A Smile Goes A Long Way

In my freshman psychology class I remember our professor telling us of a case study about smiling. There were two sample audiences, one audience was told to frown and cross their arms and the other was told to smile while they were both told a series of jokes.

The audience that was told to smile laughed more and found the jokes to be funnier then the audience who was frowning. Ah ha!

Hostel in Chile

Before I got to the farm I was convinced that I had romanticized this whole experience. Surly I would spend my days running through tall seas of grass blowing in the wind, a basket full of chicken eggs in my hand, fresh pies in the window, long pigtail braids and red bonnets...

And well, it is kinda like that.

Avana in the hoop house

For the most part, our team works as a fine oiled machine, weeding, harvesting, and planting. However, sometimes the days are long and the complaints are flying. Where are the smiles at then?

4 Day Solo in Barlioche, Argentina

Sometimes it’s hard to remember to smile when barbed wire slices your arm, your genital region is sweating incessantly and your foot is soaked because your rubber boot has a hole. Yesterday while chopping down the Devil’s plant (bull and Canadian thistle) David and I had a great conversation about the power of little things, like smiles. How could you not smile when your arm is bleeding, your underwear needs to be changed and your foot is water logged? I’m dead serious. This is exactly what I signed up for and I love it. There isn’t anywhere else I would want to be, and…

I have been giggling now more then ever.

It’s odd, having graduated college and all, I feel that the ceremony should have been some kind of passage into adulthood. But you know, I feel like I may be regressing back into a more child like state instead of growing up. Whatever the situation actually is, the fun is just now beginning. And the smiles are free.

Smiling in Patagonia