When I talk about regenerating our lives, one question inevitably comes up:

Is regeneration something we do as individuals, or is it something that has to happen collectively?

I don’t think it’s either.

I think it’s both.

We Can Begin With Ourselves

I can begin regenerating my own life even if everything around me isn’t regenerating yet.

I can change the way I eat.

I can begin taking better care of my body.

I can learn to respond to stress differently.

I can repair my relationship with money.

I can create healthier rhythms.

I can become more present with my children.

I can change the way I speak to myself.

I can start letting go of patterns that are depleting me.

None of those things require everyone around me to change first.

And sometimes that is exactly where regeneration has to begin.

With one person deciding:

Something different is possible.

But We Don’t Regenerate in Isolation

At the same time, I don’t believe we are truly separate from the systems and relationships around us.

We are relational beings.

Our health is connected to our families.

Our families are connected to our communities.

Our communities are connected to the places where we live.

Our finances, our work, our food, our health, our relationships, our environment, all of these things overlap.

So while I can begin a regenerative process on my own, it becomes much more difficult when everything around me is continually depleting me.

And this is one of the reasons I think regeneration is ultimately relational.

One Person’s Regeneration Can Affect Others

Something I’ve experienced in my own life is that when I begin changing, it doesn’t stay contained within me.

If I become more patient, that changes my relationships.

If I become healthier, that changes how I show up for my family.

If I become more intentional with money, that changes what is possible for our household.

If I slow down, perhaps someone else around me feels permission to slow down too.

We influence one another constantly.

Sometimes we don’t even realize it.

A person beginning to live differently can become an invitation for someone else to imagine that something different might be possible for them, too.

I believe regenerating our relationships can shift how we relate with them: past, present and future. 

In the past, I held resentment towards a family member for things they did or didn’t do growing up. 

When I began to work towards a better relationship with them, I let go of what they didn’t do and became more appreciative of all they did. 

As I did, even though this person didn’t change per se, my relationship to 6ñour relationship transformed and not just in the present. It transformed how I remembered and related to our past. As well as changed how we looked at the future together. 

And Yet, We Can’t Wait for Everyone Else

I think there is a trap here.

We can look at the brokenness around us and decide that individual change doesn’t matter because the larger system is still unhealthy.

But I don’t believe that is true.

I don’t have to wait for my community to change before I begin changing.

I don’t have to wait for the world to become less stressful before I learn how to create more peace within my own life.

I don’t have to wait for our culture to stop glorifying exhaustion before I decide that I don’t want to live that way.

Personal regeneration can be an act of beginning.

It can be a way of saying:

This is where I have agency.

This is where I can start.

But Individual Regeneration Isn’t the End Goal

At the same time, I don’t want regeneration to become another individual self-improvement project.

That would miss the point.

If I become healthier while my relationships fall apart, is that regeneration?

If I build personal wealth while the people around me become increasingly depleted, is that regeneration?

If I create a peaceful home while contributing to systems that are harming the communities and ecosystems around me, can I really call that a regenerative life?

These questions don’t have simple answers.

But I think they are important questions to ask.

Because regeneration isn’t only about making one individual life better.

It’s about creating conditions where life can thrive.

And life is interconnected.

Regeneration Happens in Relationship

This is why I keep coming back to the idea of parallel regeneration.

We can regenerate ourselves.

Our families can regenerate.

Our communities can regenerate.

Our organizations can regenerate.

Our ecosystems can regenerate.

And these processes can influence one another.

One doesn’t have to wait for the others to begin.

Maybe I start with myself.

Someone else starts with their family.

Someone else begins rebuilding community.

Someone else restores a piece of land.

Someone else creates a healthier workplace.

Someone else changes the way money moves through their household or business.

And slowly, those things begin touching one another.

This is part of what gives me so much hope about regeneration.

We don’t have to fix everything at once.

We just have to begin creating more life-giving patterns where we have influence.

From “Me” to “We”

Perhaps the movement from individual regeneration to collective regeneration isn’t actually a movement from one thing to another.

Perhaps it’s a widening.

I begin by asking:

How can I become healthier?

Then:

How can my family become healthier?

Then:

How can we create healthier relationships and communities?

Then:

How can the systems we’re part of become healthier?

The circle keeps widening.

And eventually, the question becomes less about how I can improve myself and more about:

How can I participate in creating conditions where more life can thrive?

That, to me, is where regeneration becomes bigger than self-improvement.

It becomes a way of living in relationship.

With ourselves.

With one another.

With our communities.

And with the living world around us.

Maybe regeneration begins with one person.

But I don’t think it was ever meant to end there.