For many years, when I heard the word the self-sufficient it would conjure up vision of completely off-grid living: no running water, or DIY hacks to make it run, little to no electricity, people who generally don’t participate in everyday living in society, and sourcing all their food off the land, whether they grow it, hunt it, or catch it.
But recently I’ve come to understand self-sufficiency to mean so much more.
Now I will be the first to admit I love a good hot shower, and you definitely won’t see me hunting for my food, so going off-grid is a no from me.
But, as a little girl, I loved watching and reading the tales of Laura Ingalls Wilder.
There was just something about the optimistic, make-the-most-of-the-situation attitude along with the exploring and adventuring nature of the time it was set.
Then the Industrial Revolution happened, most recently the Digital Age, and technology advanced at an exponential rate.
And I should preface this by saying I love technology and efficiency. As I write this post on my laptop, I’ve also got music playing through my bluetooth headphones, and I’m using photos I took with my phone.
But we seem to have become so efficient that we’ve lost the space to just ‘be’ in the moment.
We eat food that other people have prepared for us, our engagement and community comes from an algorithm on social media, and we use screen time to get a glimpse into other people’s lives instead of true face-to-face connections.
Real self-sufficiency, I believe, comes from not leaving your happiness in someone else’s hands.
The very nature of the human being is to create.
Creating brings happiness.
This is something I saw time and time again in my classroom. Without purpose and intention, my students would become unengaged, lost and bored.
I am convinced that it is the same for adults. We can become so busy with everything happening to us and around us that we have no space left for doing anything with intention.
Recently I’ve started immersing myself in the homesteading philosophies and the art of living with intention. I firmly believe it is this concept of ‘getting back to basics’ that makes us feel good. Cooking from scratch and growing our own fruit and vegetables requires us to think about food differently, but it is vital if we are going to become creators of our lives and not just consumers.
I may not have a milk cow or raise animals for meat, but I can grow fruit and vegetables, and what I don’t have the resource or capability for, I am making use of my local community.
I consider myself a suburban homesteader. I’m not self-sufficient in everything, but I am self-sufficient in something. It brings with it a sense of ownership.
With ownership comes purpose.
And with purpose comes connection, confidence, pride, strength and satisfaction.
Imagine what sort of world we would live in if those were the biggest qualities we saw in our communities.
We NEED to see it.
I have 4 kids. I work. i have a house to manage and an Airbnb to run. You guys. I’m busy. I’m pretty sure you are too.
Being intentional takes time. It means not throwing together a packet mix at the end of the day (most days!), or getting meals delivered to your door. But it also means you get to choose what you control.
You hold your happiness in your hands.
And that, friends, is what living a self-sufficient life is all about.
If you would like to join a community of like-minded people, looking to live their lives with more intention too, come and follow my page, Filled to Overflowing. We can’t wait to have you there!
2 comments
Great post!
Thanks