How to Build a Village

WHAT IS THE KEY TO SURVIVING OUR CHANGING CHAOTIC WORLD?When you hear the saying, 'it takes a village', you probably think of a parent frantically depending on the support of their close ones to help raise a child. But, regardless of whether you are a parent or not, we all need to be cared for. In a time of unprecedented disconnection and loneliness, how exactly do we build the village we need?For much of her adult life, bestselling Substack author and journalist Rosie Spinks operated on a model of hyper-independence that fuelled a generation. Anything that she needed, she could order; anything that needed to happen, she could find the most direct and seamless route to achieve it. But when she had her first child and confronted the work of caregiving for the first time, that model suddenly stopped working. She quickly realised that 'the village' wasn't just something that appeared the moment you needed it. It had to be built over time, throughout different stages of life.Now, in How to Build a Village, Spinks blends reporting, personal experience, and practical tools to take a deeper look at how we lost 'the village' in our modern world, and how new parents, single urbanites, the elderly, and young adults alike can reinvite connection back into our lives.Along the way, she offers key takeaways for how we can create the networks of hands-on support we so desperately crave. The result is an eye-opening reframe in how we might view our role in the world, and a critical tool for building a better future for ourselves, and each other.