Personal Safety Nets

Identifying you have plans, systems, and people who will "cover your back" is what we call a personal safety net.

So, using Chapter 1, Understanding Personal Safety Nets from our book, along with some information from our workbook (Get Ready/Get Started), let's see if we can further everyone's understanding.

Creating a safety net team is intended to provide some emotional protection from life's endless disruptions. It involves ordering your affairs, taking stock, building community and enhancing life. How do you do this? You build teams to help you get things done, face situations, conquer circumstances and improve your plans of action. You get organized.

For example, instead of facing a disease with fear and trepidation, seek to put together a "care-share team" that can supplement your own time and needs - providing both help to get tasks completed, and emotional support. Or, on the lighter side, if you face the task of planning a wedding or great event, instead of "hitting the wall" of too much to do, you can put together a helping team of friends and experts who can not only help put the tasks in order, but also help with the tasks or help find those who can help. Putting a safety net team into the equation can ease your feelings of hopelessness, isolation or fear and stress overload.

Working in teams, no matter their size (so long as they are appropriate for the tasks at hand) can enhance success. Research shows (and we share it with you as a variety of Cool Free Downloads) that running and exercising with others will help you stick to your exercise plan. Likewise, eating or dieting with others will help you improve your nutrition and keep the pounds off. Just creating or being part of a support team will likely make your life more happy and your tasks more manageable. Even finding a group to share laughter with can improve your attitude and help you from feeling run down!

When a team comes together in an organized way to meet any need, then no one feels the burden of shouldering all the care (or needs) alone.

• The particular circumstance will determine who will be most supportive, the best networker, the most creative, or most dependable. Be as objective as possible in thinking through, in advance, who or what would be truly helpful.
• The care-share team's goal (or any team) is to create an environment in which team members can perform at their best and complement each other's efforts.
• Participation is typically voluntary with each person offering his or her own unique gifts. Teams can be long-term or for a short period, or to help with specific challenges.
• Your personal safety net can (and should) be made up a variety of teams (they can be also be businesses and organizations): ones who help or guide you: personally, financially, materially, familial, spiritually, and professionally.

The point is, facing the world alone isn't necessary and just doesn't work!