Sometimes it’s good to reflect and take stock of things.  Claire Wolfe’s article on simplicity in the May/June 2009 issue of “Backwoods Home Magazine” can help you and me do that.  Below is an excerpt.

            Wolfe raises several issues which I think relate to survival because they emphasize being adaptable.  For example, while you should have goals in mind for changing your lifestyle, don’t be afraid of failure.  Are you prepared if need be to give up cherished possessions, attitudes, and even people?  Can you keep events in perspective, whether it’s the breakdown of a piece of equipment or what’s happening in the news?

            What if we are indeed faced with annihilation of life as we now know it?  Can you adapt to a minimalist way of life?  While Claire Wolfe doesn’t consider such extremes, she offers food for thought regardless of whether you’re an old pro at homesteading or uninitiated when it comes to planning for survival.

Simplifying simplicity

By Claire Wolfe

A lot of us who move from the city to the country are seeking some form of simplicity. But simplicity ain’t so easy. For starters, we might have different ideas of what simplicity means.

Some crave the comprehensive frugality and small-scale living of the voluntary simplicity movement—tiny homes, debt freedom, simple diets, low consumption, thoughtful actions, and a more modest impact on planet Earth. Others merely feel driven to get out of the rat race, or away from the crime, costs, traffic, and shallow lures of urban living; they know what they’re running from, but might only have a sketchy idea of what they’re running to. Maybe others have spent a lot of time in the backwoods, know the life well, and crave the sort of primitive living that would scare the bejabbers out of most of us. But how to get that is another thing.

Read the whole article here: www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/wolfe117.html

Excerpt used with permission of Backwoods Home Magazine. www.backwoodshome.com 1-800-835-2418 

           You might also appreciate Claire Wolfe’s thoughts on the joys of idleness, featured in a previous post you can view by clicking here.  Subscribe to "Backwoods Home Magazinie" by clicking on the logo below and ordering from Amazon.com.