3 Things You Need to Know To Become Self-Sufficient

1 . Things Take Time

Permaculture principle - slow and small solutions, is about taking one step at a time and working within our means. For example, to go from not being a gardener to working a whole property and living off the land is a huge leap.

So, let's take one step at a time, understanding that all things take time, and starting with small steps that are easier and more realistic to manage in our day-to-day lives resulting in a greater chance of success.

Start with some herb or veggie pots. When you have mastered those, start a little veggie garden. If your veggie garden is already thriving, it’s time to plant some fruit trees. If your fruit trees are established, your veggie garden is ready to harvest and your herb bed is pumping, are you sprouting cuttings on your kitchen bench and preserving the fruit and vegetables that you harvest?

Think about the little additions that will fit into your routine now to start building on the more self-sufficient lifestyle that you're working towards.

2. Imagination is Key

Remember being a little kid, dreaming of possibilities and playing games with your friends where you came up with these imaginary scenes like, we are all on a big pirate ship and we are sailing over to an island to bury the treasure and draw up a map. Really it was just the couch and a wheel that we were using but the level of imagination was so powerful, remember the real excitement it created.

In creating the reality of being self-sufficient on your own property, don't be afraid to dream.

Take some time each day to imagine what your dream property will look like. Imagine your landscape in fine detail.

What does it look like? What does it smell like? What are the flowers, fruits and leaves like there? What does it taste like? What are the foods you want to be eating? What does it sound like? What kind of birds are around? What are the animals you are waking up to and interacting with throughout the day? How does it all change in the evening? What does it feel like to walk through the landscape? Is it soft low hedges, bushes or shrubs in the warm sun? Are you under large shady trees in the cool? Is it windy? Is there water? What is the feeling under your feet? Are you walking on concrete pathways, pavers, gravel, mulch, grass?

All of these things that we can imagine in our mind, can be written down and become part of our plan to be more self-sufficient.

3. Enjoy the Transition

Consider a grace period. If you want to become more self-sustainable, in fact if you want to change your lifestyle in any way then understand that there's a period of transition. The period where you're no longer living your most recent lifestyle and you're not quite yet living the dream lifestyle you are working towards.

So, there's a period of transition where we question behavioural patterns, actions and tasks that we do, our tools and belongings, our purchases and even eating habits, and we start to find answers as to how we can change those programs.

Remembering step one, slow and small solutions. How can we change one thing at a time?

There may also be a period after you have committed to making a change where perhaps members of your family or members of your community are still doing things the old way, you may even encounter resistance to the change.

So, understand that there is always a transition period we need to go through, like the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly. Inside its cocoon the caterpillar actually completely dissolves and then reforms into a whole new physical being. In this transition period, consider dissolving parts of yourself, your behaviours, patterns and actions, letting them go and giving way to new creations, a new way of living.

I really hope that you gain value from these steps. Of course there are many more steps beyond these 3 on the journey to being more self-sufficient.

It is truly a life changing decision.

Having dealt with hundreds of people across Australia, I have noticed that everybody adapts the self-sufficiency lifestyle differently. Everyone has their own unique way of setting out on their journey, the magic lies in this uniqueness, in how personal this is to you, to your family or your community or even to your business.

So get creative, let your imagination run wild, there are no wrong answers, only action and inaction. Allow yourself to dream big, imagine the big vision and then head down to the first small steps that you can take, right now, on a day-to-day basis, to make the changes that you would like to see, to become more self-sufficient in your lifestyle.

What does your dream lifestyle look like?