The importance of people care

I’ve been feeling a bit derailed from my new path over the last few weeks as I began to feel very tired and realised that arranging new volunteering placements every few weeks turned out to be a bit of a punishing schedule. Having to move every week or so and meet new people, learn new information and being on your best behaviour 24/7 eventually takes it toll. In my enthusiasm to create a new life for myself I’ve found it’s easy to fall into old habits of ignoring my need to have breaks. I had set out as the hare and forgotten the tortoise wins in the end. On any journey it is always best to rest from time to time so you can admire the view and most importantly check your bearings to makes sure you’re still heading in the right direction.

Apply self-regulation and accept feedback
Whilst at my last host home a feeling of fatigue hit me that I recognised from previous times of change in my life when I’d stepped out of my comfort zone, it’s not like busy day tiredness but a tiredness of the brain caused by it having to try and keep up with lots of new stuff. My hosts reminded me of the relevance of ‘people care’ one of the guiding ethics of permaculture and also ‘zone 00’ (Zones are a design tool to help you design human energy efficiency into your system) and ‘Zone 00’ represents you at the centre of any system. The 12 design principles devised by David Holmgren http://www.permaculture.org.uk/knowledge-base/principles also offer wisdom for self guidance and this was an opportunity to use design principle number 4. Apply self-regulation and accept feedback. The feedback of tiredness being the sign I needed to take a break!

Small and slow solutions 

In my hurry to find opportunities to get hands on experience and ‘fast track’ myself to a new way of life I had forgotten to apply principle number 9. Small and slow solutions to myself so I don’t repeat my old pattern of focusing all my energy on one area to the point of burning myself out as I have done previously. Even with the best intentions I still have to be careful not to repeat unhelpful patterns of behaviour by recognising the warning signs. This experience served as a reminder that permaculture is fundamentally a new way of thinking about how to be in the world by taking time to observe, trying solutions out and learning from them, a very different approach to the industrial growth mindset of ‘no time to waste’ I’d been conditioned to follow. It was good to recognise this attitude had started to creep in so I could stop, take a break and get my bearings before I set out on the road again.