has kitchens (and every community does, in churches, community centers, restaurants, and public buildings), you can feed people.

If your community has people who are out of work, underemployed, or looking for purpose (and right now, every community does), you have the labor force to make it happen.

If your community has someone willing to coordinate (and that might be you, reading this right now), you have the starting point.

You do not need permission from the federal government. You do not need a million-dollar grant. You do not need a three-year strategic plan before you plant the first seed. You need a few people, a patch of ground, a kitchen, and the willingness to start before you feel ready.

The growing season is open. The kitchens are sitting empty. The people are available. The only question is whether your community will organize its resources before the next disruption, or after.

I recommend before.

Charles “Teddy” Galloway is the Founding Executive Director of Frederick Civic Works, a nonprofit building civic infrastructure for community resilience in Frederick County, Maryland. He can be reached at teddy@frederickcivicworks.org.

The Phone Call That Changed Everything

When I was twenty-seven , I was going through a breakup. My dad called to check in, and I told him what was happening. His response surprised me.

“Honestly, man, that’s what I went through with your mom.”

I didn’t expect that. He was trying to explain that he had gone through something similar. The hard times, the struggles I thought were uniquely mine.

What came out of that conversation was a profound amount of respect for my dad. I began to understand him differently: his suffering, what he had been going through all those years. This was actually kind of cool to experience, because it allowed me to relieve some burden within myself—specifically, how I judge myself.

Loving him helps me love myself. And that makes life more tolerable.

The Things I Said as a Young Man

I remember when I was young, I told my dad on a few occasions that I wanted to kill him. I blamed him for how hard life was. I thought him being around more would have made everything easier.

That’s not how it is. That’s not how it was. That’s not how it is.

I’m going through something similar in my life right now, too. And honestly, it’s my fault. I chose it and didn’t learn the lesson. So now I’m having to relearn it, or at least practice a different technique.

Understanding My Mom

My mom was different. I never really judged her the same way when I was young. But later, toward the end of her life and into the height of my own, I started to understand how her personal behaviors led to a lot of our challenges. There was some resentment there.

But as I was there with her, as she withered away towards death, that resentment withered away as well.

What I Tell Young People

When I talk to young people today, I usually tell them that the most important thing they can do is forgive their parents. Honor them. Love them. Especially if they didn’t do anything truly wrong, if they stayed in your life and supported you.

They’re humans too. This is their first time doing this.

Now I’m a Parent

This matters to me now because I’m a parent. I’m trying to instruct my boys, but I’m not trying to teach them in a way that hedges my bet.

“Hey, please don’t hate us. We’re doing our best, but we suck.”

It’s not like that.

It’s more like: “Hey, boys, we’re doing our best. We’re trying to figure this out.”

And it’s really hard to have big feelings and be a big person, because you’re not supposed to react in a big way. There’s pressure to behave and act accordingly—to be how one’s supposed to be.

This is what it is.

The Hard Things

Personally speaking, the hard things in life are related to missing my children, not having their support or love or affection in-person.

There’s also the pressure I put on myself to perform and do what I do.

And it’s the state of the world. Absolutely the state of the world; the division, the emotions, the injustice of it. All of it feels intense.

Getting Older

I’m getting older. My hair’s not growing back as fast. I’ve got a gray hair, too.

Why is life so difficult? How do we make it like this?

It’s as if we’re addicted to the drama.

I think I am, too. Not judging.

I’m saying that’s just like you. Me. It’s just like you.

How do we stop that, though?

Closing Out

I’m hungry. It’s cold outside. I’ve got the sniffles. Wish this camera was a little sharper.

Before today I was oblivious about the local community chats about them. Consider me dense and totally absorbed into my own world, but there have been major discussions that I never intended to be a part of. A group of passersby were discussing it on the streets as I left the office. Tonight I came across a letter from one group of elected officials that went to another elected official about them.

It’s a hot topic in the world and community that I’ve been watching, but I didn’t expect to hear so much about it walking about in town, or people to reach out to me about it.

I didn’t mean to get into it, but after a short video and a Facebook post some time ago just getting into the details, I did. Whoops.

Well, here goes Charlie!

A Tech Forward, Yet Cautious Approach

I am very tech-forward, optimistic about Frederick’s future, with a background that requires me to think about risk - Emergency Response and Management.

I spend my free time nerding out over the advances of AI technologies and physical tech, and I’m on a 3-year bender on figuring out how to improve my life using these technologies, it’s a weird little habit.

I say that to highlight that I am agreeable to both the financial upsides we have coming to us if our investment and approvals work out, as well as the future of tech in our world if everything went ideally. However, I’ve never seen large-scale opposed projects go the ideal route.

Also, profound opposition tends to breed resentment, but failure causes a man’s enemies to aggress all the more. And this has some very profound opposition, if you ask me.

Just as new technologies offer immense opportunities, improvements to systems and innovative advances often cause disruptions, unexpected. At other times, it is capital that is the question. And then again, sometimes it is demand. These determine the ultimate value of a project from a capital stance, but that leaves the community calculations still to be determined. This is the place we are at now in our community.

I recognize the need to advance and move forward with plans to have data centers, but I am extremely concerned, and more so recently, about the economic risks and the potential downside of our actions. The future, completely due to actions out of our local leaders’ hands at the national level, in the economy, within each branch of government, and international relations, calls us to consider alternative paths and a more holistic community-supportive approaches to using these technologies.

We are assuming that big business and big data are the best way to produce technological advancements and economic advancement. I do not make this assumption. I'll assume businesses will do what is economically advantageous, and that communities, their leaders specifically, are charged with ensuring the public good. Or else, what are we— any of us— even doing?

I’m an advocate for decentralized nodes rather than large data centers. But we aren’t really ready for that conversation because the technologies may not be ready, or are drowned out by larger monetary interests. Decentralization of electricity and data nodes creates resilience through spreading out your resources and creating interconnected nodes that have all of the resource requirements met at their location, a smaller localized impact.

The world has changed immensely in the last 2 years, and the last year has been a whirlwind. There are more than a few rumblings of economic concerns continuing, an openly discussed AI bubble, concerns about cybersecurity and physical security, concerns about illegal digital surveillance on American citizens from foreign and oppositional entities. We have to really think about the future of our power grids and how we use our resources to have a resilient County and Region in the future.

And for all of Frederick, and the rest of Western Maryland, we are so close to the Nation’s capital and surrounded by important government hubs that we have to consider ALL the risks associated with national challenges. We cannot consider a project simply for the economic advantages in the short-term, but the entire approach and the impact over a lifetime. We do not live in a small-town country bubble. We are a community of interests and access. We are deeply impacted by any Beltway blues.

The Belt Way Blues Machine

When I speak of “Beltway Blues,” I am not just talking about the economy. I am referring to all the things that happen in the Beltway, from job losses for the nation’s government workers to the increase of people on welfare and food stamps to the decrease of people with jobs and to inflation costs that are driven by economic situations out of our control. The Beltway Blues is also about the decisions of the folks in our country in leadership positions in a situation, for instance, of war. What are data centers if there are no chips? What are data centers if there is no network, or if there’s a compromised network to transmit data?

The Beltway is taken over by large corporate entities, special interest, lobbyists, and a host of think tanks that promise us great change with technology at the center of our world. Perhaps, as we have seen most recently, this too will create a Beltway Blues situation. Maybe, but how do we know the potential risk without an impact study that includes just that?

Money Talks, I Get It

At present, we have a lot of push from technology firms. While we have money, that money should be invested; that should be leveraged, and opportunities should be capitalized upon. So, of course, we are being sold a bill of goods, but the risk isn’t on them if they fail and don’t deliver; it’s on us to consider what we’re going to do if we’re left holding a bag that we can no longer afford or operate.

As you would imagine, they want to capitalize on the opportunity here before a bubble takes out the economy.

And as you now are thinking, we want to ensure that we are not left expecting benefits unrealized from our investment of time, energy, and significant resources - concessions.

My argument is that history is full of towns who built infrastructure for a boom and then it has a bust. This happens in all kinds of towns down South, in the Midwest, the northeast, and all along our Mason-Dixon. This also happens in very large cities that had industries and then those industries left or were destroyed by innovation or globalization.

In a situation where data centers are a large investment tool, but they also have a large impact on the community, we’re putting our faith and we’re betting on both the companies who are bringing us the data centers and their ability to create efficiencies and to honor their agreements. But we’re also assuming that the people that they sell the business to will do the same.

Who Burdens the Risks

But in this case, we are going to hold the bag even sooner. If we have an economic crash, or if we have a shortage in the demand for AI, then we are left with the burden. Even if that burden is higher cost for energy or water resources. It is not a company’s job to take care of our community and be concerned about the wealth and the safety of our community. It is our job.

Just like companies in the past, such as Walmart and other large organizations, which used their financial power and their maneuverability in the legal world to get what they want. In this case, the responsibility is on our elected officials to protect us and to help provide us those realized gains, protection from potential predatory situations.

I know for certain that our elected officials are a great lot. We are very fortunate to have people who care and people who are willing to weigh in, willing to talk and negotiate. I don’t see very much by way of corruption involved in this, personally. I just think it comes down to a level of sophistication and understanding of tech. It requires asking the right questions about innovation and ensuring that the community is just as well leveraged as the millionaires and billionaires who are involved in this game.

It absolutely requires bipartisanship and a commitment to community and transparency.

I just want each of them to fully grasp the impact of their decisions in a destabilized world. We should never make assumptions or hope for the best when we are fully capable of preparing for risks, addressing them, or waiting until a solution is delivered that can soothe our worries.

Our Collective Responsibility

Our citizen body must be educated and aware. We must come together to find solutions and opportunities. Just saying “no, we don’t want to do this” is not necessarily the best reaction. People with a lot of money keep throwing dollars at this for a reason, and perhaps we are missing something more important in our charged opposition.

Also remember, it is better to take decisive action as a community and know what the risks are than it is to ignore the potential risks.

It is important to take steps in the right direction to grow our community at the same time without hindering it or holding it back due to irrational fears.

Learn, continue to go to meetings, continue to voice your opinions and your concerns. Your voice still matters.

Is radical life transformation actually difficult?

No. But…

The Addiction to Our Current Life

What makes change feel impossible is not the transformation itself—it is our attachment to familiar patterns. We are, in a sense, addicted to the life we already have. The habits, the rhythms, the cycles we have grown accustomed to become a kind of comfort, even when they bring us pain. Alfred Adler called this our Lebensstil, or our “style of life”, which is a unified pattern of thinking, feeling, and behaving that we develop early and carry with us as a lens through which we interpret every experience. Once established, this style of life resists disruption. It whispers that the unfamiliar is dangerous, that what we know is safer than what we might become.​

Greg Satell, in Cascades, reminds us that transformational change does not happen through heroic individual effort or sheer willpower alone. It happens through small, deliberate shifts that ripple outward in cascades of behavior that, over time, tip entire systems into new equilibriums. The same is true within us. Personal transformation is not a single dramatic leap; it is a series of small, intentional choices that compound.​

The Shock Before the Shift

When I arrived in Abu Dhabi in July of 2019, I thought I would hit the ground running. Instead, I spent the first five months in shock—adjusting to the time zone, the isolation, the disorienting quiet after years of relentless stress. Then immediately after I really started to settle in, COVID locked us all in our homes.

The opportunity to work there was a blessing, but blessings do not exempt us from the human need to process what came before, and process I surely did.

What I discovered in that stillness was something uncomfortable: the space to think revealed a voice I had been too busy to hear clearly. I call it “The Whisperer.”

The Whisperer

The Whisperer is that inner critic who attacks precisely when you are most vulnerable. When I take a break, it calls me lazy. When I enjoy a meal or notice my reflection, it shames me. When I spend a day that does not directly advance my dreams, it questions whether those dreams were ever realistic at all. Well, it tries.

Adler would recognize this voice as a manifestation of the inferiority-superiority dynamic. He noticed that there was a the gap between who we are and who we believe we should be, weaponized against ourselves.​

But Adler also taught that this feeling of inferiority is not a flaw, but a driving force. The healthy response is not to silence the voice entirely, but to compensate: to channel that discomfort into growth, into striving toward something greater while maintaining what he called Gemeinschaftsgefühl - “a deep connection to community and concern for others”.​

So Why Does Change Feel Hard?

It is not the transformation that is difficult. Once you begin taking the steps, your mind and attitude shift, you settle in, and you become a new person.

What is difficult is this:

• Forgiving ourselves for missteps along the way

• Silencing the inner critic long enough to act

• Willing ourselves to break the patterns we know

• Making decisions when every path seems uncertain

• Allowing ourselves to be seen in a new light, by others, courageously

Richard Harwood, in The New Civic Path, writes about restoring belief in ourselves, in one another, in our capacity to move forward amid real differences. He calls this “Civic Faith,” a practical philosophy rooted in the conviction that placing shared responsibility at the center of our lives creates something better. I have come to believe that personal transformation requires a similar faith: belief that our current actions are leading us somewhere meaningful, even when we cannot yet see the destination.​

I recently had the pleasure of meeting him at a talk in Frederick, Maryland at Hood College. His book, recently finished, broadcast what I believe in my heart to be true. That true change comes from community. He was suggesting that change in our communities can be seen when we work together.

I contend that working together helps us become new people, and allow for new growth in ourselves.

The Five Commitments to Transformation

Through those months of solitude and reflection, I have identified five commitments that make transformation possible:

Acceptance. We must accept that we are not perfect. Our challenges are not punishments, but they are invitations to lead more fulfilled lives. Raghuram Rajan, in The Third Pillar, describes how individuals and communities alike suffer when they lose connection to what grounds them. The same applies internally: we must accept our starting point before we can move forward.​

Awareness. The inner critic exists to be heard, not followed. Something deeper inside you, the “creative self” is the true decision maker. Cultivate the ability to observe your thoughts without being ruled by them.​

Responsibility. No one else will live your life. No one else can move your mind, body, or soul in any direction unless you allow it. We are responsible for our reactions, our responses to stress, and our choices about how to spend our days. Harwood calls this “turning outward” using the community, not our anxieties, as our reference point for action.​ I call this fighting mediocrity by being someone committed to helping others and actively developing myself, faithfully.

Faith. We must believe that our current actions are taking us somewhere better, that they matter and that we, ourselves, matter. When we believe fully that we are walking toward an improved state, we become both optimistic about what we are doing and hopeful about the results.

Accountability. Track your results. Give yourself a timeframe. Commit to specific actions and then reflect honestly on what happened. I am emphasizing that sustainable movements require not just initial victories but systems that survive the inevitable challenges, requiring resiliency. The same is true for world wide and community change: you must build structures that lasts.​

The Path Forward

I now keep track of my days in a daily log/ journal. It’s where I keep track of my daily goals, activities, and thoughts - amongst other things.

Additionally, I am resurrecting my writing practice as a way to externalize the ideas swirling in my mind and share them with others who might find them useful.

My gifts have always been connecting with people and sharing information. I love learning and sharing so others can live with greater meaning.

This return to practice helps me grow into someone capable of contributing to a better world.

Transformation is not hard. It is commitment. It is showing up, even when The Whisperer tells you not to bother. It is trusting that small and intentional actions will cascade into something larger than yourself.

I hope you will follow along. Peace and blessings.

Sometimes, we have to sit in our discomfort and ask ourselves if there is something to learn or take away. Sometimes, we just have to open our eyes to see what our neighbor is trying to communicate with us.

For those willing to understand the imagery and music performed last night, have a short read. If you want a deeper analysis, ask me to hold a community discussion about it below.
---

At the Super Bowl, the biggest protest ever took place on stage. Some people complained that it was boring or trash because they did not understand it.

In context, there has been a Cultural feud between rappers, Kendrick Lamar, who performed, and Drake. The beef went "Beyond Hip Hop", and for many of us represents a fork in the road moment. From a socio-political perspective we are in need of a deeper conversation about our community, and unfortunately the music and entertainment industry is pumping us fill of cultural contamination. You are what you consume, and Drake's music as well as other entertainment pushed by the media is harmful to Black Futures, and that of America. Kendrick's performance was a masterpiece in visual symbolism and sparks of revolution in the mindset of Black America, well - stoking the flames a bit. You were just a witness to things happening in the greater community for years.

Here’s what really happened:

📤 The Message and the Imagery -

The performance showed that Black people have always been here to entertain, even when the powerful—those “not like us”—try to control the story.

There has been a major internal cultural war and shift in black america. We now recognize the control mechanisms in culture and entertainment that control us, and so do the entertainers themselves. Instead of letting a figure like Lil' Wayne lead, Kendrick sent a strong message on his own.

The show began with an image of the American flag made of Black people. This powerful picture reminds us that America was built on the hard work of Black people.

💬 What It Was Really About -

This was not a performance made for white people. It was a criticism of the media and record labels that try to divide us.

‼️ Breaking Down the Symbols -

Samuel L. Jackson explained the “rules” of historical white America. He pointed out that when Black people hang out together on the street, some people say it is “too deep,” and then they stir up trouble that sometimes leads to violence.

The performance then used “Squid Game” imagery. This represents how the rich sometimes harm the poor for their own entertainment. It reminds us of how feuds between rappers can lead to deaths that the media benefits from.

The lyrics from the feud engage the imagery, suggesting that the system lets Drake promote an artist named Sexxxy Redd, who is seen as harming our culture. Dancers wearing red, white, and blue (like the American flag) showed that many people would rather dance and be entertained than learn or think deeply.

❤️‍🔥 More Powerful Symbols

The main stage looked like a PlayStation with a Squid Game card, and the setting was a prison yard. This was meant to show that the system is like a game designed to keep us trapped and dancing instead of thinking for ourselves.

Kendrick also paid tribute to Black women—like Serena Williams—after Drake disrespected them. He made it clear that figures like Drake are not truly part of our culture; they are used by the system to create division. His call was: “Game Over. TV Off. We have been under their control. It’s time for a revolution.”

🎇The Big Picture

Drake is being used by the system—the same system Malcolm X warned us about—where powerful media executives try to divide us. This performance is about more than just rap. It is a wake-up call for anyone who is tired of being divided. Look at the split American flag in the imagery—it shows how our country is divided.

If you did not understand the performance, it might be because the system has worked on you. Kendrick is one of the most creative geniuses in hip hop history, and he is calling for more leaders who are real entrepreneurs and family men.

🗯️A Final Thought

Think about your social media friends who complain that the show wasn’t entertaining enough. They are the very people the system wants to keep distracted with simple entertainment instead of education.

Watch the first 10 seconds of Kendrick’s rap (with the “Bigger than Hip Hop” reference) and see true art in action.

The message is clear: we will no longer accept thing that are used to hurt us. We are awake.

Instead of waiting for change, we need to learn and grow. Remember, you do not expect a famous artist who has won a Pulitzer Prize to just dance or twerk—you appreciate art because it can change cultures.

I'm always open to discussions, and I intend on putting a more comprehensive analysis of this and other things in future post.

Let’s talk about things.

This is a……

Research & Writing Project on Luck - Commitment Made

#TheLuckJournal #toluckornottoluck

• What is it - Luck?

• What is it comprised of?

• What evidence is there for the case of luck? As in, does it actually exist?

• What are the ramifications of luck being “real”?

• How does one cultivate luck, if it is “real”?

A woman 10 years my junior walks her dog, a furry corgi, sometime around 11:30pm. I’ve seen her walking her dog many times, as she lives in the row of houses in front of mine. Our houses are separated by a thin row of local hardy trees, and we are to the flank of her house, despite her’s being immediately opposite of our’s. There is the issue of the huge Mable tree blocking the view out of our house towards her’s, therefore we have never spoken in the three months we’ve been here. I’ve seen her plenty, but never felt compelled to speak to her, until today.

I was in a particularly good mood. I had some time alone, some good time working today in a new home office, and got to see many of my family members today. I also had some time to play with my children, so love was pumping through my veins. As sometimes happens, I allow my heart to lead me into conversations out of curiousity. Sometimes I feel that way.

I was listening to “Aquemini” an old Outkast Album from 1998, smoking a wisdom cigar as is my ritual in cases, drinking water and feeling the crisp air West Virginia air. It was a good night for conversation anyway, so I drifted towards it, like a gentle river.

I began a chat that lasted for about 45 minutes after we connected over small talk. I asked her what her goals are, as is my custom. During that discussion she mentioned that she was “lucky”, which I responded arogantly with a quick witted response about there not being such a thing. She argued her case, and I am here reconsidering my thinking.

I told her that I would be reflecting on the idea of luck a bit more because of what she said. It wasn’t HER that led me to question luck, it was something going on in the back of my mind - like a nagging thing that won’t die. A consideration I felt in my heart I needed to take time to reflect upon. The discussion reminded me to ask myself what I believe and if it still resonates with me. I’m not going to just quickly answer the question without considerable thought simply because there is much at stake.

Let me explain. I need to know where my blind spots are in my beliefs so I can close them with awareness. If I can do become more self aware, I believe (there it is again) that I can help me achieve my goals, and help me realize a life vision that is interesting.

So, if this is where my blind spots lay I’ve got to face the part of me (that thing that both protects and distracts you from yourself - it keeps you in the material and stops you from seeing the depths) that blocked it from awareness. If there is luck then there must be a way to harness it, witness it, use it, or some other type of practical application that would make the knowledge useful.

But what if there is no luck? What does that mean, and how can I discover what that kind of world would look like. Would it look like ours?

There is much to consider, and I’m going to give this a stab.

The above list of topics will be covered in an upcoming deep dive into Luck. A few years ago I wrote about luck as part of a book, which I claimed audaciously that there was no such thing. I don’t know if I believe that today, therefore I want to explore this further with research, interviews, and deep thought - a challenge of my intellect and heart.

I’m not an academic, so I wouldn’t expect to find some long drawn out research paper type of thing. Just think of it as a series on luck, which will unfold like everything does - over time.

But I’m not just delivering one-line zingers. I want you to have an experience with me.

A side note; I am not writing for you and I plan to break a lot of writing rules for the sake of telling a story and my own expression. I am also trying to find a way to release a creative thing that’s inside of me. It’s been aching to get out and I think this is just the first step to getting started.

Project Plan -

• Situation - I want to decide whether I believe in luck, or not.

• Mission - I will conduct a research project to under cover luck, present my thoughts with you ( Is Luck Real Or Not Journal) ( Is Luck Real Or Not Podcast).

• Execution - I will produce 2 written pieces about luck every week for a 1 month period - October 2022 - and will produce 4 podcasts, 1 per week in October 2022.

• Admin - I will accept support as offered, for discussions and suggestions. Comment Below or on any of these posts.

• Comms - Subscribe to be part of my accountability team. I am incredibly busy as a wfh professional, dad of 2, with tons of shit going on. I’d like to know someone gives a crap about what I’m writing to read it. Although I’m not writing for you, it will give me great happiness to know that my writing isn’t crap. I am writing this so that my children may one day discover it as one of my many hidden gems of knowledge and thoughts. I do this a few different ways. Maybe we can talk about that some day.

Sincerely Yours,

The Lexiphane One

This is dedicated to my 37-39 year old crew, my classmates from 2001 - 2004 pose, my “holy-crap why is my body looking sloppy” crowd. You’re probably rolling your eyes if your over 41. If you are 30 you are just happy you’re not quite 38/39 yet, because it still feels far off. It's not. If you’re in your 20’s, you can’t relate yet.

My thoughts are now moving towards the cynical elder millennial who thinks, like we all do, that we finally have a handle on the world. I think I’m writing this because we need to come to grips with our age and reality.

It’s taken 2 kids, 1 gray hair, 20 years, and a lot of experiences to make me feel miss my youth a bit, but speaking to the 23 year olds in my co-working office during the day is a reminder of how far I’ve come along.

There’s nothing that makes me feel more like an old man than being part of the planning committee for our 20th high school reunion. It feels like yesterday that I experienced graduation, senior week, my last weeks as a civilian before leaving for boot camp. It’s been 20 years since I had the excuse of a child’s ignorance.

Now we are discussing how to honor those who have passed, whether the event is going to be child friendly, who is going to verify the location, and what are appropriate ways to advertise to our geographically dispersed classmates. 5 of us, somehow still caring enough and interested in each other, are trying to make the most of the moment.

I have friends that I love dearly that I haven’t spoken to in more than 5 years. I have questions for relatives that I’ve never asked. I have words of thanks for teachers that I lost touch with years and years ago. My friends sometimes reach out to me with stories of our interactions that are lost to my memory - hilarious stories of the wild boy I use to be.

Where did that young dude go!?

In what seems like a daily occurrence, the boys and I find ourselves dancing to rock and hip hop music from 2000 to 2009 on the Bluetooth speaker, turned way up. My son jumping and wiggling through the house, the baby bouncing up and down on his diaper protected butt, I don’t feel old. My body still moves like a well oiled machine. It’s crazy how little they are and much fun and carelessness they still have in them, while I'm moving carefully enough to not pop a hamstring. How silly it would be to have you, my friend, peer through our windows to see this old man in the living room twisting and rhythmical stamping feet with an infant in arms, dancing like MC Hammer in the early 90s.

And then we have the state of the world. In my young days I would turn on the TV or pop open a book to escape the realities of life. Now I can’t turn on the TV because of the commercials and the advertisements for “fix-it-all” pills. I don’t want to pay for 10 different streaming services. Every book, News Update, or Instagram story reminds me that the youth like dancing for attention, and the old like complaining about the atrocities in the world.

Like one of my favorite band’s songs titled - “Getting Old is Getting Old”, I’m tired of feeling like there’s nothing I can do to make change in the world. I think a blessing of life and getting old is the ability to reference a time in the recent past, to be there to instruct the following generations so they don’t make the mistakes of those in our past. Perhaps I can do this more and better moving into the future.

Last month I challenged myself to begin getting back in shape. I did not like body reflected to me in the mirror. I didn't want my son to call me, as he affectionately joked - "Fat-Daddy". I want him to see me at my best, in the shape I was in in my mid-20's, but the only way to do that is to work out and live a cleaner life. So, I started doing that, and immediately I started feeling young and good again. It's amazing that the cure for most of our ailments is a certain prescribe activity.

Anyway, if you’ve read it this far you may be waiting for the punchline or an antidote to wrap these words up. I just wanted to write about a certain experience I’m witnessing in myself. But I think the a good closing statement is:

Let’s not get “old” before our time. Let’s be hopeful about the future, to have wonder about the world, and to be joyous that we have this opportunity to live.

This is not your everyday mental health post. 

My father was buried at Quantico today, following his death in January. It took a solid 7.5 months to finally get his body to the final resting place. I could not attend because of duties related to living-breathing family, but my sister was able to attend. She sent us a few pictures; a picture of the burial ceremony, and a picture of my grand-father’s grave where he too is buried at Quantico. 

Two veterans, both sharing my name, are buried in a military cemetery, and I too have that privilege if I decide. I am faced with the strange question about where I want to be buried, and what affairs must I get in order before I pass. Somehow I’m suppose to do this while being a father, work teammate, and everyday man. 

Life is weird. Beautiful, but freaking weird.

I was spending time with my children in a doctor’s waiting room when my sister sent me the pictures. My eldest was wearing his Batman costume, because why not? The Baby - 8 months old - sat quietly for about 10 minutes on my lap before needing something to chew on, reaching for anything that looks interesting, squealing and drooling on me until when he finally got tired wall beginning to cry for his mom. They lasted a glorious hour in the waiting room, while I pondered my own death and our lives. I swear, the colors of their cheeks has never been warmer, and their bright eyes have never seems so illuminating. 

The great sages of yester-year remind us to “Memento Mori” - remember that you MUST die. I believe this is poignant advise, capable of putting every problem into perspective. We have short lives, filled with majesty all around us, and we have created a series of human society problems that make us feel sad and miserable, life quickly is drained from our bodies, and the innate imagination beat out of us with worry and fear - conformity. 

During my father’s funeral in January and the subsequent days following it, I reflected upon the worst case scenarios and I sought to make peace with reality. The last few months have been a whirlwind of change and reconsideration, and I hate to admit it, but I have forgotten the lessons that I just recently faced. The lesson of immediate, intimate, and conscious presence.

Failing to be present causes us to sleep walk through reality, to drift from fleeting memory to hazing dreams without choosing how to live now. When we forget that this story has an end, we forget to live the best we can. We forget to ask what a good life is. Most important, we forget that we are writing the story of our lives, infused with all of our emotions and thoughts. There is only the NOW that we are experiencing and the most respectful and reasonable way to live is by being present in the moment. Living in the past induces feelings that can damper our future dreams. Living in the future causes us to miss this very instant.

Like many of you, I often drown myself in my work in order to distance myself from the realities of life, forgetting to take care of my mind and body, and to maintain the most important relationships in my life. For the last 3 years I have been pouring my energy into my work, ultimately needing to walk away from the experience with a ton of knowledge and skills. During that time I was usually just invested into my daily actions, on autopilot, or I was making future plans and actions to get me “somewhere”. 

When a person puts all of their energy into their work they can negatively impact their interpersonal relationships, their physical body, their emotional and spiritual congruence. I was this person, while trying to cope with burn out and the stress of being in a foreign environment for an extended time frame. It took walking away from my roles and being willing to take a considerable amount of time off to breathe before I was able to reengage with the world. I don’t think I would have even considered my mental health or well-being if it wasn’t for the birth of my son and the death of my father, while being home with my family during it all, reminding me that I have much more to live for than work. 

YOU HAVE TO TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF!

I’d be wiling to bet that a majority of the global workforce is burned out, or could be with little workplace, financial, or familial hardship.

Hypocritically, I have been a major contributor to “mental health awareness” and “burnout” discussions in my various roles. Before having an burnout episode myself about 4 years ago I would have told you that it’s nervousness or for a “certain” kind person. After experiencing it, and then learning about the reality of burnout, I know now that many of us are on the brink of serious physio-emotional reactions. We aren’t even considering the long term effects that our actions will have on our loved-ones or communities if we don’t find ways to deal with the changing world. 

We cannot offer the best of us during critical times if we are not prepared and ready to face reality. To be resilient we have to preemptively act. You need to be present to make good decisions, which is hard when you find yourself in a cloud of confusion, what we can in the military the “fog of war”.

This may be your wake up call to consider how you are living and the work you are doing. Are you really taking enough vacation time? Do you really want to stay in that job and work towards that promotion? Are you happy? Are you talents and interests being leveraged? Do you know why you are waking up and working - what are you working towards?

Most importantly: Is there anything that you must give yourself some time to deal with, so you can be more effective with it removed from your subconscious?

I hope you take some time to step back before it is too late, and that you don’t need a birth, death, funeral, or illness to wake you up the the nature of our lives. We will absolutely die in due time. We have no control of when and where, but we have control of how we live. Let’s choose to live without regret. 

You won’t regret taking extra time off to walk in nature or to take your wife on a date. You won’t regret taking your child to the park, or picking something special up for your teenage daughter. But you will, for sure, regret working too much. You’ll regret putting more time and energy into your work, or your vices, than into accomplishing your dreams and building a legacy. 

We’re too old to take naps, but respectfully - you probably need a nap and some meditation. You might need to quit, get that divorce, go to the gym, apologize to that person, stop making excuse, and a stop being a victim to circumstance. 

Maybe you just need a timeout to think for yourself surrounded by trees and a cool breeze. 

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