Peace.
If you have a companion that has a quiet place outside the city, like a cottage for instance, then you know one of its most attractive qualities is the feeling of peace it stands to produce.
The first thing I noticed when I moved to the country was the soundscape. I could actually hear very little out in the open; the wind, birds, faint human voices, no vehicles or air conditioning units.
The benefits of sustained tranquility have long been studied and studied closely, the perks of which are shown to help improve mental health, for starters. The human soul and the human nervous system wants to dwell in quiet spaces, spaces which are simply unavailable in an urban setting.
Social Life.
Contrary to the industrial urban motif that rural peoples are ill-socialized country bumpkins, many of them are quite affable.
I was surprised to learn how gregarious, clever, and sensitive country folk are here in the New Brunswick’s River Valley. My neighbours here have colourful personalities and storied histories. They may not be people of scholarship, but many of them are seasoned doers with a treasury of applied knowledge that is absolutely out-of-this-world.
I’ve learned a staggering amount of very practical things from people who live here in the backwoods. These connections help grow bonds in ways that are still leaving a tremendous impression on me today.
Freedom, plain and simple.
To virtually be free from monthly bills (my personal exceptions include internet, cell phone, and car payment––just shy of $500) is ironically, not something that happens if you’re wealthy.
Bills might not affect you much if you’re rich, but they’re sure as hell still there the more you play the game. To be as debt-free, bill-free, and mortgage-free as possible is an emancipation the entire establishment seeks to prevent people like you and I from achieving.
That’s just one of several economic reasons to go back to the land.
The freedom to live a life of independence seems like an intuitive human motivation. On some level, isn’t that what the majority of people want? To be able to prosper, as an individual, as a family, a society, and so on? Don’t we earn a living to make this a reality? This unrelenting thrust we all have to improve our well-being is greatly handicapped by the burdensome demands put on us by modern urban, and economic environments, especially in regards to the working class.
Real freedom is felt daily and deeply in the woods. I cannot evangelize this point enough to do the idea justice.
Bonus:
Community, where I devote an entire blog post to the subject. Please enjoy, you hippie freaks.
therusticator.com 