The Power of Self-Reliance

Throughout my career and personal life, I’ve always had my own back, and this is something that I think is important as you grow and go through your journey whatever path you choose!

It’s one of the concepts of burning man, and one that I genuinely value and recommend you try too!

It’s simply self-reliance.

Relying on yourself to make sh*t happen, depending on yourself to follow your dreams and never rely on someone else for your happiness.

What Is Radical Self-Reliance?

One of the principles of the culture and ethos of Burning Man is self-reliance.

‘Burning Man encourages the individual to discover, exercise and rely on their inner resources.’

Other Burning Man principles include Radical Inclusion, Gifting, Decommodification, Radical Self-expression, Communal Effort, Civic Responsibility, Leaving No Trace, Participation & Immediacy. All of which are incredibly important, and quite honestly, can change your life.

(If Burning Man is on your bucket list, I recommend you go! It’s a unique experience and one you will never forget.)

There are a few ways that you can practice self-reliance in your day to day life... I’m going to share these with you here.

What’s in Your Toolbox?

A toolbox is a ‘box’ of things that you can go to when you need to look after yourself and rely on yourself to make you feel good.

We all have different ways of switching off, but here a few things that I have in my toolbox ready for when I need to step back and stop!

✨ Yoga

✨ Meditation

✨ Creating artwork (adding to my collection of hearty notes!)

✨ Talking a walk through the park

✨ Cooking a delicious meal

✨ Catching up with a friend for a picnic

✨ Reading

✨ Listening to a podcast

✨ Switching off and watching a movie

So when you are having a difficult time, get your tools out of your toolbox!

There Is No ‘One Size Fits All’ When It Comes to Self-Care

If you are thinking about what to add to your toolbox but find none of the ‘self-care’ methods, applies to you that you see on Instagram or Pinterest, that is OKAY! You must choose what is suitable for you at this point in your life.

Remember, this is your toolbox full of tools that make you feel happy! It really could be something as simple as having a cup of tea in bed at the start of the day, watching Netflix, or having a bubble bath in your lunch break, or simply cutting up some slices of lemon and popping it in your lemonade!

Whatever makes you feel good, do more of it and fit in time! Imagine if you swapped 10 minutes of social media scrolling for 10 minutes of making pancakes, that, to me, sounds like quite a good swap!

Apply Self-Reliance to All Areas of Your Life

When we think about balance, there are many areas where you can apply self-reliance! Whether that’s personal growth, health and wellbeing, career, finances and relationships.

Depending on others can sometimes make you lose sight of what YOU truly want. If, for example, you are supported financially by a partner or parents, your loved ones may unknowingly dictate your life.

You always need to have your OWN back.

Put in Healthy Boundaries!

Currently, there is a very thin line between work life and personal life with everyone working from home, and it’s OK to put in boundaries and switch off.

I recently posted a blog about something that has been playing on my mind a lot lately, which was about passive scrolling through social media! If you’ve ever picked up your phone and then released an hour has passed, and you haven’t gained anything from it, you have passively scrolled.

Whilst social media has some incredible benefits; there are also some downsides to it when you consume content that you haven’t intended to!

If you put in some simple boundaries (they don’t have to be drastic), you may find that you feel better in yourself and eliminate those horrible feelings of self-doubt and comparison. These could either be putting a time limit on your social media apps, putting the apps in a folder or your third page on your phone.