Shipwrecked: 1) Assess Resources

This week, I'm writing about using the metaphor of being shipwrecked on a deserted island to find ways to make our currently reality a little more livable, maybe even a little more enjoyable.

Remember what Chuck Noland (played by Tom Hanks) did as one of his first steps in Castaway? He opened up the Fed Ex boxes that had washed ashore with him. He figured out how to make a rope using videotape, used ice skates to make an axe.

So, first step for us: Assess resources. Pretty nice deserted island for many of us, with homes, food, and electricity! We can even see people on their own deserted islands, though it's not safe to go through the piranha-filled waters to get to them. Look around your apartment or house. This is now your island. What do you have that will work well here? An exercise bike? An old breadmaker? The right space between two trees for a hammock for when you get cabin fever?

Do you have an old patio set you can spruce up so that you can enjoy time outside? Maybe you can plan some picnic meals around it?

You are looking around your home and assessing resources with a picture in your mind of the life you want to live over the next year. What will you do when it gets uncomfortably hot outside? What will you do when it gets cold again?

One of the items Chuck finds in a Fed Ex box is a volleyball. It becomes his companion. I am hopeful that you can do better than a volleyball (though humans do have a tendency to argue, have their own thoughts, etc.) What are your resources? Can you have a weekly or monthly online gathering with your scattered family members? If you're not in a religious community already, now's a great time for that. Churches, synagogues, temples, etc. are doing great work offering daily options for connecting with others. (In fact, consider this to be a personal invitation to join us online Sundays at Live Oak UU Church.)

Tom Hanks left one Fed Ex box sealed up. Whatever physical items it contained, it also contained his hope that one day, he would deliver that package.

One of your resources should be hope. The "rescue plane" will come, eventually. Life will never be the way it used to be, but we will be able to be physically together again. Extended families will once again gather for family reunions and holidays. Keep hope as one of your resources, and be sure to refill it when it's getting low.

Tomorrow: Repurposing for the Needs of Your New Life

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