SpicyBrainsGirl
12-7-21, 12:43am
Greetings all!
I am writing you from the Boston, Massachusetts area. The reason I called myself an Oldie/newbie is because I was very active on these forums—back in 1999! I am absolutely thrilled to see that they are still here and functioning. Wonderful!
Back then, as I said, I was an avid poster. The idea of living simply was so appealing. I was working for a corporation in Boston, as the receptionist, and even as a receptionist, I was getting paid a pretty penny. The corporate lifestyle, however, was absolutely ANTI-life to me. I contemplated climbing the corporate ladder and being engaged in jobs such as this for the next 40 years. I can be honest and say I was absolutely suicidal. It simply was not “IT” for me, but aside from not being “IT”, it drained the life out of me. I speak for me and me alone, I do not judge how anyone else lives, but for me, this was not what I was supposed to do. Having never obtained any financial education, I was completely unsure of how I could ever exit the rat race. “Your money or your life” gave me a blueprint. It was hope.
Beyond disliking corporate life, I had a feeling in my gut that life was going to change. I had no reason for this feeling, having only lived one way since I was born. I remember asking the simple living forums, “should I go to college and get this education, should I be paying for this, will it be relevant?“ The kind souls on the forum gave their best advice, saying that education was something that could never be taken away from me and I should probably invest. I did, but always in a lackluster way. 10 years later, I had almost graduated, and had barely any loans having paid my way through it (10 years for goodness’s sake!). My mother got cancer and I was her caretaker. That was the end of education for me. That’s OK, seems I didn’t need it anyway.
This is already too long! Let me to do my best to summarize. Fast forward quite a bit of time, here I am in my early 40s, living in an apartment, with a decent income. BUT! That intuitional feeling I had always had in my gut proved to be correct. When the corona thing happened, I couldn’t believe it. I said to myself, this is IT! This is what I was anticipating. Two years have passed since the corona roll out, and I have been educating myself to the hilt. Seems there is a solar minimum approaching, a cycle that happens goodness, I’m not sure, every 1400 years? Crops will be reduced as the planet cools.
Always I have wanted to buy land, build my own cordwood house, and live an off the grid/aggregation lifestyle. Believe me, I was interested in this way before it was trendy! In any case, every day that passes, I see that while that’s a beautiful dream of mine, I’m not going to be able to do anything alone. Community is what is essential to face the changes that are coming. I don’t need to live specifically on a commune, but I would love to be in good touch with my neighbors and to feel I had a true community supporting me. Is anyone else feeling this way? Is this life anyone else is seeking? I guess I came back to my roots to take the temperature of this populace. Very much looking forward to hearing back from anyone that might have an opinion on this. I would also appreciate so dearly being pointed in the direction of any websites where they might be discussing issues of this nature. Thank you so much for reading such a long tale, and all my love, Kate
I am writing you from the Boston, Massachusetts area. The reason I called myself an Oldie/newbie is because I was very active on these forums—back in 1999! I am absolutely thrilled to see that they are still here and functioning. Wonderful!
Back then, as I said, I was an avid poster. The idea of living simply was so appealing. I was working for a corporation in Boston, as the receptionist, and even as a receptionist, I was getting paid a pretty penny. The corporate lifestyle, however, was absolutely ANTI-life to me. I contemplated climbing the corporate ladder and being engaged in jobs such as this for the next 40 years. I can be honest and say I was absolutely suicidal. It simply was not “IT” for me, but aside from not being “IT”, it drained the life out of me. I speak for me and me alone, I do not judge how anyone else lives, but for me, this was not what I was supposed to do. Having never obtained any financial education, I was completely unsure of how I could ever exit the rat race. “Your money or your life” gave me a blueprint. It was hope.
Beyond disliking corporate life, I had a feeling in my gut that life was going to change. I had no reason for this feeling, having only lived one way since I was born. I remember asking the simple living forums, “should I go to college and get this education, should I be paying for this, will it be relevant?“ The kind souls on the forum gave their best advice, saying that education was something that could never be taken away from me and I should probably invest. I did, but always in a lackluster way. 10 years later, I had almost graduated, and had barely any loans having paid my way through it (10 years for goodness’s sake!). My mother got cancer and I was her caretaker. That was the end of education for me. That’s OK, seems I didn’t need it anyway.
This is already too long! Let me to do my best to summarize. Fast forward quite a bit of time, here I am in my early 40s, living in an apartment, with a decent income. BUT! That intuitional feeling I had always had in my gut proved to be correct. When the corona thing happened, I couldn’t believe it. I said to myself, this is IT! This is what I was anticipating. Two years have passed since the corona roll out, and I have been educating myself to the hilt. Seems there is a solar minimum approaching, a cycle that happens goodness, I’m not sure, every 1400 years? Crops will be reduced as the planet cools.
Always I have wanted to buy land, build my own cordwood house, and live an off the grid/aggregation lifestyle. Believe me, I was interested in this way before it was trendy! In any case, every day that passes, I see that while that’s a beautiful dream of mine, I’m not going to be able to do anything alone. Community is what is essential to face the changes that are coming. I don’t need to live specifically on a commune, but I would love to be in good touch with my neighbors and to feel I had a true community supporting me. Is anyone else feeling this way? Is this life anyone else is seeking? I guess I came back to my roots to take the temperature of this populace. Very much looking forward to hearing back from anyone that might have an opinion on this. I would also appreciate so dearly being pointed in the direction of any websites where they might be discussing issues of this nature. Thank you so much for reading such a long tale, and all my love, Kate