Thoughts on Resourcefulness

If you want something, make it.

If you want something to happen, start it.

Quit waiting on others. Make it happen for yourself.

I've been dwelling on this idea of resourcefulness recently, but in a different than usual kind of way. Not in the I need money or physical stuff kind of way, but in the I want my life to be a certain way kind of way. We are very happy in Korea, but there are always things, people, places, events we miss from back home. And not in the irreplaceable way. We will obviously never be able to replace Christmas with our family, but we can create a fulfilling experience of having a big dinner with friends. But more of what I am talking about is the idea of "I like _______, but they don't have it here. So I can't have it at all." Why?! That's not true. I have found myself being a little unhappy and unfulfilled in a few areas recently and decided to do something about it.There are resources all around us, people, things, ideas. We must harness them and be willing to do a bit of the work so we (and others) can reap the benefits. Here are a few examples from my life recently (that you can also do):Starting the workout class I want to take: I hate working out. I like taking workout classes though because they are a group event and you have someone telling you what to do, so I don't have to decide to only half way lift weird weights that I don't actually know what they do. Gyms here are really expensive, like $300 a month + I have to travel to get there, etc, etc, etc. I really love Zumba, its my favorite method of working out. I also don't care to work out everyday, once a week is fine with me. There is a girl who works here who used to be a dance teacher. She tried to teach a dance class once a month last semester, but it didn't get a lot of interest because of timing. So I approached her, 'hey wanna start a weekly Zumba class? I'll help you and I'll force people to come.' Another girl overheard and said 'me too'. We sent out a mass email the next day and the next week the three of us are teaching a HUGE Zumba class to our staff in our school aerobics room. It's been growing each week. More people are stepping up to teach dances each week. It's so fun.The work: Telling people what I wanted and asking them for help. The workload at first was reserving the room and learning three dances. Now it is sending out a reminder email each week and practicing my dances a few minutes before class starts and learning new ones when I get bored with them.The benefit: I get to do my favorite workout each week, I get a say in how its run, I get to hang out with my work friends and I get to laugh a lot because, let's be honest, nobody looks great doing Zumba. It's free, for everyone.Designing the Products I want to use: I wanted something to fill a void in my scrapbooking. Modern, simple, 1-2 color travel themed project life cards. I waited for years and no one designed them. So I did. Oh and I made travel stamps to go with them because I love using stamps and there weren't any that I liked. I learned Photoshop (which I already had on my computer free from work), designed them and opened an Etsy Shop with them so others can use them too.The work: I had to learn Photoshop, but I learned it as I went. I already had the designs in my head, so I just need to translate them onto the screen. Etsy shops are a lot of work, especially if you want them to be good and do well. That was a lot of prep work for each product, but now its done and you don't have to do that part if you don't want.The benefit: I have the perfect cards now. I know how to use Photoshop. I am making a small amount of income off of my efforts. Others are using my products and that is soooo cool.Invite people into the relationships I want to have: I am incredibly social. I love having friends and hanging out. I make friends easily, but making couple friends is really hard. It's hard to find people who you both mesh with and couples are really busy so its hard to plan times to hang out. Back home we had an amazing group of couple friends we met through our church small group. Our church here doesn't have really any couples and, besides, we spend sooooo much time with work people because our work schedule is crazy. So I realized I needed to stop fighting it and create the friend group that I wanted. All friendships start because someone says 'hey lets hang out' and I thought why can't that person be me?! So I got intentional about inviting other couples out to dinner. Then I thought 'let's just all be friends!'. We invited all the married couples without kids, who work with us, over for a game night. Most of them came. We had a great time. At the end everyone agreed to do it once a month. We already know each other (ish) because we all know the same people, teach the same kids, work at the same place. It's just easy and makes sense. Everyone wants a friend, someone just has to initiate.The work: getting up the nerve to ask people to hang out. Arranging a date. Providing a snack food.The benefit: friends, laughter, fun. Relationships with people who are in our same life stage and get what our life is like. Friends make the world go round.Learn to cook the foods I want: I love food. So much. The US has some really great, simple foods. Like biscuits in cans. Icing to go with your soft pretzels. Bakeries full of fresh breads. I miss those things. But they don't do those kinds of things here. So for a while, I did without. But I missed those things and realized if I just quit being lazy and did some googling, searched out ingredients and tried I could make all those things.The work: finding ingredients, recipes and taking the time to try new recipes.The benefit: having the most delicious foods from home + a new cooking skill!All of these problems were solved when I looked around at who and what were around me and how those things could help get me to where I wanted to be. None of them involved me quitting my job or giving up all my free time. It didn't involve tons of money or investment or a degree. It just took me being brave, stepping up and figuring it out. I made it happen. I didn't rely on anyone else to make the first move or do it for me. Being resourceful looks different in everyone's life, but everyone has that skill and ability. Use it. Use your resources. Work with people. With the things you have. Who knows what relationships will grow out of it, what skills you will learn. I promise you will only gain from these experiences.What areas of your life do you need to be more resourceful in? Make a plan today and act on it and/or ask for help. Don't wait. Want to be in a book club with books YOU actually like? Pick a book, send out an email with a meeting place, google some questions to start your discussion. Want a support group for people like you? Ask people like you to be in it and share what your vision is and just keep showing up every week. It really can be that simple. You don't have to be an expert or know how to do it. Just start. Share in the comments what you are going to do or what you have done so we can learn from you!