Your call for a simple life

Over a long time, humanity created a system of interdependence to “improve” our ways of living. Freedom was sacrificed for comfort, security, and survival.

It works, in these aspects humans are better off than ever before. We may have underestimated how closely the sense of ownership, freedom, and interaction with nature is tied to physical and mental health.

Very few people go through life without having periods where they want to leave everything behind. But then realized how imprisoning, health insurance, pension, loans, and getting food is.

Fighting a self-perpetuating system is seldom a smart idea. Money is powerful. It takes a lot of people to change minor aspects. So unless you’re willing to mobilize the masses (politically, like it happened to ban lead in gasoline) it is about finding a compromise. The ideal independent life in nature is utopic, but we can aim to rely as little on the system as possible.

Growing your food might be the easiest entry to self-sufficiency and at the same time works against an agriculture system pushing chemicals (through pharmaceutical companies’ interests) and not sustainable soil treatment.

Partial self-sufficiency for many and a growing interest in small-scale food production with local distribution is what’s needed. Not never-ending centralization and economic growth. This might make life just a little bit more simple.