RADICAL RELOCALIZATION

What to do?  It’s hard to make up your mind without all the details we’d like but that’s how it is - we’ll always have to make decisions based on not knowing all the current facts now or what’s coming. We still have to live something that'll be as real as a kiss or a punch when it gets here.

Who will you consult in making up your mind about what will happen? The mainstream media won't tell you. Their prime directive is to create a market for advertisers and make you buy. Your friends, partners, and parents may or may not be very aware and anyway, it's not their job to figure out what you should do.

Below are some thoughts about how to create the new security in an economy that's faltering.

Create a community of people you can trust

“Because the best protection isn't owning 30 guns; it's having 30 people who care about you. Since those 30 have other people who care about them, you actually have 300 people who are looking out for each other, including you. The second best protection isn't a big stash of stuff others want to steal; it's sharing what you have and owning little of value.”

- Charles Hugh Smith

In my story, Charles Hugh Smith nailed it there. If things get really bad then being connected to your neighbors, knowing how to do some useful skills (and they don’t take a lifetime to learn) and sharing them with your neighbors is a great survival strategy. And if things don’t get really bad you’ll increase the number of friends and acquaintances you have and the number of positive exchanges in your life. You can make your life be about the people you love and the things you do rather than the material prosperity. How neat is that?

Online communities are a vital part of the mix but we also need our people right here on the ground where we live. The old community is one in which you struggle to keep your head up and you stand or go down alone. The new community is one in which you play with others and work on real things realize that you’re all in this together.

The old community is one in which you try and get a nice place and fix it up and have a looks-good lifestyle; the new is one in which you have way more important things on your mind.

The old community is one in which you watch TV to connect with other people; the new community is one in which you connect with other people.

The old community is one in which your safety comes from not stepping too much out of line. The new is one in which you choose to step out in love and service for your friends and some of them might for you as well.

The more aloof, alone and isolated you are, the more vulnerable you are. If the going gets really tough then people won’t know if they can trust this unknown man – you. And you won’t know if you can trust yourself either.

Create a community of people around you who are learning and growing, who are dong things. The easiest way to do this is to start doing things yourself that create self-sufficiency and joy right now, today. Celebrations! Simply offering your skills to others when you can is a good place to start. It reflects back to us the reality that we’re all in this together. And we surely are.

We want that living loving connection with a wide circle of people for its own sake. You’ll find it wherever you go but also at weddings, births, deaths, and transitions of every kind. At Toastmasters clubs for public speaking, participatory sports or at farmers markets. They’re like the fairs of old where the local artisans and characters get together to trade and to see each other.

You will get to know who your friends are and just how much you can trust them. What you want is greater, deeper, stronger community.

The more you hunker down and try and hold onto the old, the more you identify with the old, the worse off you are. The old is going down if it’s not down already. The more you consciously and intentionally start the new the better things start to go for you.

Rely less on the government and big business

In my story one should be cautious of relying on government or big business for security in a time of change. They don’t really have your best interests at heart and will drop you in a heartbeat. Meanwhile you may have exhausted your options being there for it. The corporate system as an entity is not very smart, compassionate or wise and the individuals in it are often just trying to survive in the corporate structure.

There is a reason to work for them short term and that is to make some money to get yourself into a self-sufficient situation or to buy some room to move. Being there long term will tend to put you to sleep and create the illusion that it’ll go on forever. And of course it might. But my reading is that big change is on the horizon and in big change you want to be flexible, mobile, and liquid. So if you can make big money in the system, then it may be good idea for a while. If you’re not interested in fancy furniture, new cars, private jets and cottages, then you can save a lot of your money and some of that could be useful.

If you do feel that the system is going to go through some vigorous convulsions, then try and live out the consequences of your own thinking. Even if you’re wrong you’ll have learned one of the biggest lessons a man can learn: to follow: his best intuition.

If the system is going to go through teetering convulsions, then your identification with it is like deciding to sleep in a burning house because it’s comfortable and familiar and the coming fire hasn’t spread yet. While we’d like the safety and security of childhood and the freedom from making a decision, we will have to make a decision as to where our safety lies.

We do have to make a decision as to what will happen.

Our fascination and attachment to the way things have been is like being addicted. We don’t want to give up the source of supply that we’ve gotten used to, even if it’s really not good for us. We like our gadgets and toys and there’s nothing wrong with them. But in uncertain times we want to hide in them, but this won’t work.

Don’t flaunt wealth or put it first

Don’t flaunt wealth or seek it for its own sake. The money you must have is the money that has you. Most everyone in the developed world is working their tail off to keep on top of it all; they want to survive in the “rat race.” The incredible resources that we consume in the process of living this out isn’t making us happy and somehow the excess is related to the unhappiness. The excess is our lack of balance.

Acquiring wealth or the trappings of it or as much of it as possible is the name of the western game. That game has no future and everyone playing it is going to go through a “rough adjustment,” – actually it’s more like a heroin user getting off his habit.

peaking of habits, they’re made to be broken and aren’t as difficult to end as we sometimes think. Many returning servicemen from Vietnam came back with heroin habits but didn’t resort to crime or doing deals in back alleys. The heroin was a biological habit they had but the story about the junkie lifestyle they didn’t have. Those vets went through a brief period of sweating it out and got on with their lives.

But we are addicted to our lifestyles and leaving the entitlements of affluence is going to be much harder for us. That’s why I recommend learning to live without needing wealth as soon and as deeply as you can. There’s nothing wrong with wealth and it’s OK to enjoy fine things; but organizing your life around acquiring them is literally not sustainable today. It’s also not much fun. Really.

Shop at the curbside or at Value Village. Learn to do without. Know how to actually do a lot of services for people. Create a network of people you can and do things for. Develop real skills and put them to work in the service of the humen around you. You’ll always have a job no matter what the economy does.

The difficulty with flaunting wealth is that in a time when their might be less stuff, and particularly if people are hungry, you’ll be a target. Stay invisible and connected to your network, your friends, and as much as possible, your family.

University or not university - for younger folks

University isn’t the only way.

If you want to be a transformer, a creative agent in the new world being born, and you want to do it by being a credentialed professional like a doctor or lawyer then by all means go to university and get the papers you need to practice.

There’s a prejudice out there that smart men go to university and dumb ones don’t. Actually it’s not that simple. Perhaps you’ve seen the t-shirts that say, “Friends don’t let friends take English.” School can prepare you for a life you can’t lead (because you’re so smart . . . in your own mind).

You don’t have to go to university to get ahead, be smart, be loved, or make money. University can certainly be good but it’s not the only way. In the future that’s coming in America what you want is to be flexible, hard-working, able to do practical things, willing to act. You want to be less attached to security and being taken care of.

Nor do you have to wait until you’re finished college to get on with who you’re going to be. It’s possible for you now. Of course you have to continue in school at least until your of legal age. There’s no need to be downhearted about it if you want out and you’re still there. There is good in school and you can practice learning the social skills and the organizational skills you’ll need later anyway. There’s more to school than the content of the classroom.

Make school work for you where you’re a winner, rather than feeling like an idiot. It all depends on the story you’re in and what story you’re telling yourself about what’s happening.

Be an activist for changes you want

It’s an attitude thing. The trick is to be an actor in your own life, the source who gets things done. We live in a society that encourages us to trust the experts, “them,” to do it for us. That era is rapidly drawing to a close and is no longer evolutionarily viable. When you fight for something you believe in you learn a whole lot about the world and yourself.

What doesn’t work very well is to be an activist against the things you don’t want. That’s a great way to keep you stuck in blaming, resisting, being angry and upset and focused on what’s not working. Doing something about it is an entirely different mindset that connects you to other people who’ve turned away from the stuckness. The psychological principle is one that is in the spirit of the old Taoist philosophy, where simple truths have never been said better: what you resist persists. No, those four words aren’t from the Taoists as far as I know, but they’re in its spirit.

Note that most people are stuck in blaming or searching for someone to blame for what’s gone wrong. If you’re not, you immediately move to a more powerful position.

Acting for the change you want is as simple as starting it in your own life. You don’t have to make a film, start a website or write a book. If you want to see more local gardening, start a small garden in the back yard or a window box.

Speaking out about what you care about puts you on your own map; you’ve declared yourself. Not speaking out about what we value makes us doubt ourselves.

Making change is difficult enough. Unconscious parts of us “get it’ when we are willing to speak out for what we think is valuable.

Find work that works for you

The more skills you have to offer in a downtime, the more saleable you’ll be. This will come in real handy as pressure on the system increases.

Count on being genuinely useful. A cushy job where you don’t do anything and get paid leads toward cynicism. You want to be actually doing something and getting better at it.

The number one skill is being able to produce food in any form. Learning gardening or urban farming and being able to generate actual crops will be immensely valuable in a major change.

There’ll always be a demand for people who can make wine or beer, repair and customize bicycles and bicycle carts, are strong enough to do labor, can build and renovate houses or do any specialized part of construction such as flooring, roofing, or plumbing, insulating homes and businesses. If you know how to provide local renewable energy, how to sharpen saws, or make pickles, people will smile when they see you. (A longer list is here.)

If you can, know how to do several of these things. Learn one and move on so you’ve got a sense of your own worth and saleability. Being stuck or settled in one place can leave you uncomfortable about what you actually have to offer and who might want you. The ability to do actual things will feel like security to you and will add to your internal story of being a resourceful person who can learn new things and make things happen.

Money may not keep its value but you’ll always be valuable as long as you can do things.

Do a good job and if you like and respect your employer do a great job.

Check out this list of emerging opportunities.