The Simple Pursuit Mama

Why does doing things yourself even matter that much? In our culture the majority of things and tasks are outsourced to other people; when you have grown up in this mentality it can seem silly to do things yourself. But I believe there have been things of great importance lost in the shuffle of outsourcing our lives. 

The number one thing I want you to know is that Knowledge is power. Because, truly, with everything in me, the older I get the more I believe this is so true and so important! Knowing how to grow your own food is powerful. Learning plant identification and purposes is powerful. Having the ability to turn what is normally wasted into a tallow moisturizer is powerful. Arming yourself with knowledge and skill is power.

Another reason doing things yourself can be useful is being able to see the development of a product from start to finish. If you want to grow your own vegetables, for example, growing them from seed then harvesting the fruit yourself gives you the unique ability to know everything the plant was given and protected from throughout its life. You have the ability to set the standard of what naturally or organically grown means. This is something that was a really wild concept to me at first. I didn’t realize how much control I could even have. Through that realization came pure inspiration! When you take on responsibility for things, you often end up with a true passion for it. I have found that doing things myself has given me much joy in my life. 

Lastly, a result of learning things myself has given me more and deeper relationships. When every aspect of our life is being exported we rarely have to build real relationships in our day to day lives. But when we handle tasks ourselves we find ourselves needing help. Hm.. needing help… I know, that doesn’t seem all that appealing, I get it. But let me give you an example of how this has added joy to my life. For quite a while now I have wanted my own cow for raw milk and cheese, but since I live on less than a quarter acre, that was out of the question. So, I found a local herdshare farm in my area where I could buy raw milk. At first, though the best option, I found myself a little discouraged; however, as I met the owner at drop off week after week I noticed I started to look forward to seeing her. I accidentally created a relationship through the process of finding my family raw milk. Not only does my family have high quality milk now, but I love that I get to support a small local farm! When we end up creating healthy, mutually beneficial relationships with the people around us, we create a tighter knit community around us. 

Unfortunately, all these wonderful things have been lost in our culture in just a generation or two. The importance of doing things yourself is more than controlling things in your home, though that is helpful, it is about contributing in ways that you are knowledgeable in for the sake of your community. We hold all the power in our hands when we do it ourselves. Here’s to you learning to do it yourself! 

Cheers, my friend, until next time,

Erin