First Steps | The Identity Movement

We hosted our first Upod (Unity Pod) and Skillshare meetup on Thursday! Ten of us gathered together in Joshua’s backyard around a cozy evening fire with snacks and some of Laura’s home-brewed Jun Tea (It’s like Kombucha but with green tea and honey). The casual setting provided a comfortable atmosphere for a Mutual Aid Group, to learn more about each other.

For this first meetup, we decided not to start with any presentations. Instead, we chose to take this opportunity to go around the circle taking inventory to find out what skills we each possess, as well as the skills we would each like to learn.

It was this exploration that led us to some exciting discoveries of the strengths we have to offer one another. Like connecting pieces to a puzzle, we found that what some of us desired to learn, others in the group love to teach. For example, while Kara found her strengths to lie more in the creative realm, she expressed the desire to learn to grow food. While Laura has skills in growing food and seed collecting, she would like to learn to build small structures, something that Beau is good at. One person’s desire is another’s specialty. Joshua brought some foundational skills to the table, including the principles in learning anything and Intellectual Self-Defence with the Trivium Method.

We also found skills to compliment each other, such as while one person is skilled at sewing, another knows how to weave. We discovered skills in all spectrums, from the arts and expression to survival and foraging.

We discussed Time Vs. Money and how with skill development we can find was to put these skills to use in creating business for us to supplement income so we wouldn’t have to work so much in jobs we wish we didn’t need. By volunteering our time and offering it to other members we can quickly make high quality, low cost products that could be sold at a lower price.

Without know who was going to show up, this first meetup was a huge success in laying the groundwork necessary for future skillshare events. Upcoming skillshares will involve Non-Violent Communication, gardening, food storage, First-Aid, Community Supporting Technology and more! We are discovering and learning new skills every day, and now it’s time to share them!