If you live off the grid in a remote or even relatively remote location - like we do - you soon learn the importance of redundancy - that is having more than one way to do something important, such as make energy, store water or resolve some other problem that if not solved quickly would fundamentally make your lifestyle not viable.

In the last 20 years of off-gridding, I've faced countless of this mini existential crises and each time they are a cause of short term stress typically followed by hard or risky work - such as rewiring an island energy system to bypass a faulty charge controller or rerouting the water supply via a complex system of connected tubes and taps - but after the hard work comes the satisfying part, the sense of resilience and adaptability - the feeling that I was able to resolve the problem, learn from it and push on more confidently in my own abilities and mental or physical skills.

Off-grid is not for everyone, but those who do it deeply learn not only have to manage resources carefully, but also a range of vital survival skills which are as applicable to business, relationships or any other challenging area of life.