Can Homesteading And The Quest For Self-Sufficiency Become The Same “Rat Race” That We Were Trying To Escape In The First Place?
What’s your favorite time of year? Mine is fall. Favorite month? October. No disrespect intended to the other seasons or months. They are each special in their own way. Personally, I have a deep appreciation for the transition from the sweltering heat of summer to the autumn cool. I look forward every year to the bold color transitions of the foliage followed by their shedding during their transition to dormancy. But it’s more than that. It’s a natural part of the cycle when things begin to slow down. The explosion of rapid growth that is synonymous with the spring and summer leads to a frenetic season of constantly trying to play catch up in one way or another. Fall is different. More laid back. Fall is Spring’s lovable stoner big brother. The days begin to get shorter, which favor rest. There is finally time to catch up. There is finally time for at least some relaxation and reflection.
Reflection isn’t always pleasant or pretty, but it is essential. Using a combination of subjective and objective measures, it’s how we determine if our life is heading in the right direction or if we have veered off course. It helps us find areas in which we can improve and identify wrongs so that we can remedy them if necessary. It shouldn’t become pathologic, but sometimes we allow it to. There is no need to beat the shit out of yourself for your perceived failures and shortcomings. We should use it as fodder for growth. I have focused on the darker side of reflection, possibly because of my mood and lack of sleep, but reflection can also give occasion for celebration of our progress and accomplishments. With perspective. It shouldn’t devolve into an egotistical masturbatory self-pleasure fest. Simply uncalled for. Just a balanced assessment of what you have done well and whether or not you should continue doing it will suffice.
I am fully aware that I am not where I should be. Not where I want to be. I have started another October working away from home. Away from my people. Away from my happy place. After another long night of basking in the blended aroma of dead, infected human flesh and wintergreen oil, I finally have a few minutes to myself and am feeling reflective. On a side note, I have to know… Who was the first person to think that it would be a good idea to use aromas associated with food to mask the smell of dead, rotten ass? “Awww!!! That stinks!!! Wait! I have the best idea ever! We can superimpose the concentrated aroma of commonly consumed food products over the stench of shit and decay! It’s crazy enough that it just might work…” Shame on you, Mr. and Mrs. Failed Minty Stank Concealer. Now, every time I smell mint, I think of Fournier’s gangrene and necrotizing fasciitis.
This morning I’m sitting in a hotel room alone with a few minutes left before I have to head in to work. I am nursing a wicked wintergreen hangover. Seriously. I still smell it. I’m not sure why, but this is what is on my mind…
I think that it would be nearly impossible to study self-sufficiency and homesteading on any level without encountering the phrase “rat race”. Everyone wants to escape it. I believe that this is an American expression dating back to the 1930s. It’s not hard to understand what the idiom is getting at even without an exact knowledge of the origin of the expression. The daily grind. The hamster wheel. The vicious cycle. There are different shades of meaning, but the rat race is simply a repetitive, competitive cycle of excessively toiling away for trivial rewards. Sacrificing your time, energy and freedom in the process. Working for the Man.
The concept of the ”rat race” is a euphemism for futility. Mind set is a huge contributor to this perception. If we aren’t mindful, we can turn any set of circumstances or any lifestyle into our own personal “rat race”. It’s a basic human tendency. If we aren’t actually competing with others, we go full-blown Don Quixote and create competitors in our own minds or end up wrestling with ourselves. I can’t say that everyone is wired this way, but many of us are and all of us are capable of going down the rabbit hole. Restlessness. Dissatisfaction. Disillusionment.
So, can homesteading or self-sufficiency or sustainable living or anything for that matter become a “rat race”? What is the point of escaping one “rat race” just to end up in another? Will the circle be unbroken?
Appalachia is breathtakingly beautiful. Why are the rates of addiction and depression so high here? Poverty? Toxic exposure? Not enough branches in the family tree? Some of the people of Appalachia live the homesteader’s best life, and yet they are somehow not content. They don’t see the value of their way of life and want something different. Society tells us that we should be doing x, y, or z and that anything else is inferior. One man’s rat race is another man’s paradise. One man’s paradise is another man’s rat race. It all boils down to values.
Unfortunately, people who resolve to use homesteading to escape the “rat race” are susceptible to a similar fate. The baggage that we carry around with us when we’re part of the work force follows us to the homestead if not disposed of. Sometimes it takes a while to recognize all of the baggage that we are lugging around. Schedules. Deadlines. Productivity goals. Impatience. Perfectionism. Is it all bad? No. But over time, if we aren’t careful, we can lose sight of why we started doing what we are doing in the first place. Your journey loses that “I’m taking my freedom back! Stick it to the Man!” spirit and becomes another “rat race”.
It is crucial to have time for self-reflection. We need to be in tune with what we want to get out of life so that we can live deliberately rather than passively being tossed around like a bottle in the ocean. We only get one shot at it. No pressure. Some people know what they want out of life from the day that they’re born. Others take longer to figure it out. It can change over time, and that’s ok too. The important thing is to make sure that our compasses are pointing us in the right direction.
Hopefully this time next year I’ll be contemplating whether or not my homestead journey has become my replacement “rat race”.
