Sometimes I wonder whether we over-complicate our lives with so much. So much of everything. So much work. So much reliance on money. So much reliance on electricity.
Wouldn't it just be easier to buy some land somewhere remote, grow a garden and do occasional odd jobs for some cash? Throw away all your credit cards and bathe in creek water. Make s'mores by the nightly campfire and wake up with the birds. Sleep in a log cabin and whittle wooden animals when it rains.
And no bills to pay! (I think I just heard angels singing.)
I imagine it would be a lot like camping, only infinitely more filthy and, you know, never ending bug bites. You might run the risk of becoming that "creepy lady who lives in the log cabin by the creek," fodder for local children's ghost stories and therefore your cabin might be infiltrated every Halloween by those who chose the "dare."
But then again, there would be time to be alone with your thoughts. Time to write. Time to think and read and create. Time to get your hands dirty and live off the literal fruits of your labor.
Time to lose your mind via boredom.
It might be too quiet, even assuming you brought your immediate family with you. There might be times when you yearn for noise, for a car alarm or music that doesn't come in tinny from your battery-run radio. You might also long to update your status on Facebook to "Just caught a fish with my bare hands in the creek!" You might get tired of your clothes smelling like said fish.
And then there's the possibility you could be attacked by zombies when you are just looking for some toilet paper.
It's a long shot, but it could happen.
What about you? Would you ever live off the grid?
10.10.12
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In a word: NO. But then again, I am convinced nature is trying to kill me. It is evil. "Camping" is a cheap hotel. Ugh. I sound so shallow. Good thing I live where I do.
ReplyDeleteI do live off grid, on a canal boat in Cambridge, UK. But we do have electricity, from a solar panel. Don't think I'd cope without some kind of electricity source!
ReplyDeleteAmy
Narrowboat Lucky Duck
www.nbluckyduck.blogspot.com
yes. most definitely. peppy and i have often talked about buying a plot of land in the middle of nowhere, and 'attempting' to live a self sufficient life. now, with two small children that's probably not going to happen, just because i don't want them to become some sort of deliverance-type weirdos without any social skills at all. but maybe one day when the boys are grown we can just disappear. :)
ReplyDeleteLOL. I remember your funny camping stories. You are probably better prepared to live a dialed-down life than I am, considering I am plugged in pretty much 24/7. And I'm probably a big prima donna about hot water and creature comforts.
ReplyDeleteHahaha. I think I could swing a few nights camping before I run back to my cozy existence. The key word is RUN.
ReplyDeleteTotally my husband's DREAM. Not mine, but we could certainly be far more self-sufficient than we currently are. There's got to be some kind of compromise between suburbia and 'off the grid', right?
ReplyDeleteYes! I am willing to compromise...on my terms ;)
DeleteI feel like my childhood (before all the tech gadgets took over my life) would be a good compromise. But will I ever be able to give up my smartphone!?!
ReplyDeleteMy husband has mentioned this idea to me more than once. I just don't believe it is possible for me to survive like that. Living off the grid to me would mean living on a farm or some place where the nearest store is 45 minutes away. That is all I could handle.
ReplyDelete