From mid-July to October, my life is temporarily shifting gear a bit. We were asked to use up excess leave at work. Usually, this leave would be preciously cached for school holidays. I’d use it to look after my children in the summer holidays or family trips to see our loved ones who are overseas. Things are of course very different in 2020.
Whilst I could usually easily fill the time with house chores, cooking, D.I.Y., reading novels and walks to wild places, I have also been facing a new health challenge since March this year. It means that I really don’t know how much physical work I’ll be capable of over the next few months. I’m immunocompromised and my physical abilities have fluctuated over the last few months. Things may get worse before they get better. I know it’s time to be serious about it and to properly respect my limits. I start a journey of seeing specialists next week and I have really no idea about what this will involve.
To tackle a period of uncertainty like this, I just need a plan. At the core is something to keep my mind engaged, with a bonus if my body will allow me to do anything practical.
Frugally hedonistic retro suburban sustainable living (!)
Mind-bending. I’m starting the University of Tasmania Diploma of Sustainable Living distance course.
Two particular books will also be my inspiration for the next few months:
- RetroSuburbia: The Downshifter’s Guide to a resilient future by David Holmgren
- The Art of Frugal Hedonism: a guide to spending less while enjoying everything more by Annie Raser-Rowland with Adam Grubb
I’ll be setting goals based on my learning experiences and aiming to write regularly to keep myself motivated and to share the learning adventure.
My steps may be small and slow, but I feel like I am taking new leaps into something I started a few years ago with the Living Smart sustainable living course and Geoff Lawton’s permaculture design certificate course.
Perhaps my focus will be mostly about how to take our current front-yard and back-yard farming approach just even further into the realms of permaculture and self-sustainability.
To me, this seems like a particularly basic but brilliant use of the most precious resource of all – time.
