Anticipating Struggle.
In a world where every change seems more harsh that the last, redefining the concept of home may be crucial to address constant struggle, and even homelessness.
** If you are struggling and need support, this Ask Izzy site is really useful. It incorporates just about everything you might need.
This website explores how anticipating struggle and making and embracing changes in your life can be powerful tools.
Reimagining where and what our home looks like and indeed examining the very concept of ‘home’ can help bring about powerful realisations and ‘aha’ moments that can make a huge (maybe even permanent) difference to your wellbeing.
Struggle is more complex than first imagined.
Struggle is a multifaceted challenge that goes beyond not being able to keep your head above water, though it often starts there. Struggle is also often initiated by an event, or series of events, or circumstances beyond your control. Maybe you just made an unwise decision and stuffed up. It happens.
Struggle involves a deep-seated feeling of frustration, insecurity and hopelessness, of feeling, quite correctly, that the world is not ‘fair’ and that something ought to be done to alleviate the ‘us and them’ situation where the majority are sinking in the mire, while the few are living it up.
Life has never been fair when you think about it, but currently it feels far less fair than it’s ever felt.
Struggle goes even further because into the mix are thrown poverty and fear. When things get to that stage, life becomes depressing.
Downward spiral.
Combine all this and life starts to become like a dog chasing its tail. One thing starts to trigger and reinforce another, and so on, until eventually it all spirals out of control, possibly leaving us with lack of physical shelter and hanging by a thread.
If your life reaches this stage then poverty and fear and exposure to danger, violence, isolation, sickness, hunger, malnutrition, discrimination and the extreme elements of hot and cold and discomfort are almost certain to bring on terrible distress and mental problems.
Added to this is the likelihood of becoming addicted to one or more substances in an attempt to help lessen the pain, fear and suffering.
And the spiral deepens.
Struggle is not a nice place and we need to realise it, if possible, before its onset. Too often we think “that’ll never happen to me”.
I’ll tell you right now, it can take only one change of circumstance for life to become difficult. And it can happen to anyone.
You can be rolling along quite happily feeling secure and confident and all of a sudden shit happens.
You might get a new supervisor who doesn’t like you. A relationship might falter. You might get scammed or burgled or crash your car or lose a bet. Your landlord might decide to sell your rental property and evict you, or heartlessly raise the rent beyond your limit.
Get the idea? It CAN happen to anyone.
So, what can we do to shield our existence from the evils of struggle?
We can begin by examining our own minds. Evaluating how we think, what we value, what we do and why we do it, and our perhaps unrealistic goals. We need to get real.
We need to snap out of it. Draw a line between our wants and our needs and start to sow the seeds of a plan to bring our dreams and visions back to reality.
Don’t get me wrong, dreams are necessary — if you ever want to achieve anything then first you must dream of it.
This is not about those sorts of dreams. This is about unrealistic dreams and visions of grandeur. Of fast, shiny cars and luxurious holidays. About fully furnished mansions and pools and fashion and opulence and competitiveness. About dog-eat-dog and winning the rat-race.
If you weren’t born into that life, then achieving it is going to mean life-long overwork, stress, debt and misery. Of course there are exceptions, but in the grand scheme of things I wonder how many exceptions? Are you struggling to achieve goals that aren’t worthy of your time?
Consider the advantages of country living.
Most of those lucky enough to grow up in the country have an innate sense of fascination with nature. We’re comfortable with it, we appreciate it.
It’s important to realise that we are meant to be in nature, it nourishes us. It’s a never-ending source of FREE immersive entertainment.
Many raised in cities with the lack of horizons, lack of stars at night, lack of fresh air, mountains and wildlife may have a dulled appreciation of country life.
I get it. I’ve lived too long in cities myself.
Struggle is not limited to those living in cities, but city existence seems to revolve around repetition of the same dull and plodding motions.
In that situation, struggle can almost become a habit.
Start giving some very serious thought to why you’re on a treadmill – why you’re not making moves to change your situation.
Wants vs. Needs.
So, the question is: do you want to spend your life struggling, stressed, overworked and underpaid, trying to achieve those unrealistic wants?
Or can you see the advantage of downsizing, simplifying and learning to be happy, knowing that your needs can be met?
