Video
Oh, the stream cut out? And I forgot my selfie-stick? Classic road-life sabotage. Boo. I swear, nothing humbles you faster than technology betraying you mid-brilliance. Sorry, folks—live, love, and buffer, am I right?
Here’s the fun thing I noticed at Ron Paul’s 90th Birthday Bash: because of my Free State Project gig, I’ve somehow ended up in the friend zone of an entire constellation of “celebritarians.” The people you normally see on podcasts, in documentaries, or occasionally tucked into weird Wikipedia rabbit holes—they’ve spoken at our events. They’ve all journeyed to New Hampshire to inhale our crisp pine air, drink in our weirdly uncompromising liberty vibes, and, apparently, tolerate me.
It’s kind of wild when you step back and realize that NH—and yes, me, by proxy—is this beacon, pulling a kaleidoscope of brilliant, chaotic, fascinating humans to the Granite State. Like we’re running the ultimate guest list, an intimate VIP club where your club card reads: “Enemy of the State? Enter here.” And the “here” is the Free State.
So, since the vid cut out, without further ado: here’s the “Who’s Who” of who I’ve actually seen, shook hands with, or awkwardly fan-girled over in the name of freedom. Buckle up, this is your most eclectic, slightly nerdy dream guest list come to life:
Nick Gillespie, Matt Kibbe, Jack Hunter, Glenn Jacobs, Luke Rudkowski, Scott Horton, Dave Smith, Lynn Ulbricht, Martha Bueno, Tom Woods, Larry Sharpe, Keith Knight, John Bush, Clint Russell, Mark and Joanna Skousen, Ernie Hancock, Angela McArdle, Tulsi Gabbard, Josie the Red-Headed Libertarian, and Justin Amash.
And of course, our own Free Stater slate, including FSP founder Jason Sorens and three-term former Maine senator (and now FSP Executive Director) Eric Brakey, but most importantly, FSP volunteers and events organizers… The Quillage that makes the FSP tick! (Not all Free Staters are pictured, I counted twenty of us!)

Seriously. Step back and take a breath. It’s not every day your weird little liberty project reflects back a galaxy of “stars” to honor a man who inspired us all: Ron Paul.
Day 221 of My Living Xperiment: Ron Paul's 90th birthday bash! https://t.co/Z241JNnU9Q
— Carla Gericke, Live Free And Thrive! (@CarlaGericke) August 9, 2025
Trying to capture a thousand chanting “End the Fed,” but too late!
— Carla Gericke, Live Free And Thrive! (@CarlaGericke) August 10, 2025
Day 220 of My Living Xperiment: Arrived in TX for Ron Paul's bash tomorrow. Dialing this one in. https://t.co/QhI6WZVuH9
— Carla Gericke, Live Free And Thrive! (@CarlaGericke) August 9, 2025
Day 219 of My Living Xperiment: Know Where NH https://t.co/cFYAWu7hpD
— Carla Gericke, Live Free And Thrive! (@CarlaGericke) August 7, 2025
On a business trip to Japan in 2000, I was stunned to discover the Tokyo subway still ran on the honor system. No turnstile jumpers, just trust. Flash-forward to my life here in New Hampshire, and the same principle thrives: roadside farm stalls, unlocked and unmanned, with a coffee can or a Venmo QR code and a simple request—take what you need, leave what you owe. No cameras. No signs warning of prosecution. Just… trust. It’s not just charming—it’s culture. Live free and act right. One more reason I love living in the Free State!
Take 2: A farm. https://t.co/0KuCWXzpCj
— Carla Gericke, Live Free And Thrive! (@CarlaGericke) August 6, 2025
Day 217 of My Living Xperiment: On the road back from Boston… https://t.co/r310LhhprZ
— Carla Gericke, Live Free And Thrive! (@CarlaGericke) August 6, 2025
Today, before the FSP Weekly Update kicks off (about halfway through), I dip into a little soul-spelunking:
Does being good at stuff make people… not like you?
Is excellence alienating?
Should I… pretend to fail sometimes?
Dilute the intensity? Downshift my drive?
What if I told you my mind was trained for success—not gifted, not lucky—trained with something as unsexy and untrendy as daily journaling?
Page after page. Day after day. That’s how I got here.
And now… I think it’s happening again.
The itch. The signal. The pull to level up.
What will that look like? I have no idea. But I hope you’ll come along for the ride. Let’s find out together.
Day 216 of My Living Xperiment: Leveling-Up after teaching self to "hold back," and what's coming up in the @FreeStateNH this week? https://t.co/4qs9h27kH5
— Carla Gericke, Live Free And Thrive! (@CarlaGericke) August 4, 2025
Yes, I nominated LPNH for a free speech award. On principle.
Not because I like them. Not because I agree with their tactics.
But because I believe in the principle of free speech.
And, honestly? To prove Jeremy Kauffman is lying.
No, Jeremy. My issues with you aren’t about “mean tweets.”
You know that. I know that.
You can tweet all the edgelord bait you want under the assets you own.
That’s your right. The government can’t—and shouldn’t—stop you.
But here’s the thing you never seem to grasp:
Just because you can say something doesn’t mean people will want to stand next to you after you say it.
That’s not censorship. That’s consequence. That’s cause and effect.
Eventually, your former friends will stop pretending it’s edgy and start admitting:
It’s just exhausting. Cruel. Pointless. Weird. (Not in the good way.)
No one wants to hang out with a walking 4chan thread.
Also–and I say this with love, or at least a trace of grace–
What the hell is wrong with you?
You might want to… I don’t know… work on that.
Day 215 of My Living Xperiment: Why I nominated the LPNH for a First Amendment award https://t.co/Qpr0fcSalS
— Carla Gericke, Live Free And Thrive! (@CarlaGericke) August 3, 2025
Day 214 of My Living Xperiment: Live from Mill Pond in Ossipee, NH. https://t.co/aZeoNRce1h
— Carla Gericke, Live Free And Thrive! (@CarlaGericke) August 2, 2025
Day 213 of My Living Xperiment: Yesterday, I let go of a dream… https://t.co/sd1Ih3E64Q
— Carla Gericke, Live Free And Thrive! (@CarlaGericke) August 1, 2025
I Let Go of A Dream
Here’s Why I’m Not Sorry
Let’s talk about stretch goals—and when they stretch just a little too far.
You know that feeling when something starts off as a bold, energizing dream—something noble, maybe even legacy-defining—and then slowly starts to… morph? Not crash and burn. Not fizzle exactly. But shift, subtly, into something that just doesn’t fit anymore?
That was me with my dream of purchasing the $5 million Bethlehem campus.
From the first time I visited: I saw it. I felt it. A glorious headquarters for the Free State Project. A museum to capture our decades of history. A Welcome Center in the White Mountains where freedom lovers would arrive, breathe in the crisp pine air, and say, “Finally, I’m home.”
It wasn’t a vanity play. It was mission-driven.
But, after a call with a donor last night, I decided to do something different this time.
Old Carla? She would’ve continued to half-arse this project. Thrown it on the pile of a million projects “half-quarter-ten-percent-done,” and eventually, let it peter out in unspoken regret.
New Carla showed up full throttle for a while.
Term sheets at PorcFest. Pitches to donors.
Calls. Calendars. Conviction.
Eyelashes weaponized at the FSP Board.
But last night, I started to wonder:
Was I repeating a pattern I’ve tangoed too many times?
Clinging to things that don’t serve me?
Could I, just by noticing, choose differently?
Here’s what I’m learning:
Sometimes I pick stretch goals to dodge the real work.
Take my real estate business. I’m building it—intentionally, daily.
Recently, I was showing a property with a rundown barn.
And I just… glossed over it. Smiled, redirected, moved on.
In that moment, I realized:
I have no idea how hard it is to maintain buildings in good shape.
Especially here. Especially through these brutal New Hampshire winters.
And it hit me:
Sometimes my dreams aren’t grounded at all.
They’re shiny. Aspirational. Visionary.
But vague on the plumbing.
Because I don’t want to face the hard parts.
I subconsciously assume someone else–the “experts”–will handle the stuff that needs to be fixed.
I stay up in the clouds floating in my dreamscape.
The barn? Meh. That’s ultimately someone else’s problem.
But with the campus?
The buck would’ve stopped with me.
Still, part of me wanted the fantasy. The version where I build a school with my name on a cornerstone, where students come to learn about liberty under the Pines, where people from all over the world gather to dream new dreams, where there’s a studio and a stage and a chapel, and a place to finally belong.
But that dream, that shiny one?
It was all rooftop. No foundation.
So… somewhere between the rah-rah and the ruh-roh, In-My-Prime-Carla came along—confident, clear-eyed, and increasingly unwilling to waste energy on dreams that don’t improve my life.
She–I–said:
“Let’s solve for reality.”
Let’s look at the opportunity cost. Let’s look at the math.
If I’m going to pour this much energy into raising $5 million, wouldn’t it be smarter–and easier–to just sell five $1 million homes?
I already know how to do that.
I already love doing that.
And I’d make the same money.
Also… minor detail: What do I know about running a million dollar campus in the rugged White Mountains of the Free State?
There it was. The truth, plain as day.
Not a failure. Not a burnout. Just… not viable.
So I last night in my journal I wrote:
“Let it go.”
I closed the book.
I exhaled.
And I moved on.
This is the part where I remind you:
Letting go is not quitting.
It’s adapting. Strategically. Sanely. Smartly.
Again, for the kids in the back:
Letting go isn’t giving up–it’s conscious redirection.
Letting go is a power move.
Quitting is collapse.
Letting go is proactive, purposeful, and aligned–it’s you steering the ship.
Quitting is passive. Resigned. It’s the boat floating off while you watch from the shore.
For those of us wired for perseverance, letting go can feel like failure.
But it’s not.
It’s wisdom.
It’s not abandoning your principles.
It’s realigning your path so your principles can actually carry you somewhere worth going.
Because sometimes, perseverance is just pride in a smarter outfit.
Or worse–it’s fear of regret holding hands with sunk costs.
You start to chase the feeling of chasing something, rather than the thing itself.
So how do you know when a stretch goal becomes too stretchy?
You test the pivot.
You don’t blow it all up.
You just… try on the alternative.
Try not pursuing the thing.
Try letting go, for now.
And feel what happens in your body.
Does your jaw unclench?
Do your shoulders drop?
Do the loops in your mind settle?
That’s not weakness.
That’s data.
That’s your nervous system whispering: “Thank you.”
Most of us stay stuck because we’ve been conditioned by a permanence mindset--that once you commit, you must follow through.
That pivoting makes you unserious.
That if you don’t finish the thing, you’re a flake. A quitter. A fraud.
But you know what?
I’m not a parable. I’m a work-in-progress.
This isn’t a narrative arc. It’s my life.
And I am not here to cosplay consistency for the sake of other people’s comfort.
So here’s where I landed:
I can still care about the Free State Project without being its everything.
I can still dream big, without pretending every dream has to be mine to execute.
I can sell five beautiful homes, help five liberty lovers land in New Hampshire, and know this is meaningful work too.
I’m not quitting the movement.
I’m just not building a Dream in the clouds of Bethlehem.
Not this year. Not with that campus. Not at that price.
And that’s okay.
Letting go doesn’t mean you’ve given up.
It means you’ve grown up.
And somewhere in that sacred stretch between Old Carla’s chaos and New Carla’s rah-rah is this me:
Clear. Calm. Committed–
To reality.
To alignment.
To a life that actually works for me first.
And maybe, someday, when the sun cracks through the clouds over Bethlehem, and I have more lines etched across my face and more softness behind my eyes, I’ll drive past that campus and dream the dream again.
Just for a moment.
Not with regret, but with recognition.
A quiet remembering:
That once, I held something beautiful–
and I chose to set it down.
And I will nod.
And I will drive on.
And the wind will whisper nothing more in the pines.
If you’re wrestling with a too-stretchy dream right now, give yourself a moment to test the pivot.
Flip the coin.
Feel the answer.
And if it tastes like peace?
You already know. 🍊