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Home » When Homesteading Feels Urgent

When Homesteading Feels Urgent

Posted January 15, 2022
in Homestead, Preparedness, Thrive

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There are a lot of people who really feel an intense urgency to create a homestead that can see them through the hard times. What I want to talk about in this post (and video below) is how to respond to that urgency in a healthy way.

Picture of a homestead with welcome signs in the driveway.

We’ve shared many times the things to consider BEFORE buying a homestead, how to finance a homestead, making sure you know how to be prepared for emergencies or how to be prepared for short-term power outages, and even the things to consider before going off-grid.

But that doesn’t always help quench the feeling of urgency and feeling “behind” where you’d like to be right now.

The Feeling of “Urgency”

This topic has been on a lot of people’s minds lately because we’ve been hearing it a lot in our “In The Homestead Kitchen” membership, through emails, and via comments on social media. The topic is the urgency that we’re all feeling to make our homes more self-sufficient.

You’re not alone in feeling this way, there are thousands of people who are looking around, seeing the state of the world, (especially the past few years) and our eyes are being opened to the fact that there are certain parts of our system that are a lot less stable than we thought they were.

There are a lot of people who feel this intense urge to create a homestead that can see them through the hard times, maybe even sell their urban or suburban homes and move to a more rural location.

You’re Not Alone

Sometimes, as homesteaders, we can become so isolated that we think we’re the only ones who think as we do. Homesteading is still an “odd” thing in our society. It’s odd to choose to work hard, to choose the DIY over the convenience version and many people don’t understand that desire.

But just to encourage you, you’re not alone, there are so many people who feel this way and you’re not strange for feeling this urgency. That’s a feeling so many of us are experiencing.

We want more and we want it now!

That feeling of urgency has led so many people to make really good decisions, but there can also be a dark side to this urgency.

Man and woman sitting in the kitchen with books on the counter in front of them.

Don’t Be Driven by Fear

We don’t want you to make decisions based on fear. If you’re letting fear drive your decisions you really need to take a step back and reevaluate. Sometimes fear drives decisions that are hastily made and easily given up.

Another dark side to urgency-driven decisions is to try and do too much too soon. One of the top reasons Josh and I have seen people fail at homesteading is that they get overwhelmed and then they quit.

Before jumping in with both feet, do some reading, learn the ins and outs of each project you’re taking on. Check out our favorite homesteading books and resources here.

Too Much, Too Soon?

Homestead burnout is a real thing and it’s happening to people left and right. They’re selling their livestock, quitting gardening, and moving back to the city because they’re so overwhelmed.

But here’s the thing, you can choose how much you can do. Once you start a project on the homestead though, you have to follow through with it. If you decide to get chickens, you can’t just wake up one day and decide you aren’t going to feed them because you want to sleep in.

What I really want to share is how to respond to that urgency in a healthy way. In a way that brings your family more preparedness and less stress.

Slow & Steady

We want to increase our resiliency, increase our self-sufficiency as well as our community’s sufficiency, but we don’t want to destroy our relationships, ourselves, or our family because we’ve taken on too much out of fear of what’s going to happen.

Remember, slow and steady always wins the race in the long run. Do what you can do and what you can finish this year, and be sure to go on a couple of good walks along the way!