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We Can Do Better Than Amusing Ourselves to Death

by Carla Gericke
written by Carla Gericke

I read “AMUSING OURSELVES TO DEATH” way back, and might have to take another look at it, but, while everyone has been wondering whether our future dystopia will be Orwell or Huxley (I actually suggested these to Facebook as buttons once 😛), I have come to the conclusion it is actually all KAFKA, all the time!

Our injustice system is the best example of this, with its never-ending bureaucratic loops, circle upon circle of hell. So yeah, okay, maybe Kafka plus Dante.

Instead of getting frustrated about this on a global scale, here in the Free State, I carefully choose where I can make an actual, on the ground (not “Big Mouth on the Internet”) difference, and then exert my efforts to those issues.

Successful Free Staters all do this, whether it is running for office and introducing bills to expand liberty in NH, or starting a Ladies-Only shoot, or a homeschooling co-op, or a cool little Youtube channel… We find what we’re passionate about and lean into it.

I do Right-to-Know work because I believe open and transparent government is the only way for us to hold our officials accountable. I do independence work because I believe the US federal government is immoral, corrupt, bankrupt, and cannot be reformed, although I would like to be proven wrong. I submit op-eds and letters to the editor because we should be talking to our neighbors in ways they can relate to and meet them where they are so we can persuade them there is a better way, and we have it: Freedom!

If YOU moved to NH as part of the Free State Project, how are YOU exerting your “fullest practical effort”?

Have you found the issues you are passionate about and have you been able to connect with people working in that area already?

Perhaps you’re interested in something so niche that YOU need to be the spearhead?

The Free State is always looking for more doers, volunteers, and folks who want to help make a difference. Please reach out!

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ArtBlog

My Life: A Hundred Times More Better!

by Carla Gericke
written by Carla Gericke

My Life No. 100!

Well, here we are folks! My ONE HUNDREDTH “My Life: In Balance”!

This started as an experiment last year that came to me during a 5-Day Fast. I’ve been exploring ways in which I might unleash more of the energy I’d like to put in the world: my creative self together with my growing wise-ass-don’t-give-a-damn self.

This was my first foray.

I’ve learned, you will never heal the world until you have healed yourself, and I’m at the stage where I understand that childhood experiences, and brain-worms stuck in unhelpful grooves, sometimes need to, want to, and CAN BE JOLTED.

What better way than letting it all hang out?

I was meditating on Day 4 of my fast–I was probably just really hungry! LOL–but the second I “had it,” the moment the balancing design came to me, I made a note on a, you guessed it, yellow Post-It that said: “Make this is trope for CarlaGericke.com,” my website where I regularly post about exerting my fullest practical effort in the Free State, i.e. “My Life”.

The first one said: “Crushing Mob Rule” vs. “Becoming a Populist”.

In short, this “My Life” exercise was my own devised cognitive behavioral therapy, done in public, to help me let go of my perfectionism, my inner critic, and my fear of judgement.

The rules of this game were:

1. Telling myself there is no wrong way/No judgement/Nobody cares! <— That’s freeing, not depressing, btw. One of my most popular ones was “Nobody Cares!” with a sad face on one side and “Nobody Cares!” with a smiley face on the other.

2. I had to post the first take, unless the writing was illegible. I did about 10 over, and only on few had more than 2 takes. <—This was surprisingly hard bc of the brain-noodles trying to thwart forward progress: “But the line is skew!” “But the ‘A’ is wrong!” Exercise override function: IT DOESN’T MATTER!!!

3. No deadline beyond “Just do 100 to start; doesn’t matter how long it takes” <— Important because one of my issues is if I set a goal for myself and I don’t crush it immediately, I give up because I’ve “failed,” instead of either a) creating a more aligned goal, or b) giving myself grace for the slide and then continuing on my merry way.

4. I told myself after I’d completed a hundred, I would figure out a book. I realized the other day I can start using the content in other ways, too… Maybe 3 minute vids on what they mean to me/universal truths, as I eke out this book, probably as I add some essays.

I appreciate everyone who has followed along so far, commented, and shared your thoughts. I’m so happy I figured out a short and sweet way to show you some of what’s in my head!

As humans, I think this is our main compulsion: To be seen and understood, but here’s the kicker: You cannot be understood if you cannot articulate your thoughts.

For years, while advancing a successful legal career, I knew my real desire was to be a writer, you know, the people in the business of articulating their thoughts. I remember how, after I returned to college in my mid-30s to get my Master in Fine Arts, angst-y students would ask, “When can I call myself a writer?”

When you claim it.

I started saying I was a writer in 2008, after I sold my first story, but it didn’t feel non-Impostor-real until I held my first book, THE ECSTATIC PESSIMIST, in my hands.

But, over the past year, I’ve realized, I want more: I want to be an ARTIST.

The moment I wrote “ARTIST???” in my journal (yes, with all the question marks; hey, not all the self-confidence and self-awareness comes at once, m’kay? 😛), it made sense to me in the same way the Post-It series did.

Why this word? Why does ARTIST give me freedom in a way that I need to embrace?

Because through ***habitual*** journaling, I now understand that to me, the label ARTIST is freeing…

Art is subjective.

Art is permission to be weird and not care.

Art is misunderstood.

Art is individual.

Art is trying to make sense of your own thoughts, your own imagination, and the world around you, through your own spark.

Art is showing your soul and hoping someone likes it.

Art is continuing to create, even if no one does.

Art is unstoppable.

So am I.

And so are YOU.

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Blog

Is Wearing Too Many “Hats” Making Us Bonkers?

by Carla Gericke
written by Carla Gericke

“While we wait for life, life passes.” ~ Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Are you pretending to be someone you’re not? What do the words self-loathing and self-love conjure in you?

I’ve been pondering how people are showing up in my community, the collision between internet personas and real life, and what this means for those of us seeking balanced lives filled with personal integrity.

A while back, it occurred to me that “compartmentalization,” or putting things in “silos,” or even, as many of us say these days, operating under our “different hats” is… kind of bananas?

Aligning thoughts and actions is where human flourishing lies.

Yet, we are forced by government decrees and corporate structures and stories told to us by people trying to distract us, to pursue this SPIRITUAL DISCOMBOBULATION as though it is “normal”.

Pretty sure it’s not.

Pretty sure splitting yourself into different personas is… bad for you.

Pretty sure keeping you confused about who you are, is standing in the way of your happiness, and possibly even in the way of universal human enlightenment.

If you’re constantly seeking drama, being an asshole, criticizing people, or advocating hate, harm and violence online, even if you tell yourself it’s for the eyeballs and laffs, you might want to consider what you’re calling into your life in return for what you are putting out.

If you are feeding your ego with yuck… you become yucky.

We only have this life. The constant now.

If you’re working to build a world without top-down government, are you waiting until you find this perceived “utopia” to start “behaving properly” (which at a minimum would be: treat others as you yourself want to be treated), or are you just going to be a raging asshole in this Brave Not-So-New World too?

Because if you’re just planning to be a jerk, I’m building something else. I’m building a community striving to be their best selves at every moment. I want to be surrounded by people who want to lift each other up and seize this short gift we’ve got to EXIST in the real world we find ourselves in! It starts with each of us, individually, striving to be our best selves in every moment.

It’s never to late to start! You will fail. And then we try, try, try again! Live free and thrive!

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Listen to the People When It Comes to Housing Woes

by Carla Gericke
written by Carla Gericke

FSP Founder and board member Jason Sorens pens an op-ed re zoning and the housing shortage.

This reminds me, when we talk about NH, we should start framing the value proposition of a “Live Free and Thrive!”-life through a scarcity lens… Yes, house prices are staying high despite the drop elsewhere… Why? Because this is a better place to live, we are seeing record in-migration, and there is a limited supply of houses until we can fix this problem.

At this past weekend’s FSB-DAC Conference, I framed it this way:

Imagine you are still getting in early on Switzerland. Yeah. Not so pricey then, eh? 😛

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BlogConferences

My Weekend in the Free State

by Carla Gericke
written by Carla Gericke

This weekend was one for the books! I went to three Free Stater-led events, and had to bail on several others! If you feel like you’re missing out, know this: Your one stop source for goings-on around the Free State can be found on the FSP CALENDAR. We make an effort to keep the calendar current and up-to-date, so let Chris know if you spot something awry.

Saturday morning kicked off with MVP, the Merrimack Valley Porcupine meetup, which has been running for almost 20 years. This event, which conveniently takes place on the first Saturday of the month from 11:30AM-1PM is an excellent place to come find out what’s happening over the next month. It’s where you can meet candidates and other activists, pitch ideas, and generally ease into life as an activist and Free Stater in the Merrimack area.

I learned there’s a lot cooking (will post more later), including this important CALL-TO-ACTION for tomorrow/Tuesday, Sept 5th:

STOP IRL SOCIALISTS AT CITY HALL! 9/5 Tues at 6PM, before New Movers, come tell real life communists that we don’t want a city department dedicated to homelessness because we know: WHAT YOU SUBSIDIZE YOU GET MORE OF and we don’t want more homeless people! Stay at 7pm to give your 3 minute remarks on why a brand new “Housing Instability” department is nonsense.

Next, I attended West Manchester Day, hosted by We <3 West, where my husband, Louis Calitz serves on the board. This family friendly event, now in its third year, was held at a new, more convenient locations at 300 Prescourt Street, where the soccer fields are located. Parking was easy. Toilets were available. Definitely a good location to scale the events. Hopefully more people will learn of the great work We <3 West is doing to revitalize the west side without demanding our neighbors pay for it.

On Sunday, I went to Durham to speak at the Fifth Annual FSB-DAC event at the Fenton’s Farm. I have spoken at 3 of the 5 events, and it was an honor to do so again. I spoke of the close ties between Free Staters and crypto, and some of the FSP’s history with Bitcoin, where Free Staters in New Hampshire were very early adopters, starting in 2012. The world’s first Bitcoin ATM was developed in Manchester!

Porcupine Real Estate, where I now work as a Realtor, was well represented, and I was delighted to pitch the crowd the following idea: Every libertarian and liberty lover in the world should own a piece of the Free State! And, through tokenization and a DAO, I am going to make that happen!

I also gave an impassioned shout out to Free Ross, which I have consistently done since I started attending this event. I won’t stop until we Free Ross!

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Oops, The Free Staters Were Right (Again): Gunstock

by Carla Gericke
written by Carla Gericke

AG issues cease-and-desist order about illegal electioneering payments to Sununu at Gunstock???

Hmm. Say it isn’t so. Didn’t Free Staters say Gunstock’s management was doing shady shit…? And now, there’s proof Free Staters were… RIGHT.

Remember how Free Staters; together with Belknap Republicans said there was deep corruption at Gunstock, and instead of taking us seriously, the corrupt people bandied together to get rid of the whistle-blowers & truth-seekers, and destroyed some honest folk? Because I remember.

I find it fascinating that the NH AG’s office simply created a wild new legal standard for government-aligned-officials who break the law (if they’re connected, you see). The Conclusion of the C&D Letter is basically: “Oops, guess you broke the law, but since you didn’t mean to break it, we’re just going to tell you not to do that again, m’kay?”.

I categorically herewith demand that all Free Staters be treated with the same deference when they make “mistakes”.

I further find it fascinating that this corruption was hidden by a coalition of RINOs and Democrats who colluded together to POINT THE FINGER AT THE PEOPLE SEEKING THE TRUTH. But here’s a lesson for free: Follow the money. Every damn time.

This is just the tip of the iceberg about corruption and cronyism in New Hampshire’s political class, and in the end, THAT’S why they fight Free Staters.

And I, for one, will keep fighting back!

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BlogConferences

FSP History: Paul Fest in 2012

by Carla Gericke
written by Carla Gericke

On August 25, 11 years ago, several Free Staters went to support Ron Paul in Florida.

We had a booth with Bill’s LIBERTY TOO BIG TO FAIL sign, we solicited signers, and I gave a speech about the value of concentrating pro-freedom folk together in the great state of NH.

My highlights from that excursion were:

Tom Woods walking by me as we were getting ready to speak, me timidly greeting him fan-girl-style, Tom saying something like, “I know I should know who you are because I see you at these things,” and, as we shook hands, I mentally vowed that he’d remember me one day! (I think he does! 😛)

Getting interviewed by Tom Mullen for The Washington Times:

Meeting the great Walter Block. Walter has been a big intellectual influence on me, although he may not know it.

In September, my submission, solicited by him, will be included in a new autobiographical anthology of libertarian thought leaders edited by Prof. Block (yeah, I’m fancy now). Of my personal essay, he said: “Wow! This one blew me away!” Stay tuned for info when it drops.

What I remember most, though, about that trip, is the deep anxiety I felt. About life, about broken friendships, about having to give a speech in front of so many people. I surely did some tequila shots beforehand.

Looking back now, I’m so grateful for the choices I made to change my trajectory. Giving up the crutch of alcohol materially reduced my anxiety.

If YOU suffer from anxiety, you have to be willing to dig deep to make changes, and part of that is recognizing HOW YOU ARE FUELING YOURSELF. What do you consume? Alcohol, sugar, too much caffeine? Porn? Doom scrolling? Psst, all of these can cause you to sleep poorly.

Sleep poorly? Don’t expect your noggin’ to function right.

If you truly want to LIVE FREE AND THRIVE, with the emphasis on THRIVE, you have to ACTIVELY & CONSCIOUSLY seek to make that happen!

If I can do it, so can YOU! Follow me on social and subscribe here to CarlaGericke.com, where I frequently blog about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (emphasis on PURSUIT… YOU are the steward of your life, thoughts, and dreams!).

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