Self-reliance: trust in one’s own efforts and abilities
When people have self-reliance, they are independent and autonomus – in other words, they take care of themselves. Vocabulary.com
Self-reliance mindset – freeling confident in yourself because you know you have the knowledge to handle whatever situation is before you, even when those around you are not handling it well.
Learning and using herbal medicine, to be independent, taking care of your own medical needs as much as possible, this is “Herbal Self-Reliance.”
Herbs and self-reliance go hand in hand, and the more I study, the more I think it is so important for eveyone to understand the principles of self-reliance, and this includes herbal / medical self-reliance.
I feel like most of us would agree that when Covid hit, we were unprepared for what was coming. We have never had to deal with anything like it before! It was new, and fast, and furious, and regardless where your opinions lie, we were all affected by it. Herbs were hard to come by, so unless you knew where to harvest them yourself, you kind of had to make do with what you had on hand. Many of the large companies that sold online, were sold out. Just like the big pharma companies, many of the cold, flu, and pain medications were unavailable in the stores or online.
This got me thinking, much deeper than before, because I am a thinker, lol. I know my family and friends would rely on me, for these kinds of things, my herbal remedies, and my herbal knowledge, to be able to make it through any emergency or survival situations. Now, we were, for the most part, prepared for the pandemic that was taking place, because we believe in being prepared, and we watch out for each other, but there were millions of people out there that were not prepared, and it was tough! But no pressure right!!!! Well, no pressure anyways, because I am always prepared for whatever comes our way and am confident that we could ride out most of life’s storms. Could you? I feel confident that my family and even friends could come my way and I could help support their needs with herbals, because I have worked hard to get self-reliant with my herbal knowledge and supplies…..
Which I will share so much more with you here on this blog and if you follow me on both of my facebook pages:
A couple of things I am still working on, and no doubt will probably be a lifelong pursuit, because there is just so much to keep learning, is where certain herbs are in my area, and making sure I know exactly which ones are used for what. I have also created a large seedbank of many of the herbs I want to always have on hand, and starting this year planted many of them in my back yard in garden beds. I know what I want to always have access to, so I make sure I have them available.
I have many of my own tinctures and remedies prepared and could combine them to create a formula if someone needed something more specific. I could easily brew a tea or create a salve. I feel confident in that area. So many things are so simple and easy. Truly every home should have an herbalist, and every herbalist should know the really basic simple things for their family.
I study regularly to learn the herbs and body systems on a much deeper level so I would know how to use them and substitute any of them in an emergency or a long-term survival situation – or even in just a daily health situation.
That, to me, in a quick form, is what herbal self-reliance is all about. Being able to take care of our medical needs, when there are no other options, or even daily using natural body system supports. And, of course, this can be as in depth as you want it to be, on both the herbal knowledge and self-reliance, or you can scratch the surface with the knowledge you gain from others, and as….
Dr. John Christopher said: “Every home should have an herbalist.” So become that herbalist!
Most important to my own family and generations to come, my goal is to find those of my kids and grandkids that want to continue this tradition and I will teach them. I always tell them what certain plants are, and what they do. It is fun now as we go on hikes or camping, they will ask me, what is this again? And we can use it for… I love it! It starts small, when they are small, and grows as they do. It is kind of fun for all of us! We have fun on many adventures!
I believe that in the community, there are many emergency professionals that are prepared to help in emergency situations, and I want to be able to do my part, instead of being a burden, I want to be the benefit, the resource, the one people can look to for alternate options of medical supplies and remedies.
That is self-reliance!
This is Herbal Self-Reliance!