When I told my Counseling Psychology PhD supervisor that I was dropping out of graduate school to be a farmer, she said, "You'll be bored." I found that insulting, and I knew much less then about farming than I do now. The arrogant dismissal of something based, I assume, on ignorance, seemed very counter to what I was being taught as a counseling professional. You see, most academics look down on people who use any other part of their body beyond the gray matter to make a living, in my experience. And farming? Dirty, low-paid work.
Although my farm is tiny, hardly a farm at all, it's still a microcosm of what it means to help the soil and all of the systems in a garden work to bring food out of the ground. I open a beehive, and the whole story of that colony is laid out in front of me, although I have yet to learn how to observe carefully enough to see it all.
I'm not bored.
Frustrated, yes, anxious, sometimes, but not ever bored. In fact, one psychological concept I learned about in graduate school, "flow" by Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi, best describes what I experience out there.
It is, however, dirty and relatively low-paid.
7 comments:
Amazing how many people don't realise that close involvement with the cycle of nature is never boring! I think there's a wider view in Wales, where I come from and where many farmers are poets too, and here in France where people who are aware of what is going on in the world around them in all senses are proud to call themselves peasants.
Farming is always a good choice.:)
Low paid? Depends on what you value. Like in the Matercard ad: "There are some things money can't buy."
If you are good at this business of growing food - you must constantly use your "grey cells". The process is one of observation, adjustment, and problem solving.
I think our society is too familiar with equating success with obtaining fame or financial renumeration. WE could seriously take a lesson from many other cultures (and religions) that celebrate the true bliss and inner peace that can be found by going with the flow of the universe we are in - and just "being" as a productive part of that life energy. I catch glimpses of that divine "living in the now" realm most often when in the garden. Just saying.
Congratulations on making the right choice. Can you imagine how much learning you would have missed had you stayed in school? How very satisfying.
The world is a complex, ever fascinating place. My hubby is a prof and in his small department alone are three people living rural, grow your own food, kinda lives. There are probably many others that are doing it on their minifarms. So they definitely appreciate a little tone in parts other than their cerebrum. Maybe your prof was just jealous ;) No, I'm sure it was more classist than any real comment on brains required. It is also an out of date statement.
I know the feeling of "I wish I had done" such and such! Don't let it worry you...be glad your enjoying what your doing now and maybe that's what was intended for you all along , it just took you a while to get there :o) Ask me how I know :o(
Post a Comment