13th Dec 2022 | 

Often we find ourselves consumed by the next challenge, the work that needs to be done, or the daily to-do list that ever expands.  Rarely do we take the time to reflect on our efforts and marvel at what the landscape would look like if we never took action in the amazing ways that we have.

On Thursday night, Landcarers gathered in the North West to discuss the topic of Caring for Landcarers, where we shared the motivators and inspirations that empower our landcaring journey, the challenges we face in landcaring, and identified solutions to remedy these obstacles for a better future for our communities and natural landscapes. 

Image:  Jessie Pannazolo asks: what are our challenges? © Cynthia Schaap 

The free-flowing discussion was a unique opportunity to hear about the diverse array of challenges faced by the community, as well as hear the origin stories of those involved and what they have been able to accomplish since.

Attendees shared not only their inspirations and motivations for joining Landcare, but the challenges that come with the gig - recruiting new people, feeling grief and despair about the state of the environment, and not being able to 'switch off' as a Landcarer were some of the big hurdles mentioned. 

A notable take-away from the discussion was finding that by flipping the narrative in our heads from focussing on what needs to be done - to focussing on what has been achieved - we gain more motivation to keep going and feel hopeful about the future. If we had not done what we have, the world would be so much poorer!

"Often people associate wellness with abstract and emotive concepts and practices, but what was evident from this session is how practical it is to have open and constructive conversations about our experiences as environmentalists.

Not only did we gain useful information that will help to achieve the member's goals into the future, but we connected as a community and reinforced an important support structure. Sometimes you need to take a step back and sharpen your knife which is exactly what we achieved in this session." said Jessie. 

We thank everyone for coming along to this workshop, sharing openly and taking time for yourselves (a rare thing for Landcarers).  This feedback will help us to inform future projects so that more Landcarers can benefit from these reflections.  A big thank you to Jessie not only for facilitating this workshop so well, but also for starting this conversation and bringing it into the Landcare space.