When a Normal Week Is the Gift

What’s on my mind?

I just wrapped up my “birthday week.”

For years, birthday week was the week I looked forward to because I finally gave myself permission to be “selfish.” The week where I’d do the things I wanted to do — the things I told myself I didn’t have time for the rest of the year.

This year was different.

This year, I found myself wanting a normal week.

Not because I didn’t want anything… but because I realized something I didn’t expect: my normal week already is the week I used to wish for.

The things I do most days — the routine, the work, the time with my family, the way I spend my mornings and evenings — those are the things I actually want to be doing.

That feels like a huge win. And it’s the kind of win I wish everyone could experience.

Because I’ve had a lot of conversations over the years with people who are “waiting.”

Waiting for the day they can finally travel.
Finally move.
Finally start the hobby.
Finally get healthy.
Finally slow down.
Finally live.

And I get it. I’ve been that person too.

I’ve also been doing this long enough to see something that honestly worries me.

A small number of people do the thing. They make the change. They build the life they’ve been dreaming about.

But far more people don’t.

Not because they don’t want it.

Because changing your daily routine is uncomfortable.

It’s not normal yet. It’s unfamiliar. It’s scary. It’s hard.

And if you haven’t practiced doing hard things — failing regularly, trying new things, being bad at something on purpose — it becomes incredibly difficult to flip your entire life upside down later. Even if you “earned it.” Even if you “deserve it.” Even if you’ve been dreaming about it for decades.

There’s another version of this that hits even deeper.

Sometimes you finally get the thing you delayed and worked for… and it doesn’t make you happy.

That one is brutal.

I know it because I’ve lived it.

For years I told myself, “If I just have ______, I’ll be happy.” And then I got the thing — and I was still miserable. It forced me to face an uncomfortable truth: the thing I was chasing wasn’t the thing I actually needed.

So what does this have to do with worm farming?

Maybe nothing.

Or maybe everything.

Because if you’ve ever wanted to farm, or garden, or be healthier — if you’re waiting for the “right time” to become the version of yourself you keep imagining — I want to encourage you to do some version of it now.

Make it small.
Make it affordable.
Make it possible.

Don’t wait to buy the land someday to learn whether you love growing things. Grow one plant. Start one bed. Build one tiny system. Buy one bucket. Try the thing.

Test by doing.

See if it actually brings you the joy you think it will.
Learn what you didn’t expect.
Find out what you like and what you don’t.
Talk to other people who are trying too.

You might discover the dream isn’t what you thought.

Or you might discover it’s even better.

Either way, you get something priceless: clarity — now — while you still have time to adjust.

That’s what I’m grateful for this year.

Not the ability to escape my life for a week.

The fact that I don’t feel like I need to.