For anyone interested in living a different way of life than their current one (whatever that may be) one of the best things you can start doing first is looking at where you want to be.
We considered places all over the world – Vanuatu, Bali (as we had friends who emigrated there), Portugal, Greece then the virus hit and we couldn’t leave the UK.
Our search then took us to Wales, Herefordshire, Norfolk but we ended up, in Suffolk, on the doorstep of where my mum was brought up from the age of 10 onwards. This was half an hour from where we’d been living for fifteen years so meant no upheaval for our children. Strange how things turn out.
My Dad died during our search – he had cut me out of his life. But after his death I went to see an amazing reader (she must have come off FB as i can’t link her name) who said my Dad was very sorry and he was going to help us find the right place.
I had always known that when he died he would see that I wasn’t the person he’d made out I was (in his head). So I felt his presence in helping us achieve our next step.
I don’t feel it’s a coincidence that I’m close to the farm where my Grandfather moved his family to and spent til his 80s farming. That’s a whole other story – seeing how our system is set up to break farmers so the land ends up in the hands of the few.
Anyway, back to my point! We are in the process of setting up community camps – gathering the right team to support and connect people – but your job will be to find the area you feel happy spending the next part of your life at. It’s easy to say you’ll move anywhere – I though the same – but the reality is very different.
Wales maybe perfect for some but for us it wasn’t right at all. Herefordshire would have meant being closer to my husband’s family but it still didn’t feel right.
Our children are super sociable, love their friends and love being able to go easily to towns, clubs and their friend’s houses. Being remote would have been hard for them.
Look at your life and decide what is it you crave – peace and tranquility, people, a town, facilities, nature, water, a river, the sea?
Then also look at what you know are the personality traits that may find community living challenging. Are you ok to overcome them?
I hear so many people say, ‘I couldn’t live with other people ‘coz I need my own space.’ At our house we do not live on top of each other or share rooms with each other. We all have our own space – because we all need our own space. The community facilities are the places where everyone gathers – mainly the kitchen and garden.
If you can do this sort of work before meeting others wanting a similar path then you’ll have done a lot of the hard work.
Matching the right people could then be quite simple because everyone is at the same page – they know where and they know they want it. The last thing anyone needs is to get to the house-hunting stage and people decide right at the last moment that this path isn’t right for them.
Tread cautiously but do that inner work – chat with the others who might move with you (husbands, wives, children). There will be plenty of twists and turns along the way but keep your vision in sight and you’ll get there ????
Don’t Listen to Fear
Our heads are very good at talking us out of things. If you feel that something is very wrong with our current system, listen to that voice. We’re not doing anything that hasn’t been done before. All our ancestors would have lived far more communally than we do. But don’t push yourself into doing something that doesn’t feel right. Listen to your gut and your gut will show you the right path.
Please follow our Vlog (new word for me and another new experience) on TikTok to follow our own journey. I have never once looked back and couldn’t be happier with our new, bigger family, with people I only met in 2020. I am honoured and so happy they shared the same vision and wanted to share their future with us.
Our camps in 2021 taught us so much. We will be creating regular community camps so you can meet others interested in living a different way. We’ll have investors, non-investors, off-gridders and we’ll be there telling you about our journey.
We’ll be posting regularly on FB to keep you updated.
I would love that but no money..
We are planning community camps where investors can meet non-investors and see if they work well together. We’ll be posting regularly so do keep looking out for more updates.