Resilience – Learning from Nature
Look deep into nature and then you will understand everything better.”
– Albert Einstein
Learning from Nature is one of the core beliefs on which our whole Tasimba Experience is based. As all of our guests will tell you, their week-long Tasimba safari was an incredible deep immersion in Nature. And right now, in the middle of the pandemic, is the perfect time to remind ourselves of some of Nature’s great lessons.
Arguably, the single most important thing we’ve had to learn with Covid in 2020 is resilience, in our family life, professionally and in society as a whole. Resilience is knowing how to cope, mentally, physically and emotionally with adversity or a crisis – like a pandemic.
The virus has disrupted every individual and social aspect of our lives with social distancing, wearing masks, working from home, lock-downs, home schooling, no travel, event cancellations etc. We were poorly equipped to cope with the fear of a highly infectious disease, the uncertainty, the bleak outlook and our lack of control of our own future wellbeing. All of this vastly increased our anxiety and stress which in turn has deeply impacted our capacity for resilience.
This is a perfect time for us to look to Nature to be our greatest teacher.
Purpose drives resilience
Animals in the wild have one purpose in life: their own survival and that of their young. Their purpose drives their resilience. Resilience is not optional – it is the fulfillment of their purpose.
In many parts of Africa, there’s no rain for about 8 months of the year and often both food and water become very scarce. When the waterholes dry up, matriarch elephants will often lead their families over long distances to water sources that they remember from many years before.
Great migrations in Africa of wildebeest, zebra and other species occur annually as baked-in resilience behaviors move herds hundreds of miles for new grazing. In response to changing seasons across the hemispheres, whales, millions of birds and even butterflies migrate too. It is resilience that causes species to change their circumstances in order to survive and thrive in adversity.
Lessons for us
We too can thrive in adversity when we apply what Nature has to teach us. If you think about those examples from the wild, these are some of the key lessons. They are all about resilience.
- Have a purpose – where do you want to be when this is over?
- Be proactive – don’t dwell and overthink things; just make stuff happen
- Remain hopeful – look forward to and work towards your goal lines
- Learn from the past – act on what has served you well in previous adversity
- Focus on wellness – (mental AND physical); it is essential for survival
- Stay connected – just like the meaning of our Shona name, Tasimba, ‘Together we are strong’ – find ways to stay connected through all of this
Listen. Watch. Learn. There is so much wisdom and wonder in Nature that strengthens our resilience. Sharing Natures lessons with you as our guests is one of our core beliefs. And leading future safaris for you is Tasimba’s purpose that inspires our own resilience.
Animals congregate in times of stress. It speaks to the deeper connections we all have that transcend our physical beings. We humans have perversely found ways to isolate ourselves with our digital universes and, in Covid, more so now than ever. It does not bode well for our overall health. No wonder longevity is suddenly, and for the first time in history, declining.”
– Dr. Graham Ward, Adjunct Professor, INSEAD Business School, France
Tasimba. Learning resilience in the African wilderness.
Be Inspired. Naturally.
Contact us about our next safari. We’d love to have you join us!