As we move forward and ready ourselves to put 2020 behind us, we should all be putting some thought into what we can do to boost resilience for 2021. Boosting resilience is all about thinking long-term. It’s about thinking of small but significant changes we can make to help us feel more in control, and help us work towards a better future.
Here are my top five strategies to help you boost your personal and household resilience next year:
- Make sure you get plenty of good quality sleep. Sleeping well is vitally important to making sure that you have personal resilience, and have the coping mechanisms you need to deal with whatever live throws at you. Look to yourself first before you start building more for yourself and your family. We all know that we should be eating well. drinking plenty of water, and getting enough exercise. But the importance of sleep is often overlooked. It is vital for physical health and mental well-being. A resilient and sustainable life begins with a resilient mind and body.
- Start your own organic garden. (If you don’t already have one.) If you need some pointers to get started, there are still a few places left on my 12 week course. Remember, you can start a small garden and grow your own even if you do not have any outside space at all.
- Buy less, buy better. The more you think about what you buy, the less you will discover you really need. Reduce your consumption, and think about the five ‘R’s – refuse, reduce, reuse, repair and recycle to reduce waste in all its forms. Remember, buying less and refusing damaging products is of paramount importance when trying achieving zero waste living. You can’t just look at what you thrown away.
- Equip yourself for a more sustainable and resilient life by gaining knowledge and skill-building. The more knowledge and skills you have, the better equipped you will be to face whatever challenges may come. The more informed you are and the more you hone skills, the more resilient you can be. Think about which skills could really help you, and set yourself goals to gain those skills in 2021.
- Diversify. In a garden and other ecosystems around us, diversity increases the number of beneficial interactions between elements and builds stability in the system. The same is true in other areas of life. When it comes to work, and how we obtain the things we need for daily living, for example, diversity can boost resilience. With work, money and other areas of our lives, we should do what we can to make sure our eggs are not all in one basket.
Building resilience is something that happens slowly. A truly resilient and anti-fragile system will not be built overnight. But by working outwards from ourselves and our households, we can begin to build resilience in systems beyond our immediate spheres.
EWSP Consultancy 