This may be unfathomable to some. How can you go from the bustling life in the city, seeing people every waking hour for decades, to trying your hand at a life where you have to make an effort to see another being? Living off grid alone is no easy feat.
I have been doing it for years, on multiple continents, in multiple countries, on the road as well as on private property. I’ve never done it any other way so although it may be a hardship to some it’s merely life for me. If you want to dive deeper into my journey off the grid feel free to read().
What I can tell you is how to navigate the waters and thrive in such a scenario. It may be scary for some at times, harrowing even. However, I live by a simple equation fear – death (or life altering injury) = fun.
Fear
This will be the most threatening aspect of the journey. Living off grid alone comes with it’s fair share of these. What if something happens to me? What if I uproot my entire life and fail at the new one? What will be think of me? Do I have what it takes? These are natural responses for the common populace. But you are far from common if this idea even breaches the surface of your conscious mind.
You have lived a life filled with dangerous activates that you don’t see as such because you perform them so often. Driving a car for instance, there are literally millions of car crashes every year, this is in the United States alone. This figure will continue to rise and yet you drive whenever it suits you. Even more stunning you get into cars of strangers (uber, lyft) and let them take you on that journey on a whim. You let randos cook and handle your food and you eat it without checking for pathogens or poisons. I say all that to reiterate that you have been a daredevil a long time, these fears are just foreign so they register with a different level of potency.
You must hold any of that dread of the unknown at bay. Living off grid alone is merely an adventure. Whether you succeed, or get hurt etc is of no consequence. You can break your leg walking down the stairs but you don’t give it any thought and you go. This is the best way to treat living off grid alone.
Limits
Know them. It is ok to push them when the opportunity rises, as this is the route to growth, but you must remain aware of them. For instance, if you are 120 lbs. soaking wet and have never lifted anything over 100 pounds there will be limits to the type of house you can build by yourself without the proper equipment. I had to learn that I can’t have a 30 foot span flat roof because the beam I need was roughly 800 lbs. and I couldn’t get it to my property by myself let alone install it. Therefore, I changed the design to 24 feet and was able to handle it with brute strength and fortitude.
These scenarios will occur often living off grid alone. You will reach road blocks in your new life and will have to circumvent them in whatever way you can. This may be in acquiring materials, digging your foundation, pouring concrete, working on your vehicle, patching up a wound etc. There is an infinite amount of things that you aren’t proficient in so you will need to navigate your new life with that in mind.
Play to your Strengths
I find that although people never know their weakness they are always quite sure of their strengths, or at least what they believe them to be. Don’t let blind confidence be your down fall. Figure out what your strengths actually are, ask the people closest to you. Odds are they are quite different from your perceived strengths.
Make sure to harness these in your new life. Let your strengths lead the way. If you are not good at doing things on the fly, plan meticulously, if you are not physically strong, get the proper equipment to assist your endeavors, if you are weak willed avoid situations that test your mental and physical endurance etc. Allow your true strengths to lead the way
Plan Everything
The best way to combat the dark is to shine a little light on. Your fears will be illuminated, doubts highlighted, weaknesses set ablaze and concerns aglow. Planning is the way to grow comfortable with all that your new life will ask of you, at least on paper.
The planning stage will help you focus on living off the grid alone and help mitigate problems that may arise. Keep in mind this stage shouldn’t last forever. There is no way to prepare for every contingency without actually going out there and doing something. This stage is just to allow you to acclimate to the idea of living off the grid alone and help assuage some of those concerns that keep you up at night.
Set your budget, figure out the equipment and tools you need, find out the area you want to live in, decide whether you actually want to go through with this etc. There is no easier way to get hurt or fail than doing something half way. You have to engulf yourself in your decision and go live it.
Do it
Living off the grid alone isn’t something a book can teach you. I can walk you through my entire history and still not touch a single problem you face on your own journey. You learn by doing it. Preparation will only take you so far. Knowing your strengths and avoiding your weaknesses will just show you the perceived path of least resistance. Understanding your limits will merely assist you in straying away from certain outcomes. None of it matters until you are living off the grid alone, the silence whispering to you from everywhere, darkness shrouding you like a final call curtain close at a macabre play.
Living the life will continue to ease tension and bring a certain comfort with your surroundings and life style. This is the way out. I love every second of living off the grid alone. The best decision I ever made. Whether it will be the same for you is your journey.
Let me know what you think below
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