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Branding.
With the rise of social media, personal branding has become a thing. For awhile, I fell into this branding trap. In promoting agriculture, I became “Lacy Litten – Female Farmer.” It was a brand I was happy to have and promote. But I am not a brand, I am a human being who is constantly changing. Maintaining this Female Farmer brand started to become hard. The mold I created for myself began to crack. But branding is really nothing new. During adolescence, I went through all the phases: country, surfer, punk – you name it. As I look back, I don’t see these phases as “trying them on for size.”…
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Precipice.
Awhile back, I was talking to a friend about some things I’m going through. As I’m telling her all of these things, I’m asking, “Why is this my fault? Why do I have to do this? Why is this my problem? Why do I have to be the bigger person?” She flat-out, simply, and calmly replied, “Because you are the problem.” ✋🏼 Wait …….. what? So many things ran through my brain as I processed, “You are the problem.” In the span of roughly 30 seconds, I felt shock, then anger and defensiveness, followed by a gradual shift to understanding, before accepting and actually feeling calm with this fact resonating.…
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Passion.
Merriam-Webster defines passion as an “intense, driving, or overmastering feeling or conviction.” I don’t really like this definition. I can have intense feelings of happiness or sadness or anger or any other emotion. I feel like passion is more encompassing, but I’m not sure of what. You always hear motivational and inspirational speakers tell you to “Find your passion.” Like, what does that even mean? 🤷🏻♀️ Why don’t they say “Find what you love?” or “Find what makes you happy?” What is it about passion that sets it apart? I’ve had a lot of jobs in a lot of different industries. But it wasn’t until I started working in farming that I truly began to understand what “find your…
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Control.
Control has been on my mind a lot lately for many reasons. Some things have happened that are beyond my control, and some things have happened where I am taking control. Since I frequently write about the need to control what we can control, it has me wondering why this is my desire? I would not consider myself a “control freak.” I’m actually really easygoing when it comes to a lot of things. In fact, what I’m realizing is that I may have been too easygoing in the past. Control is defined as “the power to influence or direct people’s behavior or the course of events.” If you’ve read my intro, you’ll know that I believe leadership is…
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Politics.
Leadership is about rising above our lower self. Leaders set aside their own discomfort to make something more bearable for the other person. This creates the opposite of divide. It creates connection. And that’s been proven in psychology and neuroscience. I haven’t watched much of the political debates, because I don’t need to – nor do I want to. All the debates seem to be is a blame and shame game anyway. We don’t need more of that in our polarized society. We need leaders who say, “I’m sorry Mr. Presidential Nominee that you feel I haven’t done enough for the American people. But let me tell you how I plan to help them when I get elected into office.”…
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The Bar.
Everyone has an opinion on my love life. And as much as I hate it, I also appreciate that so many people care about me and my happiness. But I get a lot of commentary that needs to be drowned out, mostly, because very few people actually know me truly well enough to have a valid opinion. Many of these comments have to do with my expectations, and that I’ve set the bar too high. Every time I hear one of these comments, it really bothers me. Even when said in a joking manner, it bums me out. 😔 I am so fortunate to have incredible men in my life. From…