I Like it. I Like it a LOT!

I sat across the table from her, acutely aware of the gentle eye-widening and silent judgement at the completely outrageous lack of suggestion I was making for my teen son’s future.

“What in the actual parenting handbook are you doing, woman?!” - was the unspoken question hanging in the air. A look I’ve grown used to, to be honest. It’s never comfortable (mainstream society never is), but I handle it a lot better these days, mostly because I’m finally comfortable in my own skin, and I know exactly why I make the choices I do.

On the flipside, I sat there just as bewildered… amazed that people, living in the 21st century, who have witnessed dramatic global shifts just in the past five years alone, still don’t seem to realise how much the world has changed... and how much more it will change.

Adapt or die, comes to mind. If I had to pick a one-liner for what lies ahead, that would be it. My son’s future is not my present, and it certainly isn’t my past. It will unfold in a way we can’t yet fully grasp… because what was… no longer is.

There is nothing anyone can say that will convince me keeping kids away from technology will somehow benefit their future. Those who were raised on “one hour of screen time a day”, who can barely tell one end of a phone from the other because they were forced into three extra hours of schoolwork or sport, are likely to be the ones falling short in the years ahead.

As much as I love to play in my garden and potter around my kitchen making things from scratch… that’s my world. Much of it passed down from my parents and the experiences they gave me. In the same spirit of balance, I trust that my son will carry forward the gifts of character we have instilled in him, like his already solid rejection of the “pronoun generation”, despite being fifteen and caught smack in the middle of that whole sh!tstorm.

When the world tips completely sideways, jobs are replaced by AI, and people can’t find work in the fields they spent years studying for (newsflash: it’s already happening)… I want my son to know how to create financial stability for himself in ways that aren’t dictated by the thumbs of the “powers that be”. And let’s be honest… whatever that looks like, it’s probably going to be online. Global lockdown should have given us all enough perspective to know this isn’t nonsense.

Things have changed — whether we like it or not.

Unpopular opinion? Maybe. But it’s mine. You are welcome to yours.

AI will replace a huge chunk of human work. And the people who will thrive are the ones who know how to work with it - not run from it. Think about that for a second.

Anyway, controversial bits aside… the bigger point is this: as the world shifts, so do the ways people make money. The old idea of “success” wrapped in a suit and tie? It’s dying. The real suits these days are walking around in hoodies and sneakers… and personally, I love that. It’s a nice fat middle finger to a society that desperately needs a rethink.

Lockdown was a huge catalyst for transformation. I don’t think its original intention went quite to plan, because what it did do was wake the younger generation up to the fact that financial freedom outside the system is absolutely possible. People supporting people. Community-based economics. And yes, I know it’s not one-dimensional. It's complex, layered. But it’s happening.

I’ve always had a bit of an entrepreneurial streak, so recently having to pivot once again led me to take a closer look at how the world is actually operating now. Not because I planned to… it just happened. When I found myself alone, instead of numbing out on mindless series (not that that was ever really my thing), I started watching YouTube vlogs… gardening, homesteading, cooking, decorating, whatever.

Before I knew it, that became my norm. Daily. And stepping into these people’s worlds felt oddly familiar, comforting… like learning by osmosis. I don’t read much these days because, well, I fall asleep, lol. But when I did read, I was always drawn to non-fiction. Books that taught me something, opened my mind a little.

These vlogs filled that same gap… just passively in the background while I went about my day. A little nugget here, a fresh idea there. Slowly, I found myself following more and more creators living entirely outside the mainstream… sharing their lives, surviving and thriving on the support of the people who enjoy their content. A like, a share, a comment - these small gestures are helping sustain someone’s personal freedom. That’s pretty cool. Let it sink in.
Then I found the musicians. Not polished music videos, but livestreams. People in their lounges, kitchens, even beaches… sharing raw, honest music with the world. And earning a living from it. Living their passion. That, too, is pretty damn cool.

YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, decentralised platforms… everywhere you look, things are shifting. People are simply not conforming to what we were raised to believe was a socially acceptable version of adulthood. Most of that idea is redundant now… short of the good old moral compass and basic ethics, of course, lol.

But I think it’s brilliant. That people, young and old, are shaking things up. It’s long overdue. The next time you’re about to switch off your brain with another series binge, maybe try something different. Watch someone creating from their kitchen, backyard, studio - teaching, sharing, singing, showing you something new.

When you do that, on any platform, centralised or not… you’re helping to grow freedom of choice. You’re contributing to a world that values creativity, independence, and connection over control. And that? That’s pretty damn cool. I like it. I like it a lot.