Have you ever felt like the odd one out, like you don’t belong in the endless scroll of complaints, fast-food philosophies, and fear-based headlines? You’re not alone—and that feeling might just be your inner eagle stretching its wings.

In Advice from a Porcupine, author John Wright challenges us to look around and ask a brutally honest question: “Has the world gone insane, or is it just me?” Through the character of Grandma Porcupine—a wise, slightly sarcastic sage—Wright reminds us that much of what we call “normal” today is anything but sane.

The real crisis, he argues, is not a lack of resources or technology, but a shortage of passion, purpose, and personal integrity. Instead of soaring high like the eagles we were born to be, too many of us have chosen the safety of the chicken coop—caged in comfort, scrolling through distractions, medicated into numbness.

Why?

Because society sells security over significance.

But Grandma Porcupine—and by extension, Wright—urges us to break free from the coop. To write our own stories. To chase our own “weird” ideas like worm farming, projection mapping, or mural painting—regardless of how absurd they sound to others.

Here’s the truth: the comfort zone is a slow death. And if you feel a quiet desperation gnawing at your spirit, that’s your sign. That’s your nudge. That’s your Universe whispering: You were made for more.

So the question is simple: Are you willing to trade safety for sovereignty? Are you brave enough to be an eagle in a world of chickens?

If yes, Grandma Porcupine would be proud.