radical self responsibility - flattening the curve
There came a day in this great adventure where I had to step into my own responsibility. I'm not talking about what most people would consider "adulting." I don't mean doing your own laundry and cooking food for yourself and making sure you have band aids for when you need them... though that's a good start.
For me radical self responsibility is challenging the dominant narrative that we need other people to make decisions for us, or that it's the fault of others that we can't make decisions in alignment with our own values.
It was easy for me to make excuses for my own inactions, the government wasn't taking action on climate change- so what could I do? There was plastic on everything - so what could I do? I couldn't afford to buy ethically produced meat - so what could I do?
Radical self responsibility for me was the moment that I realized that I was handing over my responsibility to someone else and complaining when they didn't make decisions that I liked. It was also a moment when I realised that this was super fucking convenient, because it meant I never had to take responsibility for my own actions.
Someone else was always to blame for how messed up the world was. Someone else with more power, power that I had given, me and everyone else.
And I could choose to not give that power.
I could choose to make tough decisions myself.
I could choose to start my own story of taking responsibility for my part in environmental degradation and other issues I was complaining about people doing nothing about while I blithely did nothing about them too.*
From that point onwards, it's been slow, unsteady walk towards greater levels of personal responsibility for my own decisions, but also for meeting my own needs and wants within a manner I found to be most in alignment with my values. The thing I discovered was that in choosing how I spent my energy and money and saying no to things I didn't agree with, I also got to say yes to more things I did agree with.
My money is my vote. We live in a capitalist economy, the businesses that we choose to financially support get to continue operating and the businesses we choose not to support don't. If you don't like the fact that dairy farmers in Australia can't make ends meet... don't buy cheap milk. And here's the hardest part: if you can't afford to buy the other stuff... don't buy any. It's fucking painful I know. That's the bit that kicks me in the guts every time.
We had to make that decision with meat a while back. We couldn't afford to purchase meat produced using the kinds of farming practices that we wanted to support. So... we stopped buying it. In our household now, meat is a treat. Having killed our own pigs and chickens, we are very much of the opinion that it should be a treat too.
Maybe you start with a few items in your shopping trolley. Maybe you focus on the items you're most concerned about ethically. And make more ethical choices in relation to them. Maybe you start with a few key decisions in your life, like who you bank with or even how you talk about other people.
Slowly, slowly.
Right now, in our own homes there is an invitation to get more into our own values, to hone our homemaking skills and up-skill ourselves into living more resilient lives. We can learn to make things from scratch so that we don't have to use so much plastic waste. We can support others. People with compromised immune systems who need groceries dropped off. People who might need an email written to them daily to rally their spirits. We can share our triumphs in the kitchen and in home-schooling our kids. And we can share our failures and all have good giggle about how clumsy we are in regaining control of our own homes and meeting our family's needs (and our own).
There is also an opportunity for us to help flatten the curve. Some people cannot afford to do this, but social distancing is something we can all do to minimize the effect of Covid-19 on vulnerable members of our society and on our healthcare system. It is a form of self-responsibility in a time when people may laugh at you (someone actually laughed in my face today). However, it is a powerful way to take action for the benefit of your community. Human beings are terrible at reacting appropriately when they are experiencing exponential growth patterns. They wait for things to get "bad" before taking action. The problem with doing this in an exponential growth rate is that by the time things are bad... they are likely to be catastrophic within 24 hours. Here is a link to a really great set of visual representations if you want to see it explained well (rather than me bumbling my way through high school maths terminology)
Radical self responsibility is an incredibly empowering process. It's confronting as all get out, but it's life changing. And in times like this, it's possible for us to reflect on the implications of our personal choices.
Some ways to start :
- Grow some of your food yourself
- Buy produce from growers you personally meet and talk to about their farming practices at farmer's markets
- Move your money away from banks who support industries you disagree with
- Start shopping at a bulk store where you can take your own jars to avoid packaging
- Use your car less frequently
- Consume more local produce
- Learn to mend your clothes
- Research how a product you use gets made and decide whether you still want to purchase it
- Get involved with a form of activism that speaks to you
- Reach out to elderly or disabled member of your community and offer a hand or ask to learn a skill from them.
What are some other ideas that you guys have?
So they turned inward. They stocked their pantries and they steeled their hearts and they prepared to support each other.
PS. Here is one of my favourite videos of all time to inspire radical self-responsibility.
*This doesn't mean that we shouldn't lobby MPs for action on the climate emergency, we should, but it also means we should be taking individual action to work towards a carbon negative future.
For me radical self responsibility is challenging the dominant narrative that we need other people to make decisions for us, or that it's the fault of others that we can't make decisions in alignment with our own values.
It was easy for me to make excuses for my own inactions, the government wasn't taking action on climate change- so what could I do? There was plastic on everything - so what could I do? I couldn't afford to buy ethically produced meat - so what could I do?
Radical self responsibility for me was the moment that I realized that I was handing over my responsibility to someone else and complaining when they didn't make decisions that I liked. It was also a moment when I realised that this was super fucking convenient, because it meant I never had to take responsibility for my own actions.
Someone else was always to blame for how messed up the world was. Someone else with more power, power that I had given, me and everyone else.
And I could choose to not give that power.
I could choose to make tough decisions myself.
I could choose to start my own story of taking responsibility for my part in environmental degradation and other issues I was complaining about people doing nothing about while I blithely did nothing about them too.*
From that point onwards, it's been slow, unsteady walk towards greater levels of personal responsibility for my own decisions, but also for meeting my own needs and wants within a manner I found to be most in alignment with my values. The thing I discovered was that in choosing how I spent my energy and money and saying no to things I didn't agree with, I also got to say yes to more things I did agree with.
My money is my vote. We live in a capitalist economy, the businesses that we choose to financially support get to continue operating and the businesses we choose not to support don't. If you don't like the fact that dairy farmers in Australia can't make ends meet... don't buy cheap milk. And here's the hardest part: if you can't afford to buy the other stuff... don't buy any. It's fucking painful I know. That's the bit that kicks me in the guts every time.
We had to make that decision with meat a while back. We couldn't afford to purchase meat produced using the kinds of farming practices that we wanted to support. So... we stopped buying it. In our household now, meat is a treat. Having killed our own pigs and chickens, we are very much of the opinion that it should be a treat too.
Maybe you start with a few items in your shopping trolley. Maybe you focus on the items you're most concerned about ethically. And make more ethical choices in relation to them. Maybe you start with a few key decisions in your life, like who you bank with or even how you talk about other people.
Slowly, slowly.
Right now, in our own homes there is an invitation to get more into our own values, to hone our homemaking skills and up-skill ourselves into living more resilient lives. We can learn to make things from scratch so that we don't have to use so much plastic waste. We can support others. People with compromised immune systems who need groceries dropped off. People who might need an email written to them daily to rally their spirits. We can share our triumphs in the kitchen and in home-schooling our kids. And we can share our failures and all have good giggle about how clumsy we are in regaining control of our own homes and meeting our family's needs (and our own).
There is also an opportunity for us to help flatten the curve. Some people cannot afford to do this, but social distancing is something we can all do to minimize the effect of Covid-19 on vulnerable members of our society and on our healthcare system. It is a form of self-responsibility in a time when people may laugh at you (someone actually laughed in my face today). However, it is a powerful way to take action for the benefit of your community. Human beings are terrible at reacting appropriately when they are experiencing exponential growth patterns. They wait for things to get "bad" before taking action. The problem with doing this in an exponential growth rate is that by the time things are bad... they are likely to be catastrophic within 24 hours. Here is a link to a really great set of visual representations if you want to see it explained well (rather than me bumbling my way through high school maths terminology)
Radical self responsibility is an incredibly empowering process. It's confronting as all get out, but it's life changing. And in times like this, it's possible for us to reflect on the implications of our personal choices.
Some ways to start :
- Grow some of your food yourself
- Buy produce from growers you personally meet and talk to about their farming practices at farmer's markets
- Move your money away from banks who support industries you disagree with
- Start shopping at a bulk store where you can take your own jars to avoid packaging
- Use your car less frequently
- Consume more local produce
- Learn to mend your clothes
- Research how a product you use gets made and decide whether you still want to purchase it
- Get involved with a form of activism that speaks to you
- Reach out to elderly or disabled member of your community and offer a hand or ask to learn a skill from them.
What are some other ideas that you guys have?
So they turned inward. They stocked their pantries and they steeled their hearts and they prepared to support each other.
PS. Here is one of my favourite videos of all time to inspire radical self-responsibility.
*This doesn't mean that we shouldn't lobby MPs for action on the climate emergency, we should, but it also means we should be taking individual action to work towards a carbon negative future.
Comments
Post a Comment