2026 Issue #15

What I Learned from an Olive Farmer in Greece

Hi Reader,

One big shift I found when moving from the suburbs to the farm, is that grocery shopping is not a quick errand.

It’s a time commitment.

A 45-minute drive there, a full cart (or two), maybe a couple extra stops because I'm finally in town… and before you know it, you’ve been gone 2–3 hours.

And last week when I rushed out of the house to get groceries, I made a rookie mistake.

I didn’t eat before I left.

So, by the time I pulled into the grocery store parking lot, I was hungry.

And there it was sitting in a few parking lots over.

Taco Bell. 🌮🤤

And I had the thought…

“I could just grab a Crunchwrap Supreme… eat it in the car… and no one would even know.”

Like it would be my little secret. 😄

And for a second, I really considered it.

But then I paused and thought,

👉 How am I actually going to feel after I eat that?

And I already knew the answer.

Not that great. Probably bloated with an upset stomach.

And that moment — sitting in a grocery store parking lot, debating a Crunchwrap — reminded me of something I learned from an olive farmer when I went to Kalamata, Greece.

You see, I signed us up for a tour at an olive farm because apparently even on vacation… I want to learn about farming. 😄

It was off-season — olives are harvested from November to January — and we were there in May.

So we didn’t really know what to expect.

But as luck would have it, we were the only ones on the tour. Which meant we didn’t just get a tour — we got hours of conversation with the owner.

3 hours of conversation to be exact!

The owner, Pavlov, had an oddly similar farming story to my own.

He had been living in Athens (the big city as he referred to it) when his grandfather, who owned an olive grove near Kalamata, passed away.

And instead of staying in the life he knew, he moved to the countryside to takeover the family olive business despite having zero farming experience.

Now, decades later, he runs a thriving olive farm that people travel from all over the world to visit.

But what stayed with me the most was his unique view on life.

We talked about nutrition and McDonald's came up, which Pavlov referred to as junk food. Greece only has one McDonald's and it's located in Athens.

Pavlov traveled to Athens about once a year and while there, he might get "junk food" like McDonald's. but the rest of the year? He said something so simple… but I haven’t forgotten it since:

👉 “I respect my body enough to not eat like that.”

It sounds so simple, yet so powerful. Because you're not saying,

"I'm not allowed to have that dessert",

you're reframing it to be,

"I respect myself enough to not eat like that"

So sitting in that parking lot, staring at Taco Bell…

I wasn’t thinking about calories. I wasn’t thinking about rules.

I was thinking about that sentence. 👉 I respect my body enough to not eat like that.

And I chose differently. Not because I had to. But because I wanted to feel good.

And I think that’s the small shift I want you to think about this week.

👉 how do I want to feel? 👉 and what choice supports that?

Because when you start making decisions from that place…

Everything changes. Not overnight. But steadily.

In a way that actually lasts.

You don’t have to be perfect.

But you can choose to respect your body.

One small decision at a time.

And if you're ever in Kalamata, Greece, be sure to check out Ben Olive Mill!​

xo,

P.S. Want help keeping your nervous system in balance? Join my tea of the month club and get a guided meditation and 15 servings of nervous system supporting herbs, blended with love by me! Click here to learn more.​

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