AmalfiCORE Blog

Self Resiliency

Have you ever left home, travelled a few minutes or a few miles and realized you left your cell phone/pda back on your desk?  What did you do, turn around and get it or continue on your way? If you’re like me, you might have reacted like this:

First – I get a little tinge of anxiety. Oops, oh, uh, OK, I wonder where I left my blackberry;

Second – I wonder if I really need it today, that thought lasts about 3 seconds and then I determine, well, of course I ‘need’ it;

Third – Yes, turn around, regardless of how that impacts my schedule and I go get the phone.

All this, just for a cell phone. What about major disasters, crisis, and emergencies – are we adaptively resilient? (Well, yes, I am trained and experienced in emergencies and wilderness situations, but…, I still returned back for that darn phone!)

We spend a lot of time and energy discussing and planning to build a resilient organization and that is good and necessary. How much time and energy do we spend on our own attitude, that of our team, our employees or our citizens? What about individual resilience?

I’m just wondering how we can expect to come together as a team, an organization, or across nations and build resiliency without also focusing on the individual.

In a very well presented book titled “When Technology Fails – A Manual for Self-Reliance, Sustainability, and Surviving the Long Emergency”, Matthew Stein offers the reader tips, tools, and techniques for personal resilience. Much of the substance of the book is founded on well-known principles ,but Stein presents in a way that captures our interest. Initially, Stein focuses on what can happen and why and then moves through dozens of survival, sustainable, and resilient topics. It’s a great read if you wish to be more prepared for the inevitable dynamics of our changing environment.

References

[1] “Stein, Matthew, 2008. “When Technology Fails – A Manual for Self-Reliance, Sustainability, and Surviving the Long Emergency“. Chelsea Green Publishing Vermont