Kensho Homestead

It’s so important to find inspiration, for so many reasons. Sometimes it’s simply a needed morale booster, and that’s important. Othertimes it’s even more crucial, because without it, growth, expansion, mastery, can be much more difficult, if not impossible.

I’m thinking of when I learned to waterski as a kid. I’m not competitive by nature, and I’m introverted, so maybe that’s why inspiration is so crucial to my developmental process.

Introverts can be bold and adventurous, most folks don’t understand that, because they don’t push themselves into the public eye.

That’s not me, it’s a stock photo, but she would’ve inspired me had I seen her!

Once my mom and grandpa taught me the basics, encouraging me all the way to slolem, I didn’t really know what else to do with it anymore. Sure, it was still fun enough, but fun is quickly boring to me without growth. Without learning. Without challenge.

For a naturally competitve person stagnation is less of a problem, they will seek out others and join in, finding the skill-level and motivation to improve in their desired venture.

Our society is built for such types. Even the internet is being rearranged to further augment competition and extroversion, because a militarized, institution-worshipping culture must by necessity favor hierarchy over collaboration.

As a case in point, consider the popular expression, “Those who can . . . do, those who can’t . . . teach.” This condescension deliberately misses the mark to award ‘the doers’ as those ‘at the top’ who are amply rewarded with success and status.

In fact, a good teacher rarely has the same qualities as the high-achieving, status-seeking competitive types, because the skills and capacities required are very different. The best teachers often shun the limelight, and often competion, for good reason. Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule.

It’s not at all uncommon for professionals and lay folk alike to equate their child’s introversion with ‘shyness’ while wishing it will soon be thoroughly outgrown. In many cases a completely natural prediliction for deep-thinking, solitude, study, is suspicion for a mental disorder, as social anxiety, depression, anti-social, or even . . .a lone-wolf serial killer.

Maturity without the coercive social control of modernity demonstrates the opposite, more solitude should naturally be aligned with greater levels of introspection, thoughtfulness, observation, consideration, instead of illiciting derorgatory social criticism like unmotivated, passive, lazy, loner, dorky, awkward, and the like.

I hear that’s changing, but I’m not convinced. Think about it for a sec. How many derorgatory words do we have for the excessively competitive or extraverted in comparison? How often do we lecture extroverts on the importance of introspection as we push introverts to ‘get in the game’?

But, can we really say the obsessively competitive are socially safer than the obsessively reclusive?

I think not.

Highly competitive players, while I fully understand their value as motivators, are rarely good teachers or role models, yet we can’t seem to get enough of them.

They can sometimes be so extraordinarily good they compel admiration from a very great distance, like this dude, who is so mesmerizing, precisely because they can bring out the best, and the worst, in their audiences, as well as in their personal life and relationships.

Not a fan of sports, not particularly attracted to aggression and dominance games, but damn, too long watching him and that might shift somewhat! Lord have mercy!

And yet, while nothing has changed as far as society catering to the extroverted and competitive, before the internet and streaming services, someone like me had a far more challenging time connecting to a ‘master source’.

So, finally, the point of my post.

Cheese influencers, where would I be without them? I think I’d be still not far from my original cheese workshop learning from a decade ago. Instead I’ve been around the world in cheese wisdom, more than once.

Authors, teachers, creators, well, even simple bloggers, we should pat each other on the back more often.

Here’s two amazing cheesemaking inspirations in my wee world lately. I want to pat them on the back, because I am so very grateful to them! They’ve inspired me in so many ways– to up my game, to consider new angles, to experiment, to expand, to deeply appreciate, so, so many things.

The 50 year cheese veteran Will Studd, who has a new and fantastic documentary out just last year.
Cheese: Searching for a Taste of Place
https://watch.amazon.com/detail?gti=amzn1.dv.gti.3467af9a-b1a6-4e71-b75d-b8dd0723ee89&territory=US&ref_=share_ios_season&r=web

“After establishing several delicatessens in central London in the 1970s, will migrated to Australia, where he has worked tirelessly to promote a greater understanding of what good cheese is all about, as well as championing the cause of traditional cheeses made from raw milk.
Will is the author of two comprehensive cheese books, including Chalk and Cheese, which won ‘World’s Best Cheese Book’ at the Gourmand Awards in Paris. He is also executive producer and presenter of Cheese Slices,  a 29-hour documentary series focused on artisanal cheese. Since its premiere in 2002, Will has filmed hundreds of dairies and cheesemakers in over two dozen countries.”

And on a smaller scale, a Youtuber, passionate and instructive, rather extroverted, possibly even competitive, who is now venturing into live online workshops, and more power to her!