MY VIDEO: What Nature Teaches Us in Times of Disaster
I made this video while living in Santa Barbara during the wildfires/mudslides. While the “disaster” we’re facing now is definitely different, I think it serves to shift perspective from “there is an invisible enemy attacking us,” to something a little more zoomed out, per se.
The first night I learned about the seriousness of how this virus can spread, I hardly slept. I hadn’t felt that kind of nervous fear grip me since the socal wildfires. In hindsight I realized how that type of fear caused me to think and act in ways that weren’t totally rational. You can’t blame somebody for making irrational decisions trying to protect themselves and those they loved- but I encourage us all to think deeper about how we are relating to this situation.
For me, this has meant something as simple as committing to starting a garden that has long been put off. I dabbled in planting and growing food on and off for years, but never with the kind of commitment and investment it would take to truly be successful or sustainable.
So rather than letting this fear take over my mind (fear is a virus of its own, you know, threatening a lot more than just 2 weeks of our working lives) about potentially not being able to buy the healthy fresh food I love and depend on to keep me well, I decided to do something that would help ensure that I keep those truly valuable things alive. It has required some intense sacrifices for me to make this move (literally, I moved so that it could be a possibility)- but sometimes we don’t get to choose whether or not to make a sacrifice, but we can choose WHICH sacrifice we make.
You can sacrifice your empowerment, responsibility, right to health, connection to healthy land- all because you thought some outside entity owed to you the things you want and need, or that it’s a grocery store’s duty to make sure what you want magically appears on shelves at the store. Or you can sacrifice other things in your own life (that are really privileges) to own what is truly most important and best for you, and the next generation.
If it helps anyone’s mind be at ease, at least for me this mental shift has quelled anxiety on all fronts in a staggering way. We are still watching nature overcompensate and rebalance where we humans have made moves that cross and compromise the healthy boundaries She had in place. If we want to be gods (beings with free will) here, we need to listen to the feedback we are being given from nature rather than writing off these things as “Random unfortunate coincidences” or shifting the conversation to debate whether China is to blame for not having told the rest of the world soon enough. Let’s not waste time and energy being spoiled bratty children about this.
We have shit to do.
Live Adventurously, Folks. Especially now more than ever.
Please do not shrink back.
We need you.
The Intention Adventure 