The Overpowering Ease of Just Doing

and how I’m learning to master it

The Ploughman by Cecil Aldin (1870-1935), a depiction of an old-fashioned plowman plowing the land using a horse. Digitally enhanced from rawpixel’s original plate. In the public domain.

I have this dream that one day I could live out in the woods or on a farm and live a life further away from people. The problem with that is: what happens when something goes wrong with my plumbing? I grew up in a rent-controlled, New York apartment. If something went wrong growing up, we didn’t even call a plumber, we called the landlord or building manager and let them handle it.

I’ve always been a hands-on person, I loved assembling Ikea cabinets and putting things together ever since I was a kid. There’s an immediate sense of progress that comes with watching these videos, it almost makes you feel as if you’re the one actually doing things.

I love seeing things get put together and how awesome they become once there is a nice finish. Whether it’s a renovation project or someone making furniture, I spend an absurd amount of my day thinking about and doing those sorts of things.

I live in a relatively suburban house in Brazil, I got a few chickens and have been working at raising them to get eggs for the past two or so months. One of the things that you have to deal with (especially as a novice) is that sometimes a chicken may die, and you won’t have enough experience to be able to tell why. Out of 14 chickens, I’m down to 12. This means I’ve had to…