The real point of living a resilient life is making that life worth living. Whatever resilience I may have created begins with the life I want to live. I realized early on that it was the hustle and bustle of the city that I most enjoyed and so my resilient life must flow from that beginning. If the country, the wilderness, or even suburbia are what call to you then make your life there as resilient as you can; or don’t. For some the idea of constraining the here and now for some unknown and potentially non-existent future does nothing but make the everlasting present nothing but a misery; live for today, prepare for nothing, and die gracefully, or not, when the time comes.
Life gives us moments challenging enough that just surviving them is an accomplishment. There are other times when the world seems to echo perfection; where love and beauty, joy and pleasure come effortlessly and seem as though they will last and last. Balancing these, and remembering in each that that other has existed in the past and will likely appear once again keeps me balanced.
By all means put some money aside for a rainy day; but go to the neighborhood festival:
Or walk the grounds of an old mill:
Insulate your attic, but take the time to take a stroll and get to know a new place:
Or go to a hockey game:
I work in the garden, but too infrequently I just sit in it to enjoy the contrast with the surrounding streets.
Sometimes I sit down and talk with my wife about disasters, financial preparedness, and resilience. And at other times we just sip our coffee on a Sunday morning and discuss our favorite things: music, art, family, friends, stories from the past and hopes for the future. What resilience we’ve established exists to perpetuate our ability to appreciate those things, and my only real recommendation to anyone would be to find the things that make their lives worth living and contemplate ways to continue to enjoy them.
Preach, Steve. I found this a highly useful post as I am in the middle of launching a side hustle (check out Chris Guillebeau’s incredible Side Hustle podcasts and website.) My side hustle is in sharp contrast to the save-the-worldism that has marked my career(s) and past-times up to this point, in that it is pretty frivolous and concentrates on increasing fun in people’s lives. But I have come, in my mature years, to value fun so much. You gotta have time to do the light and joyful stuff, even if it is mindless and time-wasting. For me, fun is playing hackeysack and pool with friends. So my side hustle revolves around those unlikely things. I hope people agree with you and me, that knowing how to have fun is another way to be resilient.