Building in winter.
The echoes of the hammer striking the nail muted by the snow.
The smell of smoke from the ever-present fire in the wood stove inside.
It’s cold out, but the movement and the work makes me take my hat off and stuff it in my back left pocket.
This is it.
Looking around at the snow on the trees. The birds breaking the silence with their songs. The air is calm and crisp.
Being resilient isn’t about the drudgery of chores and work. It’s about finding the joy in the ability to take care of yourself and those you love.
Always Improving Systems
Life is all about systems. Everywhere you look, everything you do. It’s all systems. And in some tangible, or intangible way, they’re all connected.
For the past 5 years I’ve hauled wood up from the pile to the porch almost every weekend in the winter. Then we move it from the porch to the stove inside as needed to keep the house warm.
Last summer I was graciously gifted a trailer and I got to thinking about how I could move a lot more wood close to the house in one run. I did a trial run with the trailer by the front door to the house and determined that it had potential, but with room for improvement.
The next best thing would be to partially enclose the trailer so the wood stayed dry but it was still easily accessible when I needed a few logs.
Here’s what I came up with:
I think it’s a marked improvement over the old system, but it still leaves much to be desired. Like: footwear to step out the door with, an appropriate mat inside, clearing snow around the trailer, backing it up or driving it around to get it in place.
I’ll continue to think objectively about it and come up with improvements as the winter weighs on.
Worst Case Scenarios
Fear of the unknown holds us back. How much more could you accomplish if you weren’t fearful of what others would think or the prospect of failure?
Mulling over the worst case scenario can help us work past that fear. What if the trailer gets snowed in? Or if the structure I built doesn’t hold the snow? Or if snow blows in regardless of my attempt to keep it out? What if it just doesn’t work?
I go right back to doing things the way I have for the last 5 years.
What if my side business fails? What if this post is unanimously hated by all who read it? What if my website is ugly, or there’s a typo, or I send an email to the wrong list???
I can always go right back to where I was. Not starting a business. Not sharing my thoughts on a website. Not sending out a weekly newsletter.
What if the food I plant doesn’t grow? Or my rainwater harvesting system doesn’t work?
You just go right back to the supermarket for food and to the hose for watering.
For most things we do, the worst case scenario is benign.
So, if the worst case ain’t so bad, why not give it a shot?
Freedom. Resilience. Self-sufficiency.
Keeping Supplies On Hand
This is always a tough balance.
On the one hand, I built that wagon from supplies that I had on hand, leftover from other projects, or not prioritized high enough to be accomplished.
On the other hand, accumulating a bunch of crap for a few dozen dream projects just turns into a pile of useless crap that gets in the way of actually accomplishing anything.
I don’t know a magic formula to repeatedly decide whether something is worth holding onto. So all I can recommend is mindful awareness of the supplies on hand, their true worth and tapping into some courage to lighten the load periodically.
Donating supplies and tools to eager achievers is nice way to spread the love all around. You feel good for sharing, they feel good for receiving something for free and the world keeps on turning.
Thinking of suppliers as warehouses for your project supplies, buying them only when you need them.
Traveling light and purchasing anything you desperately need while on location, or bravely going without.
Don’t get rid of everything, though!
There are few greater feelings of resilience when, on a cold, blustery night you have the right piece of hardware and O-ring to fix that thingamadinger to keep the hoosty running.
Dependence on Others
Self-sufficiency and resiliency carry this notion that we don’t depend on other people. I think you should depend on other people. Just…the right people.
Depending on your neighbor for letting you borrow the tractor to move some logs from time to time. That’s totally cool, especially if he’s come to depend on you for something of equivalent value.
It’s when you depend so deeply on something so valuable that you have no control over.
Like…the supermarket.
Just try to imagine the string of systems that bring food onto the shelves in that supermarket. Should one of them grind to a halt, so too does the rest of the system, and you have NO IDEA what’s going on.
All you can do is take to social media with big mean words about how angry and hungry you are.
The fuel system is another. If that pump stops pumping, you’re nobody, you have no voice or influence to make it run again.
So: grow food, store food, store fuel and address other similar systems in your life.
But also, grow relationships with the people around you and share skills and knowledge and resources and focus on growing those relationships and keeping them strong.
Come together with the right people in the times of need.
Related: More Articles on Implementing Resilience
Resilience is Rewarding
Maybe there’s just nothing better than that feeling of resilience. It makes everything ok.
Car breaks down. No worries.
Trucker strike. Bummer, but ok.
No bread. We’ll make some.
Feeling depressed. Take a hike with a friend.
And the worst case scenario for trying any of this in good times is you go right back to where you’ve been.
-NHMan
[sibwp_form id=2]
