I am having a hard time with this article. On the one hand, it resonates with me DEEPLY. "Sure, it's cliché, but it's cliché for a reason -- this subconscious drive for freedom is hard-wired in our DNA. No modern comfort or toy can take the place of true autonomy." On the other hand, I can't deny certain life comforts. Relationships come to mind when considering a life like this. Sure, living frugally on the road whi…
Agreed. It gets even harder with tiny dependents.
I also have two older children whom I raised during their youth with my ex-wife in rural NJ when we decided to leave Manhattan. They grew up with a fresh water lake, no motorboats, with bears, deer and raccoons among other wildlife.
My new baby girl is growing up with fresh bananas, mangoes, papaya, and of course, rice right outside our door, and beautiful sunsets and sunrises over the rice fields. There are chickens, goats, geckos, cobras, beetles that look like gold, and colorful birds, and we live in the shadow of a dormant volcano. We live very minimal. Most of the floors in the village are just packed dirt with a bamboo mat pulled out to use. My home is tiled - had to have that!
Funny thing is my internet is spotty at times, but much cheaper, and it goes with me and my phone wherever I am. I get 500 KB/s at times, with an average of 175 KB/s. This allows me to Skype my Dad and older children several times a week with video and share my world. I love my freedom, health and the world of wonder I am learning about. I have been in SE Asia for over 7 years, and in the village for almost a full year now. I might grow tired of it, and move on, but it will be to the next different thing, like a sail boat with short jaunts to other islands. Am I rich? No! You'd be amazed at how much you can accomplish if you set your mind to it, and have some passion about it.
People live in fear. Not the terrifying type of fear you might experience in an immediate life or death situation, but in a sort of self-imposed fear of change or anything different. I like to imagine our world takes place in an imaginery little bubble around us, and if we don't kick and push its walls, stretch them, exercise them, they close in, and we become imprisoned in this gnawing, subtle fear. It goes hand in hand with the quote attributed to Einstein. Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. People know why they're unhappy; they just don't listen well to themselves, or are paralyzed by this subtle fear that drives their whole life.