Human Rich.
Fieldnote on Not Being Caught or Bought
I’m not caught or bought by the world and it confuses people.
The algorithm wants us to want more.
More likes.
More subscribers.
More money.
More things.
More security.
More more more.
And yet I look around and think…
I’m rich.
Not millionaire rich.
But rich in the ways that actually matter to me.
I have a home.
Slow mornings.
Early evenings.
A beautiful marriage.
And most importantly …
the freedom to choose,
and the courage to change it all when it no longer makes sense anymore.
Because I’m not caught or bought by your ideas of what life “should” be.
What success should look like.
What security should look like.
What a “good life” should look like.
And I’m definitely not caught by the fantasy world the algorithm keeps trying to sell us.
This endless Instagrammable existence …
people banging on cherry blossom trees to create content about “presence” while overtourism destroys the very beauty they’re trying to package and sell back to us.
A performance of life.
Not life itself.
And I’m not caught by celebrities or influencers either.
I’ve been in the room with many of them.
Some of the biggest.
And believe me …
they’re just people.
Some of them confused that I’m not starstruck by them.
Some of them genuinely cool humans who happened to do what they love and it caught on in a big way.
But the common thread with the truly free ones?
They weren’t caught or bought by the world either.
And that kind of freedom scares people.
Especially muggles.
Because who are you to step outside the system?
Who are you to not chase what everyone else is chasing?
Who are you to live somewhere in the middle …
not hypnotized by ordinary life,
but also not seduced by performative extraordinariness either?
Just… here.
Aware.
Choosing consciously.
But this isn’t about bashing anyone’s choices or desires.
It’s about radical authenticity.
Again.
The permission to stop and ask yourself:
What is actually mine?
What do I actually want?
Not what your momma wanted for you.
Not what your daddy was scared for you to become.
Not what the algorithm keeps dangling in front of your nervous system every waking hour.
You.
Embodied you.
To learn backwards.
And choose forward.
On your own terms.
