I have a thought experiment for you today. This is message 390 and a 44 in the 8-C challenge and this message is dedicated to Dr. Terrie Wurzbacker who is starting her 8th Vol State 500 tomorrow at the age of 75.

You have one plot of ground. You must plant in this plot all the food you will eat your entire life. What if when you were born you were assigned one plot of ground. In this plot, you must grow the food you will eat your whole life. You can use it however you’d like. You can plant whatever you want. But the produce from this land has to sustain you your entire life.

You don’t always have to plant the same things. You can have as much variety as you’d like as long as the soil will supply the necessary nutrients. You will be susceptible to the elements, seasons, and predators. You have to prepare and protect accordingly. Take all necessary safeguards. Use all your ingenuity. This is all you have. 

 Thank goodness nothing like this is the case. I know I’d be quite skinny if it were. However, you are given one plot of ground at birth which is your sole source of nourishment. It is the only place you have to sustain yourself. You are assigned one mind at birth. The 3-pound plot of cholesterol and synapses between your ears is the only one you receive for the entirety of your time here. You live off the produce of your minds. The seeds planted in your mind bears fruit. That fruit either sustains or withers you. 

 How earnest are you tending your field? Have you performed any soil tests lately? Are you keeping away predators and planning for the weather appropriately? Are you utilizing all the potential of your ground?