“What if I set up a business in 2021?”
2021, is the year of a ‘can do’ attitude.
In my weekly Riverford box last week I received a copy of ‘Wicked Leeks’, Issue 5 Winter 2021 . I read the edition from cover to cover in one sitting (while I was supposed to be watching our family movie viewing of Indiana Jones). Many of the articles published were about topics which really strike a chord in my heart: biodiversity, sustainability, food waste and food systems. There was one article in particular which really made me think. “What if?” by Rob Hopkins.
Rob Hopkins quoted a poet Rainer Maria Rilke, “the future must enter into you a long time before it happens”. He follows on by explaining how we as humans had travelled to the moon long before the 1969 Apollo 11 landing, via movies ( A Trip to the Moon,Georges Mieles, 1902) , books (Men of other planets, Kenneth Heur, 1951) and songs (Fly me to the moon, Bart Howard, 1954). He goes on to explain, that by the 1960’s there was such a huge desire and cultural shift to want to get to the moon, that it took 9 years of a dedicated team of scientists working towards making it possible to get there.
The article has a strong focus on climate and our planet. Rob Hopkins asks the reader to imagine how we would like ‘the world to be’. His focus is based on how we can make positive changes ‘that the climate and ecological emergency demands that we make’. He provides examples of how this ‘what if’ question has made positive changes to food systems in Belgium, where local cooperatives have been set up as a result.
Since becoming a mum 13 years ago, I have always thought about setting up my own business and working for myself. I want to be home for the kids, but also want to keep my mind challenged and engaged in the world. Time constraints and family pressures often don’t allow the head space to think beyond such thoughts. But this article got me thinking. I started to ask myself the ‘what if’ question, so that I could imagine myself at the end of 2021 and where I could be.
As Rilke suggests, I started to imagine my future years ago. Being a mum and working from home, baking biscuits and selling them to local cafes and shops. Last year in October, I made contact with Successful Mums and I was interested in the courses they offer mums like myself, keen to get back into the workforce. I was so grateful to be offered a place on the course starting in January 2021.
So I asked myself, ‘What if I set up a business in 2021?’. Sure, my kids are all homeschooling, and life is extra busy, but it’s always going to be busy. So I imagined myself working at the kitchen table, while my kids are engaged in their own learning. And the other women on the course are like the scientists working towards their own similar future realities.
My first task was to set up a blog. I decided to create this blog to document my journey. I’m up for the challenge and look forward to the lowlights and highlights. I’ll let you know when I make it to ‘my moon’!
