OK Ragwort - tell everyone in the skool a little about yourself. BTW - old Raggy here has a question for you at the bottom. 🌼 Ragwort: The Plant Everyone Loves to Hate Poor old ragwort. Bright yellow, impossible to ignore at this time of year, and accused of being the villain of every field it dares to grow in. Or in my case, all over my garden. If plants had PR agencies, ragwort would definitely be suing for defamation. Yes, it's poisonous to livestock if eaten in quantity, particularly when dried into hay. But left alone in the wild, horses and cattle generally avoid it because they tend to instinctively know what's good for them. Humans, on the other hand, have a remarkable talent for ignoring instinct and then acting surprised by the consequences. Working in a pub for a number of years has validated that for me countless times over. What most people don't realise is that ragwort is one of the most important plants for insects. More than 170 species use it, and for the Cinnabar moth, it's everything. Without ragwort, there is no Cinnabar caterpillar. Nature, as ever, is playing a far cleverer game than we are. I've only ever seen that particular moth a handful of times. And it's spectacular! Folklore wasn't overly keen on ragwort either. In parts of Britain it was associated with witches, spirits and the fae. Some believed bringing it into the house invited bad luck. Others called it St James's Wort because it flowers around St James's Day at the end of July, when summer is beginning its slow turn towards autumn. Personally, I really like that. Not the bad luck bit. The reminder. July always feels endless until, all of a sudden, the blackberries start forming, swallows gather on the wires and you find yourself secretly yearning for night time temperatures that allow a nice snuggly duvet. Ragwort stands there like a little yellow marker saying, "Nothing stays still forever." Which is probably why I like it. That, and its vibrant yellow flowers. It's the things that are misunderstood that often turn out to be the things holding the whole ecosystem together.

This morning I pulled an oracle card. Now, for the non woo-woo among you, before you roll your eyes, bear with me please. Whether you believe the universe speaks through cards, dreams, chance encounters or your slightly bonkers auntie Brenda is neither here nor there. What matters is the question it made me ask myself. What if everything that’s happened to me has actually been taking me somewhere? The last 4 years or so have been fairly static. Settling into a pub job that gives me the luxury of a 9 day working month was a little too comfortable. But with that teetering on the edge, it’s forced me to look back over the last, well, 15 years. After leaving Australia for the last time, qualifying as a Homoeopath and Nutritional Therapist (which I no longer practice), meeting the right man and some how buying and paying off a house, it’s all been a bit of a blur. The cushy pup job is (probably) coming to an end before the end of the year and as any normal human being would do, that sent me into action mode. I started this Substack, have applied for the odd remote job here and there (and thankfully not been successful), discovered that I love writing and just this week have started this Skool Community. Giving up the therapy business, ending a well-paid, remote corporate job, and getting entrenched into a pub job for nearly four years didn’t look like a spiritual path while I was living it. They looked kind of like mistakes and problems. But just recently I’ve realised that I got everything I ever wanted (before) - the house in a little village in the countryside, the freedom to do with my time what I saw fit (most of the week), and a great relationship that’s heading toward 14 years strong. The journey towards just before the pub job started, showed me what I wanted in my life. The pub job taught me boundaries (and then some). Now I’m writing and have the beginnings of a paid community. None of those chapters were wasted. They were stepping stones.

Do you ever get the feeling like you don’t really belong on this planet? Yep, I opened with that. Because I have that feeling quite often. Mainly when I’m in the woods and conversing with the trees. You see, THEY know what it’s all about. They see how ridiculous we’ve become. Let’s strip it back to bare bones: We are these amazing sacks of flesh, who can solve problems and love and experience the most amazing feelings. And what do we do every day? We put poison in our bodies, worry about non-existent numbers on computer screens, worship celebrities for being famous and put importance on how many of those numbers we can accumulate in a year. What do we need every day? Food, water, love and shelter. Who looks happier? More content? Calmer? We’ve convinced ourselves that progress means productivity and have forgotten the joy in just being. Why Do Some Thrive On Stress? Over the years I’ve met many people who claim to love the fast pace of a stressful life. I’ll suffix this with the fact that all of them either got extremely sick from their stress, or ended up losing it all due to mental health issues. I’m not kidding, I knew a millionaire who lost the whole damn lot. So, when I hear someone say they love the stress or they thrive under pressure, I can see through it instantly. When you’re busy all the time, you have no time to think. No time to heal from what ever it was that drove you to want to fill every waking moment of every day with something other that happiness and calm. For the longest time, I thought that hard work would pay off. It didn’t. It just made me tired. The harder I worked, the more stressed I was and the less I had. My income diminished, my time diminished and my stress went up and up. I did the opposite of thriving. So, really, no one thrives on stress. Some are addicted to it, some use it as a crutch and some use it as a distraction, but no one ever said on their death bed, I wish I’d worked more. When you find something you love to do, that aligns with your spirit, it will rarely feel like stress.