Five and a half years ago, I left my teaching career for the simple life.
I’ve learned a great deal over that period and will continue to do so. My personal attempt to evolve from a suburban school teacher to a work-in-progress has been rewarding and mind blowing. As the industrial global economy chugs along I vow to keep moving toward the exit of its insane practices.
To be very clear, my move from a large urban city to the sticks is not going to change a damn thing systemically. The industrial and technological world will continue to devour anything and everything in its collective path. I am still part of this world on many levels and will continue to be in many facets of my life for the rest of my days. Once born into the civilized world, escape from it becomes nearly impossible. Many are closer to the exit than I am, whether by choice or by circumstance. I have much to learn from them and a short time to get there.
Today I awake every morning to the sounds of birds, squirrels, coyotes and a cat that I’ve grown to love. My wife and I spend our days together instead of just our mornings, evenings and weekends. Our lives are richer because of our commitment to living instead of chasing a paycheck. We are fortunate and grateful. For us, it’s not necessarily about lowering our footprint but more about living with absolute intention.
Our choices have led us to a community like no other.
My neighbors are wise and generous. They are our elders in a world that has cast wisdom aside replaced by an insatiable appetite for faux progress, status and wealth. I owe my growth as a fellow human being to many of them. They are more than I deserve.
Now that we have found a place to land, the real work begins. Creating spaces for food and summertime shelter top our list of priorities. Our skill set has moved beyond rhetoric and toward application. We have become more aware of what it takes to live life rather than to pay for it via employment. Sure, we have miles to go but at the very least, we finally found the road.
My wife is the reason I have ventured from a traditional white privileged, middle class, suburban existence. I would not be where I am today if were not for her fearlessness. She jumps into life where I sit back and observe before entering. She’s my partner in every sense of the word. Together we’ve enjoyed the fruits of our undertaking. It wouldn’t be the same without her. To share this dance makes all the difference in our experience when facing changes that are ordinarily very difficult to enact.
I don’t foresee a change of attitude or perception within industrial civilization.
It will run its course and eventually go off the inevitable cliff brought about by the clearly illogical and criminally short-sighted belief in the glory of infinite economic growth on a finite resource planet. If it reaches its end during my lifetime I, along with my wife and everyone I’ve ever known, will most likely perish because of its collapse. My life choices allow me to die with the knowledge that there’s more to life than what billions of people are pursuing. At the end of the day, that’s good enough for me. I’ve attempted to evolve at the very least, beyond a status quo that’s quickly devolving. I love life in a way I never thought possible. I am content.
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Photo credit: Getty Images
Saying you’re “off the grid” is pretty misleading. First time you get really sick you’re heading to a hospital. Break a bone?- titanium rod comin up. Paid for thru health insurance. Crop doesn’t come in? Off to the grocery store. Bad tooth? Head to the dentist.
Off grid seems pretty self explanatory to me. I don’t live in a space connected to the electrical grid. Nothing here was said about me living outside of the industrial model which is clearly what you’re implying.
So you’re doing something about as revolutionary as a guy who isn’t connected to city water and sewage.
It’s not revolutionary…read the headline. Here’s what I did: quit my job, defaulted on all of my debt, moved into an intentional community where I live in a Mongolian yurt with no plumbing or grid tied electricity. I learned how to garden, milk goats, process my own meat, work for room and board and play well with others. I live cheaply and simply. I stopped chasing what most people in my life continue to pursue. I live amongst primitivists, hippies, tramps, mountain men, bush women, activists, and conscientious objectors. I spend my days observing, listening, learning and providing a helping… Read more »
Figured. When you voluntarily default on your debt on purpose you HURT people- real everyday people. Teachers and state workers retirement funds own bank stocks. $12 per hour call center associates are negatively impacted when when companies have to tighten belts due to losses. Your neighbors are hurt by your foreclosure- it hammers their property value. If someone CANT pay it’s understandable- that’s what bankruptcy is for. If someone WONT pay the obligations they signed up for? They’re terrible people. Here’s what I do- I work to provide a good living for my wife and three kids. Because I’m damn… Read more »
You’re not doing anything different than what folks have been doing for centuries. It’s called hierarchy. You justify wealth by giving to the poor. You believe in financially supporting a system that has no future. You’re a true believer in a sea of true believers. I know I’m on the right track when the Manifesto of Privilege gets recited to me verbatim. Y’all must cut and paste right from the pamphlet.
You stole from people. You rely on human society while not doing your part. You aren’t a revolutionary, you are a leech and a bad person.
Spoken like a true believer…and it’s evolutionary not revolutionary. #Outlaw
My reply got modded so I’ll keep this short. Defaulting on your debt hurts people- everyday people like the $12 per hour loan processors and the teachers whose retirement plans own bank stocks. It’s one thing to lack ability to pay. Another to take other people’s money and run off. You can talk about “opting out” but all you did was cut and run to your tent (paid for by credit card which you walked away from maybe?). As far as what I do- I fulfill my obligations and commitments to my family, community, employees, church and country. And I… Read more »
I also earn a damn good living and pay taxes which provide shelter, food and health insurance for the less fortunate.
The less fortunate exist and continue to exist because the vast majority of us perpetuate a system that requires a massive underclass to prop up a very powerful and privileged class. There’s nothing wrong with providing for the less fortunate . What’s wrong is believing that doing it through a system that creates circumstances where there are less fortunate folks is a solution. You’re equating legality with morality and that will never lead to personal evolution.
So first you imply I’m not doing anything revolutionary then you go on to explain how you follow the rules set by a status quo that btw is devouring the planet. It doesn’t matter if you or I garden, hunt, fish or run livestock. What ultimately matters is if you or I are capable of moving beyond what the dominant culture has instilled in us. You’re clearly loyal to the story we tell ourselves about ourselves. So keep on playing by the rules that maintain the most destructive set of living arrangements known to man and I’ll keep evolving beyond… Read more »
“Before we can have our sanity restored we first have to realize how insane we are.”
Stepping off the hamster wheel is a great place to start.
To get better we have to stop swallowing the poison – drinking the Kool-Aid – that society tells us we need to survive.
We are heavily invested in our own egos, dutifully, as we were taught from an early age, and to worry what others thought of us was as important as breathing.
Disconnect. Walk away. Find freedom.
Life is all around us. How we choose to participate is up to us.
Great comment Paul…it’s the toughest decision(s) many of us may ever make.
While some of your points have merit, and I could care less about how you choose to live your life, I’m sending a government tax guy to collect 30% of your garden to help those less fortunate. Fair deal man.
I don’t expect folks to care how I live…in fact, I suspect they don’t. I’ll set aside some veggies in anticipation. Fair enough:)