Rising Through Resilience: Laurie Neverman of Common Sense Home On The Five Things You Can Do To Become More Resilient During Turbulent Times

An Interview With Savio P. Clemente

Find your community/support network. Hollywood loves to paint a picture of the “lone wolf” character overcoming incredible odds, but the truth is that human are social creatures. We bounce back better when we have people who care about us. In truly dangerous conditions like economic collapse or civil unrest, a mutual assistance group (MAG) greatly improves your odds or survival. In day to day life in these turbulent times, supportive family and friends can help each other tackle projects, buy in bulk to save money, or swap excess garden produce.

Resilience has been described as the ability to withstand adversity and bounce back from difficult life events. Times are not easy now. How do we develop greater resilience to withstand the challenges that keep being thrown at us? In this interview series, we are talking to mental health experts, authors, resilience experts, coaches, and business leaders who can talk about how we can develop greater resilience to improve our lives.

As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Laurie Neverman.

Laurie Neverman is the creator of Common Sense Home, one of the most popular self-reliance sites on the internet. Empowering individuals with practical tips and insights for sustainable living, Laurie offers expertise in gardening, food storage, wild plant use, preparedness, homesteading, home remedies, and recipes through articles, books, and a membership program. She was a featured speaker at the Naval War College Strategic Studies Group, and has written for publications such as Permaculture North America and Countryside magazine.

Thank you so much for joining us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your backstory?

I was raised on a small dairy farm in northwest Wisconsin, and operated a catering business with my family as a summer job in high school in college. After earning degrees in math and engineering, I worked for several years with a solar energy contractor, operating one of the world’s largest solar water heating systems.

When my first son arrived, I decided to shift focus to homemaking and homesteading. We moved out of the suburbs to 35 acres in the country. I began sharing our journey online as we worked to create and build our homestead. This led to the website, where we’ve helped tens of millions of people, and related books and membership.

Can you share with us the most interesting story from your career? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘takeaways’ you learned from that?

In 2015, I was invited to speak at the Naval War College Strategic Studies group as a self-reliance expert. This group brought together experts in a range of fields (both naval and civilian) to look at non-traditional threats. As we dove into the discussion, it was clear that the experts, while possessing an amazing array of knowledge, had more experience dealing with theoretical problems than time in the trenches, so to speak. There was a lot more lab work than field work.

This experience reinforced my belief that while gathering information is useful, nothing beats hands on expertise. As the old saying goes, “No plan survives first contact with the enemy”. Until you’ve tackled a challenge, you don’t truly know what’s required for completion.

The AI craze has spawned a lot of online “experts” who are only information gatherers. That’s not a bad thing, but to take your efforts to the next level, you need to take action.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

I think Common Sense Home stands out as a self-reliance information provider because we live what we teach, and it’s a family business. We live in a “concrete bunker” (an extremely durable Insulated Concrete Form home) with a permaculture food forest, greenhouses, extensive gardens, a root cellar, canning pantry, and three types of solar. Each year we open our home for tours, and I’ve personally answered thousands of self-reliance questions online. My sons grew up right along with the business, and now work with me to help provide reliable, relatable information.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

The person I am most grateful to is my husband, August. I’m fortunate enough to be married to my best friend, and we’re celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary in August 2024.

He’s my rock. When I was facing health challenges, when we nearly lost our home, when we’ve gone through jobs losses and the loss of loved ones, I knew everything would turn out okay because we could work through it together.

Ok, thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of this interview. We would like to explore and flesh out the trait of resilience. How would you define resilience? What do you believe are the characteristics or traits of resilient people?

Resilience is the ability to bounce back, no matter what live throws at you. Resilient people have the determination and peace of mind that allows them to find options for success where others see only failure. They know their strengths and weaknesses, and make them work to their advantage. They also aren’t afraid to ask for help when it’s needed, and thrive in an environment where they can help others in return.

Courage is often likened to resilience. In your opinion how is courage both similar and different from resilience?

We all face doubt and fear at some time, often when we are hit with difficult circumstances like job loss, health problems, or losing a loved one. To be resilient, you must move beyond the doubt and fear, and courage is the key to taking that first step. That said, courage is only one part of the equation. It helps us take action, but you also need hope and determination to keep going and achieve your goals.

When you think of resilience, which person comes to mind? Can you explain why you chose that person?

While there are many historical figures that come to mind, Harriet Tubman is one of my favorites. Not only did she find her own way out of slavery, she risked her life repeatedly to save others. Her strength of conviction and resourcefulness challenges us all to ask more of ourselves. Plus, she lived to be over 90, which I need to do because I have a lot of opportunities to explore and learning to do. We should never stop learning!

Has there ever been a time that someone told you something was impossible, but you did it anyway? Can you share the story with us?

Back in 2015, I was diagnosed with pustular psoriasis. At its worst, I had blistered, oozing skin over roughly one third of my body, including my face. It hurt to breathe, it hurt to smile, and it hurt to move. When I saw the dermatologist, she told me to “just live with it” and gave me some cream that barely helped at all.

I was talking to a neighbor about the problem, and she said, “You need a miracle.” I decided to make my own miracle, and dove into research. Through a collection of diet and lifestyle changes and herbal remedies, I cleared my skin. It’s stayed cleared for over 8 years now.

Did you have a time in your life when you had one of your greatest setbacks, but you bounced back from it stronger than ever? Can you share that story with us?

Back in 2008, during the economic downturn, my husband lost his job of nearly 16 years. We’d only recently built this place, and real estate prices were in the toilet, so if we were forced to sell, we’d lose much of our investment. He interviewed around the U.S., and finally ended up getting a job about an hour and a half away.

We were able to get a good deal on a small condo, and he spent the work week in the city and weekends at home. I and my sons, who were small at the time, busted our tails turning the raw land into a thriving homestead. (I still remember them trying to break up compacted ground with a pick axe that was almost as big as they were.) I started writing about our experience online, and that grew into the business, Common Sense Home.

After five long years, my husband finally got a job back closer to home, and we were together as a family again. We’ve added infrastructure to the homestead, which now provides most of our food and electricity, and have a diversified revenue stream to help us deal with these turbulent economic times.

How have you cultivated resilience throughout your life? Did you have any experiences growing up that have contributed to building your resiliency? Can you share a story?

Growing up on a small dairy farm, we provided for a lot of our own needs, raising and preserving fruits, vegetables, eggs, and livestock. When things busted on the farm, you often had to make do or repair with what you had on hand, as it was a long trip to the hardware store.

Money was always tight, but through hard work and determination, I became the only one in my family to earn a college degree, and went on to earn my masters in engineering.

Now, I’ve come full circle back out to the country, but that math and engineering training helps me to explain complicated topics in easy to understand terms. That same “make it work” attitude is what we share, encouraging others to do what they can, where they are, with what they have.

Resilience is like a muscle that can be strengthened. In your opinion, what are 5 steps that someone can take to become more resilient?

1. Become a lifelong learner. The only thing that’s constant is change, so we can either learn and adapt, or get left behind. It’s estimated that people hold between 10 and 15 jobs during their lifetime, on average. Sometimes that job change is expected, as you grow into a better position, and sometimes it’s unexpected. If you embrace learning and innovation as part of your daily activities, you may have a side hustle to turn to when your main job isn’t going as planned. You can get additional training to improve your career path, or learn skills that lead to enjoyment and/or a better quality of life. Mastering a new skill builds confidence, and when it’s a practical skill like gardening or cooking, you eat better, too. Which brings us to our next step…
2. Take time to focus on your health. We are dealing with an epidemic of chronic health conditions, with millions of people dependent on prescription medications. Many of our medications are made outside the country. What happens if these medications are not available due to supply chain issues, or they become too expensive to afford? In many cases, it’s possible to improve even chronic issues with diet and lifestyle changes. Alternative therapies, such as herbalism or energy medicine, may also be able to help. Regular exercise, natural daylight exposure, less time on electronics, good sleep hygiene, avoiding junk food, nose breathing, relaxation and meditation — all of these help the body to heal. A healthy mind and body is better able to handle adversity and change.
3. Get some dirt therapy. Whether it’s working in the garden, taking a hike, or forest bathing, humans need outside time. Time in the garden is used to fight depression and PTSD. Healthy soil contains microorganisms that act as probiotics, boosting our immune systems. Time in nature reduces stress, and may promote healing for special needs children, stroke victims, and Alzheimer’s patients. If you choose to garden, it can also help with #4.
4. Do some “common sense stocking up”. With the inflation we’ve seen on food prices in recent years, and continued supply chain issues, shelf stable items purchased now can lead to significant savings later. Having a well-stocked pantry and other regularly used items on hand will also help when there’s unexpected job loss, or difficulties finding items at the stores. (I’m sure most remember the Great Toilet Paper Shortage of 2020, when there was a crazy rush to buy toilet paper, leaving store shelves empty.) For those of us who homestead, preserving bumper crops gets us through times of lean harvests. Even if you don’t grow or preserve, you can still watch for sales of non-perishable goods that you know you will use. We’ve had winters here in Wisconsin where I’ve been snowed in for days, but it’s not a problem because we stock smart and keep what we need on hand.
5. Find your community/support network. Hollywood loves to paint a picture of the “lone wolf” character overcoming incredible odds, but the truth is that human are social creatures. We bounce back better when we have people who care about us. In truly dangerous conditions like economic collapse or civil unrest, a mutual assistance group (MAG) greatly improves your odds or survival. In day to day life in these turbulent times, supportive family and friends can help each other tackle projects, buy in bulk to save money, or swap excess garden produce.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I would like to bring truly healthy food back to every table.

Food has become a commodity, with glyphosate tainted mega crops like corn and soy subsidized by the government. This keeps the highly processed foods that are disastrous for people’s health artificially cheap. People are getting too many calories, but are still hungry for nutrients. This contributes to the obesity epidemic (roughly 40% of US adults are obese) and many other health problems.

Our soils are so depleted that even when people try to eat “healthy” by eating fruits and vegetables, they’re only getting a fraction of the nutrients they should. This is why I created our Bona Cresco membership. “Bona Cresco” is Latin for “good growth”. Along with digging deeper into the range of topics from our website, we’re also going to be teaching how to grow more nutrient dense food, and clear toxins out of the soil. Better food = better physical and mental health.

We are blessed that some very prominent leaders read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them :-)

If I had to pick just one person, right now it would be John Kempf of Advancing Eco Agriculture. I love John’s statement — “I dream of a world where the process of growing food regenerates the land, revitalizes rural communities, and facilitates a world where food improves our health.”

John’s work with regenerative agriculture is the path that we are striving to follow on our homestead.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

They can find us on our website, Common Sense Home (https://commonsensehome.com/), on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/CommonSenseHome, Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/commonsensehome/, https://www.youtube.com/@commonsensehome

If they’re ready to go deeper, they can join us in Bona Cresco at https://members.commonsensehome.com/begin/

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!

About The Interviewer: Savio P. Clemente, TEDx speaker and Stage 3 cancer survivor, infuses transformative insights into every article. His journey battling cancer fuels a mission to empower survivors and industry leaders towards living a truly healthy, wealthy, and wise lifestyle. As a Board-Certified Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC, ACC), Savio guides readers to embrace self-discovery and rewrite narratives by loving their inner stranger, as outlined in his acclaimed TEDx talk: “7 Minutes to Wellness: How to Love Your Inner Stranger.” From his best-selling book to his impactful work as a media journalist covering resilience and wellness trends with notable celebrities and TV personalities, Savio’s words touch countless lives. His philosophy, “to know thyself is to heal thyself,” resonates in every piece.