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Better Living Through Permaculture: The Importance of Goal-Setting
The winter provides a good time for reflection on where we’re headed — in permaculture, as well as its place in our lives. For most of us, that means that we still have to engage the “regular” world for many things, not least of which is usually an income. Throw in the day-to-day demands of raising a family, and what time we have left over often isn’t much.
At times like this it’s easy to get discouraged — it’s dark soon after you get home from work, you miss the feeling of your hands in the soil and warm sun on your face, the heavy drear of winter clouds your focus. That’s why this time of year is a good time to restate our life goals, our own vision of a permaculture life.
For me, a permaculture life means that I gain back my time instead of spending so much of it commuting and working for someone else, according to their rules. Every second that I gain back is one more that I can spend with my loved ones, expand my permaculture knowledge and systems, and return surplus to my community. By spending more of my time working either at home or closer to home, I spend less time commuting. I will be able to see my kids get off their school bus more often than not. Observing, building and tweaking our permaculture systems will provide countless opportunities for unschooled education, experiences through which my kids will be able to learn about biology, mathematics, chemistry, physics, history; as well as hone their basic skills of reading, writing and arithmetic. Volunteering within my community will also have a prominent role. Life will have more of a rhythm in the future than it does now, even as there is just as much work to be done — if not more.
At times like this it’s easy to get discouraged — it’s dark soon after you get home from work, you miss the feeling of your hands in the soil and warm sun on your face, the heavy drear of winter clouds your focus. That’s why this time of year is a good time to restate our life goals, our own vision of a permaculture life.
For me, a permaculture life means that I gain back my time instead of spending so much of it commuting and working for someone else, according to their rules. Every second that I gain back is one more that I can spend with my loved ones, expand my permaculture knowledge and systems, and return surplus to my community. By spending more of my time working either at home or closer to home, I spend less time commuting. I will be able to see my kids get off their school bus more often than not. Observing, building and tweaking our permaculture systems will provide countless opportunities for unschooled education, experiences through which my kids will be able to learn about biology, mathematics, chemistry, physics, history; as well as hone their basic skills of reading, writing and arithmetic. Volunteering within my community will also have a prominent role. Life will have more of a rhythm in the future than it does now, even as there is just as much work to be done — if not more.
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