I believe it was George Orwell that once said: “The best books are those that tell you what you know already” (or something along those lines).

Well I was certainly nodding along in agreement when I recently read the Post Carbon Institute’s latest blog post entitled Resilience: Personal Preperation where an essay of the same name by Chris Martenson (also author of the most excellent/terrifying* The Crash Course) is linked as a 13 page PDF.

I say this because in terms of concepts, nothing is new in there for me. My own family has been on a similar (if not with a bit more moving around the country) journey of discovery over the past 4 years and it seems that most if not all of the drivers for Chris’ downshift-come-reskill are identical to ours.

The timing of finding this essay is pretty good for us. After the roller coaster of the past 18 months we’ve spent the last few months here in our new homes settling and regrouping. One of things I think we’ve all felt is an urgent need to get on and dig/plant/build/mend/learn/meet/network but in equal measure we’ve also felt the need to chill and reassess.

Which why it’s heartening when reading Chris’ essay to be reminded of the  ’small steps’ approach as it’s hard sometimes to think over longer timescales especially if you’re urgent to get things done NOW (like I tend to be).

I’ll leave Chris to end, with the final paragraph from his essay:

Personal preparation is prudent, rational, liberating,and necessary. Remember the airplane emergency rule: Put on your oxygen mask first before assisting others. Start with small steps. Your community needs you.

* delete as applicable