Life skills Diploma

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Should we be learning life skills instead of skills for jobs right now?  Because let’s face it, those of the population who have a job are lucky, those on the government support system are challenged by the change in their circumstances and the people who have no financial support will need our empathy and help for a longer period of time.  How long is anyone's guess?

So what sort of skills could you learn in this course?   A couple of fundamental skills - how to live in a shared house and how to grow, source, preserve, prepare and cook your own food.  Basic needs are sorted.  Next you'll learn to start a micro business.  Well not a business as such, more a trading system.  You’ll understand what resources you have at hand, to value them and barter, trade or maybe even exchange for cash.

The next skill will be learning to get over ourselves.  That it is ok to wear second hand clothes, to buy from an op shop, to repair those jeans, darn those socks or glue the sole back on those favourite shoes.  It’s like a little game - how long can you go without buying an item of clothing at full price.  Now if everyone starts to look like they have dressed from the op shop and are creatively extending the life of their clothes then it becomes normal - there's no shame attached to it.  I know my wife and daughter will be happy with this new style - it's been their hobby for years.

Now we’ll have to get over ourselves with food.  Learning to eat a very different diet.  And it will be good for us.  Ditching the highly processed sugar and carb laden foods for more vegetable focused, wholegrain, legume based diet.  This is cheaper than ever to live on.  

Need inspiration?  Read MKF Fishers How to eat a wolf.  One particular recipe is a stand out that goes along the lines of a scholar who learnt to live out of one pot and using one spoon. Putting all the ingredients in the stew at the begining of each week and heated it again and again each night.  Get my drift.  Any further cooking skills you develop from there are a bonus. (BTW, he was working out how to ditch the spoon).

Those life skills I mentioned?  So we have sorted our accommodation, are working on our food production and procurement, repurposed our fashion line, developed a startup idea to pitch to the house mates so you can pay the rent.  What other life skills do we need to learn?

Entertaining ourselves and others maybe.  Netflix is not an option, sorry.  Watching shows that depict another life is just going to disappoint us, depress us further and fails to help put food on the table.  Think playing an instrument with a group - I know thinking of a group at this time is a bit hard.  Singing, dancing, poetry even.  Craft days or garden blitzes.  

Have you seen the pattern here?  Organising around community.  That's the skill we are losing and that needs to be re-learnt.  But can you actually teach it?  It’s something that comes from the heart, it's genuine and needs practice.  Learning to give when you have very little is generosity at its core.  It builds community.  How we organise ourselves will be how we will be defined to future generations.

So let's skill up, eat up and build a community we can be proud of.

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