Wow. This is getting tough.
Not the work of life.
Not life.
Those have always been tough. What's getting to be so tough that it's almost unbearable, is knowing what I can do for so many that are struggling, while having the fear of change, doom, climate, water, food... on and on until it grips people so hard, that they don't move. They can't hear that there are options. When they see them, they are so tired of being lied to or manipulated that even when they think something is good, the past won't let them open up their own future.
Having solutions for people didn't start with the solution, for me. In my life, it was always about the people. When I was young, I wanted to be a lawyer, but I ended up in business. It was my mom, actually, who showed me the world of marketing. I had no idea I'd end up there, but I loved watching her mind work, he sessions with my dad that felt like they were on fire, even from the top of the stairs or through the vents, where my sisters and I listened sometimes. I loved those sessions, and when I got into business at 18, through Bobby Lawrence Karate and the person that would become my first ex-husband, I loved how business lit me up, but it was the people. My kickboxing students making their goals, the franchise owners, sharing our ideas and the growth that came with a solid group effort. Needless to say, I never became that lawyer - and I am grateful for it. There wasn't really even a name for what I do now, when I was born, but marketing is how I got here - to a solution that is no longer just about the people I love so much (that's you). Now, the solution is about all living things, because a great individual reminded me to go outside, look at the bugs and flowers, and to remember my devotion to it. What I do is about life. To live, is the opposite of evil, and I'm all about living.
When I was 19, I had a house built for me. When I was 20, I parked my car in the driveway and moved out on the floorboard of my neighbors truck, on Christmas Eve, with just a suitcase. Days later, I was in Victorville, California, a harsh place with few jobs after the military shut down the base that once made it thrive. There were almost no trees, the houses were boarded up and it was where I learned what "First Friday" meant.
I've lived a lot of places since then. The US Virgin Islands; La Costa, California; Scottsdale, Arizona. Utah again and again, Oregon. I've traveled to even more. Haiti, Grand Cayman, Mexico, Greece, Egypt and many others. In each place I go, I make people either light up, or irritate them - a lot. I talk too much, over-share and care a lot to hear from everyone I meet. From Snaggles in Sugarhouse, Utah, to the lady on the plane yesterday who hared her world view with me, everyone is important - but we aren't the only ones. The life that gives us our own is important, too, so - can I ask you a favor? Can you put aside your opinions on all the things in the world (just for a second), and think about all of the life that isn't your own and ask yourself, is it important that that life makes it? Is it critical that our bees (who we lost 48% of in the US last year in 2022 alone) are also taken into consideration? Is it important to you that the soil has life in it so that your food, lawn and favorite flowers can grow? If the answer is no, I'd invite you to go, I'm not for you. If the answer is yes, let's pull you back into the equation.
Do you know how much you are loved? How much others and other life forms love to support you, interact with you and see you thrive? Don't know that anything cares? I double-dog dare you to go adopt a pet, play with a bug or chirp at a bird. Talk to your plants and see how they stretch back to communicate and grow - for you. You see, every interaction has the opportunity to raise us up. Literally and figuratively. We have every - and I mean every - opportunity to thrive. Yeah, it looks pretty bleak, but I promise, you won't have to jump into the trenches where I've been for the last lotsa years, there's no need. I would ask that you take the opportunity to lower your guard, just a little, and peer into a world where people - a lot of them - are working every day to make your life better. From those well-known like Woody Harrelson, Danny Glover and Rosario Dawson, to those not known, like Sean Amodt, head of the Southwest Mosquito Abatement District, who relentlessly helps his community and those he's never met, through his work. Like me, who has literally given up everything from my personal security and social life (which I suuuuper loved), to grind away, making things change course. There is no stopping all of the fallout from past decisions, but, maybe like you, I didn't make those decisions - and I won't sit by and let them keep dictating our quality of life, long after the decisions that were made were outmoded.
There are solutions to so many problems facing us, but it's people like Tom Bennett, who personally brought music to a city that wasn't even allowed to hum or sing 'Happy Birthday' eight years ago, to a place of community celebration and the 7th year of the Colorado City Music Festival where Royal Bliss headlined this past year, who make change happen. Tom helps beauty and life, thrive. Another really great couple of examples are Heidi Totten and John Rounard, who get food, water and community programs started in places as far from their own homes in Utah as Kenya and Uganda. Each of these people started with an idea, a whisper from a still small voice, an Ah-ha moment - and they followed it. All have sacrificed, yes, and all of them are working today, probably right now and probably in 12 hours from now.
In my own business, we use some of the smallest creatures in the world, to rapidly heal it. What takes years to a hundred years (no joke) to do, we do in months or a year. Algae and cyanobacteria that make people sick and shut down our lakes and waterways is gone in 14-21 days everywhere I've put our product, yet, even industry experts are so skeptical that anything will work, that they won't let me show them. I've been trying to clean Utah Lake for the better part of 6 years. Could I just go do it? Maybe, but we have all the tools and resources to make it more than a one-hit wonder. We have literally one person that doesn't want to help - out of thousands that want us to move forward. We'l need all of them to accomplish the task and I don't plan to let it go. I'll never stop caring about my community, and the world is my community. Amenah from Cairo, Min Ji in South Korea, Basta on St Croix... I love them dearly. They showed me kindness and taught me new things. They guided me and learned from me, too, and I still think of them when I work.
It's getting tough to watch so many preventable losses, illnesses and heartache, and I'd like to invite you to follow along and learn a little more. Yeah, about me, but also about the world of good going on out there. About the Web of Allies as I call it, who don't necessarily make any money off each other, who may have less than something to gain from the interaction, and I'd like you to really tap in and feel it. Participate, ask questions and then, be bold and daring at implementing solutions where you see them. I'd like to share more of my life and world with you, so you can see why this one, who hopped into the sarcophagus in the Queen's chamber when I finally made it to the pyramids, no longer listens and just accepts. There is a world of interaction that literally heals and protects us. I'd encourage a look into the Roseto Effect between now and when you next come back, and then tell me, what is the power of your community? Of the global community? For me, I see the potential to Live, as limitless.
Follow along on my LinkedIn at http://LinkedIn.com/in/jennlynn for updates more often, of check out my company website website at NaturaSolve.com, to see the impacts we are having today, that could drastically improve our tomorrow's.
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