So, at church in my ward I am one of the teachers in Relief Society. I teach only once a month (the third Sunday) which means that I am teaching this coming Sunday! Can anyone guess what my lesson is? Anyone? Talents you say? Exactly right! As such, I've got talents on the brain and, in my opinion, it takes a lot of that to become Self Reliant.
When you truly can get to the point where you are self reliant, self sufficient and self sustaining, you are no longer relying on anyone else other than yourself. You meet all of your basic needs with what you have and what you can get on your own. You have an income from a job of some sort (whether self employed, or employed by someone else). But being self reliant doesn't mean your income has to be 6 figures. When you are truly self reliant, it is because you can live within your means, spending less than you are making and that will be different for everyone.
Getting to that point, especially if you make a minimal amount of money, can be very challenging. When I see the word challenge, I just see a synonym for creativity, or a reason to get creative. Whenever you see something that you need, it may cost money. You may have the money to spend, or you may not. Even if you do have the money on hand, it may be better spent in your savings account rather than on the need at hand. So you can look at your (here comes the T word) talents and see how you can meet that need while spending the least amount of money.
When you think of the word talent, you might think of the things that most often come to mind:
Singing
Dancing
Sports
Acting
Sewing
Painting
Photography
other Arts and Crafts
This list can go on and on (and it does) But you have to remember that there are other talents out there as well, things that are just as important and even more so than the list "obvious" talents listed above. These talents may not even be recognized as talents. But I can assure you that they are:
Patience
Being good with Kids
Creativity
"Looking Outside the Box"
Communication Skills
Entertaining Others (besides artistically)
Being a Good Friend
Good Listener
God has given every single one of us talents. Some may have many, others may just have 1 or 2. But they were given to us to help better ourselves and others. Our families and our personal lives can be greatly enriched when we can search for these talents and learn to exercise them and use them to enrich our lives and others.
So when it comes to being self reliant, you might wonder how your talents can help achieve that. Here is an example.
When I was growing My mother would sew things from patterns and one time she made all of us kids brand new swimming suits! that was so cool, that I wanted to learn how to sew. She tried to teach me but I just couldn't get it. Later, my Aunt tried to teach me, and I still couldn't figure it out. I got the basics of how to use the sewing machine and got pretty good at working it, but following a pattern to actually make something? Forget it, I couldn't do it to save my life. Later on, when we were expecting our first baby, I realized we were in serious need of crib sheets. We went to the store to get some, but they were so expensive that I just couldn't see spending $8 or more per sheet when we needed other things so much more. I collected a bunch of old Queen sized Flat sheets from my mother-in-law who was cleaning out her storage room and with some experimenting, and a few mistakes, I was able to successfully make half a dozen crib sheets for just the cost of thread and elastic. I spent about $3 and saved at least $40. I still can't follow a pattern for the life of me. But I can figure out simple patterns on my own.
If you have a talent for cooking, or figuring gout your own recipes you can save a lot money by not having to buy as many pre-made ingredients or frozen foods. If you are not great at cooking, you can always practice and learn that new skill.
Being good with kids can be an incredible asset. If you are a stay at home parent, and your family needs a little extra income but you really want to stay home with your kids, that talent of being great with kids could make a few extra bucks a month. You could look into getting licensed to run a day-care out of your home, or even just check the local laws and see what you can legally charge for without a license at all. you may be able to charge a small fee to just watch a couple of the neighbor kids a few times a week.
The talent of being entertained easily, or even entertaining others as well as being social (believe it or not is a skill and talent not everyone has) can come in handy when you want to save a few bucks each month. Rather than having a date night out, you can host a monthly game night with friends. Have everyone bring a snack and their favorite game, and all you have to do is play host/hostess, helping you save at least $30 a month.
Get creative in filling the needs of your family by using your talents, or learning new ones, and you'll be surprised at how far that can take you on your path to self reliance!
Discovering Self Reliance - Part 1
Discovering Self Reliance - Part 2: Living on Welfare
Discovering Self Reliance - Part 3: Realizing Your Talents
Discovering Self Reliance - Part 4: Emergencies & Really Being Ready For Them
Discovering Self Reliance - Part 5: Learning New Skills - Maintaining Your Vehicle