The Code of The West

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Just a simple dispatch from the Code of the West for your Sunday evening.
06/15/2026

Just a simple dispatch from the Code of the West for your Sunday evening.

A man’s gotta have a code.
06/14/2026

A man’s gotta have a code.

I’m not sure if this is easier or harder with the advent of the internet and social media.Seems like there has always be...
06/13/2026

I’m not sure if this is easier or harder with the advent of the internet and social media.

Seems like there has always been a tendency for most people to blend in to their environments. To not rock the boat, and to conform. I feel like I was bucking a lot of that when I was a little boy. Families have the things they do and feel comfortable with and having a black sheep sometimes brings attention they don’t want.

On the flip side in these modern times, it seems like we’re encouraged to show up online wearing a costume, showing off a highly curated version of not just ourselves, but versions of other people that have had success wearing the same masks.

Seems like one of the hardest things to do is just to be you. To listen to your own gut, and make decisions from your own discernment, and not hiding behind a facade.

I come back to these 12 actions pretty much on the regular.I try to do as many of them as I can, as often as I can. Espe...
06/12/2026

I come back to these 12 actions pretty much on the regular.

I try to do as many of them as I can, as often as I can. Especially the last one.

This morning a wood pe**er woke me up around 5am, hammering on the outside of the barn. I looked out the windows facing to the north west and saw the early morning sun hitting the tamaracks out side, and rather than fight to go back to sleep, I decided to take a walk down to the pasture.

Despite being June, it was brisk. I watched the sun break through the clouds over the field, and watched the geese down by the water and the golden light spreading down and across the stumpy mountains across the lake, I asked myself “Why don’t I do this every morning?” I felt ashamed as I stood sentinel like for almost 30 minutes, thinking and talking to God while I listened to the eagles in their nests behind and above me and sipped on my coffee.

I felt more centered than I had in a while as I climbed the hill back towards the barn. I looked up through the tall tamaracks and became aware of how good it was to be alive, and how grateful I was for another day on Earth.

We all forget what a gift this life is from time to time. It’s just that the way you’ll remind yourself of that, probably won’t be found in your phone.

I don’t know how true this is of kids being raised today, but when I was growing up the whole Dr Spock way of raising ki...
06/11/2026

I don’t know how true this is of kids being raised today, but when I was growing up the whole Dr Spock way of raising kids was only just starting to take hold, and I’d say that I was lucky to catch the tail end of the point in American culture where kids were expected to work and do things. Most notably for me, was when I was on the truck in the summers with my dad.

Even as a six year old, when we were doing household jobs, I was expected to roll up straps, sweep the floor in the trailer throughout the day, and fold pads if we were doing deliveries. The straps had to be rolled tight and the pads all had to have their seams and stitch patterns lined up. I learned not to just sweep the dust and wood chips off the back of the truck and into the street because that would make the problem the shipper’s, not our’s. I was apart of the crew so my shirt had to be tucked in, and I had to look professional. From 5-9 this was how I spent my summer break from elementary school.

Don’t get the wrong idea-I LOVED being on the truck. We were moving for weeks at time, criss-crossing the country seeing new places, meeting new people and learning about the different parts and pieces of the economy that truck drivers kept alive. I look back on that and realize that I gained a lot from those experiences, but more than anything, I was being prepared for being an adult. I knew how to work and contribute and produce before I was out of elementary school.

I also learned what it was like to be around men who earned their living off their own physical strength and endurance, and what it took to survive amongst them. I learned about the teasing and testing that comes with jobs in blue collar trades before I was even in high school and as confusing and uncomfortable as it was at times, I learned to hang, and to understand that it felt good to have earned someone’s respect, that you yourself respected.

I hope I’m wrong, but it seems like there’s less of that in the world today. Maybe it was already on its way out when I was experiencing it. Like I said, I hope I’m wrong, but even if I am, I think it’s also something that can always be brought back.

“I’m proud of you.”I’ve always been fascinated by the power of words, and the compressed meaning that’s underneath them....
06/10/2026

“I’m proud of you.”

I’ve always been fascinated by the power of words, and the compressed meaning that’s underneath them. From a purely practical point of view, language whether written or spoken is a structured methodology for conveying and compressing knowledge, thoughts and feelings. That’s what you’ll find when you Google it.

But language carries something else as well, which is “meaning”. Meaning is often subjective, as much as it is symbolic. That’s where you get sarcasm from.

And so with meaning, you get something that iconographic symbols alone can’t convey. Meaning can even transcend words. I’ve received silent, knowing nods of approval that mean more to me than glowing compliments.

But I can’t see all of you, can’t shake everyone’s hands, so I’m left with words as to how best to communicate at scale.

So I want you to read the words at the top of this caption again. “I’m proud of you.” Say them out loud, and apply the meaning as I intend it. I am proud of YOU.

For carrying the silent weight no one knows about. I’m proud of you for showing up when no one asked you to. For always being there for the people in your life that you care about. I am proud of you for choosing to remain, when there are days where you feel like throwing in the towel.

Now say “I’m proud of myself.” Let it carry the same weight as a parent or a grandparent saying it to you, or the person you admire most in the world. Say it to yourself and try your best to not just mean it, but believe it.

Then take a deep breath, close your eyes and just sit with it for a second, and try and hold on to that feeling you’ve fought for. That moment of being “just okay.”

You’ve earned it. So cherish it. Keep fighting for it.

From a pretty early age my mom would always tell me “You don’t owe anyone an explanation.”It took me a long time to inte...
06/09/2026

From a pretty early age my mom would always tell me “You don’t owe anyone an explanation.”

It took me a long time to internalize what she was saying. I knew it wasn’t about being reckless, or unsympathetic. More than anything it was a warning.

The evolutionary need we all feel that makes us crave the unity of a group is strong. As it should be. It is a trait that (quite literally) has enabled the survival of the species. So it is hardwired into us to form bonds and alliances. To keep the peace and not rock the boat, so to speak.

The thing is though we don’t live in caves anymore, napping flint tools in the firelight. Yet our fear of isolation, and our need for acceptance can still be so overwhelming that we’ll sacrifice our own wants, and dreams just to balance the group dynamic. And so the middle ground so many of us default to is that of explanation. Making our case, in order to get permission to step outside of the light of the fire.

The thing is though, most people aren’t going to understand that. Just like the instinct to group up helped our survival, you don’t want everyone in a group going off on their own, doing their own thing. The scouts and the explorers should be built different than the rest. They are built different in fact.

So asking for permission from someone who doesn’t value the same things as you do is a lose/lose. There’s no point in it. But perhaps more important, you do not need permission, to live your own life. Just know that it will take courage, as it means standing apart from most other people.

That’s the lesson my mom taught me. That’s how I try to live my life today.

It ain’t over til it’s over…
06/08/2026

It ain’t over til it’s over…

I’m so excited for the hardcover of the Code of the West manual to release this fall.A lot of you picked up my bootstrap...
06/08/2026

I’m so excited for the hardcover of the Code of the West manual to release this fall.

A lot of you picked up my bootstrapped self-published paperback version in the past couple of years, but I couldn’t be more proud of this hardcover I’m doing with

If all goes well, and the big dogs decide they want to carry it, you’ll see copies throughout the country and big box retailers, but everybody who pre-orders the book is helping us to convince them to carry it- and that’s how the Code can get out and find its way into more hands.

I think this is gonna look even better than the paperback after a few years of getting passed around and beat up. I’ve been carrying my one advance copy around like a goober head just because of how proud I am of it.

I don’t want to talk it up too much because that wouldn’t feel right but I’ll just suffice it to say that it seems like a lot of folks have gotten a great deal of value out of the original, and this one has got that extra bit of polish and time with it.

If you want to help get us across the line and showing up in more stores, you can comment FRONTIER below and I’ll send you the Amazon link. Or you can take the ISBN number into your local bookstore and ask them to order it for you.

I appreciate all the support and I’m honored that COTW has been able to be a positive force in so many of your lives. Hopefully this is just the start.

-Chris

One of the hardest things I’ve had to learn, is how to get out of my own way.People often ask me how I’m able to sit dow...
06/08/2026

One of the hardest things I’ve had to learn, is how to get out of my own way.

People often ask me how I’m able to sit down and write and post just about every day on here. I find inspiration from books I’m reading, notes in old journals, notes in NEW journals, but the real truth is I’m always thinking about this stuff. I have been for a long time. More over, I don’t just think about this stuff, but I overthink just about everything else in my life.

It’s a double edged sword. I’m never bored, and there’s always something to write about, but it also means that my mind doesn’t get too quiet. I talk myself out of more things than I talk myself into.

I am my harshest critic. That has been both a super power, and an albatross around my neck throughout my life and it’s taken me almost 4 decades to start to find the balance between the two.

So don’t just keep beating yourself up just because it’s what has worked in the past to get you to where you are. At a certain point a whipped horse will stop. Try to find that middle ground. The sweet spot.

That’s the real trick.

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