Monday, April 15, 2013

Confidence


So, a while ago I posted that I was listening to a Healthy Life conference thing, at least a little of it, and it’s been interesting but not groundbreaking for me. I’ve had a couple of thoughts and realizations as I’ve heard from various notable names in what I’ll call the traditional food movement. 

One is, I know a lot. I think I tend to underestimate my knowledge of this field, trying to be humble and recognizing that I don’t have any official credentials. But I've started to notice more and more, and it was confirmed by these interviews and podcasts, that it doesn't take official expertise to be on the cutting edge of real nourishing and flourishing. This isn't just a hobby, and while trying to give my family the best possible life I can, I'm definitely capable of contributing more openly to my community. A majority of the informed, inspiring people that I've seen speak about food were complete novices and outsiders when they started. In fact, you almost have to be, since food 'insiders' are now all just large agricultural factory farms and slaughterhouses, distribution conglomerates, and seed/chemical monopolies, and no positive change is going to come from that direction. So, I don't have the handicap that maybe I've thought I had.

The other thing I've been realizing, is that while I feel extreme compared to my friends and get teased by my husband for trying to make everything harder, there are people taking this waaaay more seriously than I am. That was one of the things that made me a little uncomfortable listening, in fact, because while the information mostly wasn't new or scary to me, the condescension or willful blindness to cost and other factors was sometimes offensive. 

So I've been trying, in my own writing, to walk that careful line between humility and confidence, avoiding elitism along the way, and I guess I'm doing OK. At the same time, maybe I can lean a little more towards confidence. I can even add a little Word of Wisdom perspective that I noticed was still highly lacking from the conversations between the adherents of all the different modern diets.

So, leaning more toward confidence, what am I confident in? For a simple beginning, whole milk, egg yolks, and butter. Breakfast. Soaking whole grains and dried beans. Freshly ground wheat. Water to drink. 



More later, but start there.

No comments:

Post a Comment