'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,
'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
-Shaker Hymn
When I was teaching mostly full time in San Francisco, one of my regular fantasies was the idea of chucking it all to move to the country to live “a simple life.” Doesn’t everyone have this fantasy? Mine included long days in the studio or garden, deep connection with nature, and lots of time to do things like knitting or baking bread. We were already living on a small sheep ranch outside the city, and we had already done the urban farming thing in Oakland, but this fantasy was all about leaving the nine-to-five and finding this idyllic simple life.
And to some degree this fantasy has become a reality. After leaving my 20+ year teaching job and hightailing it to Siskiyou County, things are decidedly different.. no three hour commute each day, no exhausting meetings and pedagogical politics. Now I now look out my window and see mountains and sheep and cows. And I have found time to bake bread.
But I’m not entirely sure I’d call it simple. To our family of three we have added two dogs, another cat, about 30 chickens, 14 ducks and more sheep. Forty acres and a fixer upper comes with a load of infrastructure issues that our rental home didn’t (no more calling the landlord for plumbing issues) and these days, I think a lot about things like fencing and water and firewood. I still teach (albeit part-time and online, so much more low-key and significantly less stressful), and have a busy art practice, but I don’t have a daily commute to work. Living thirty minutes from town and over an hour to most services means less convenience and more planning around things like groceries, school events and health care appointments, but it means a lot of time at home and as a family.
And still, life does feel more simple. Energetically, life feels more spacious and even with the responsibilities of a home renovation, farm and livestock, the stress levels are much lower. The pressures and worries we face now are less theoretical and psychological and more physical. Why is that less stressful? Is the desire for a simple life simply about reducing our modern stressors like unnatural daily rhythms, noise and technology? Or maybe to some degree, it is about losing or letting go of modern conveniences. Baking a loaf of bread is slower and more labor intensive than buying one, but so much more satisfying in it’s physical pleasure. Same with a wood heated home or a hand knit sweater.
In trying to simplify our lives, we’ve actually added more layers of work, but something about the work feels more tangible, less theoretical, and more rewarding. There isn’t a lot of debate or nuance in building a fire, you simply need wood, kindling and a spark and you have warmth. Its simplicity is in its directness and there’s something comforting in that. Is it because we are working more with our hands? At the end of the day we are tired and dirty and the difference between being physically tired vs. just mentally tired is profound. Perhaps it is that after so many years at a “thinking job”, the mind-work is less compelling, and the simply physically doing and trying (and failing) is more satisfying. It also feels like we are now putting into place certain things that will ensure some simplicity later on - things like farm and house infrastructure, gardens and greenhouses, a warm cozy home.
But ultimately, I think the craving for a simple life is about a deep connection with nature. Having the time to touch things that are alive, to feel the vibration of the grass on your toes, or to watch the sunrise with a hot cup of tea in your hands. Having the space and time to think, reflect, and listen without all the static and demand of busy-ness in today’s world. I think it is less about the anachronism of a certain lifestyle (wearing overalls and chopping wood) and more about the ability to have ownership of our own time. To decide to say no to things and to get to choose less.
It seems funny that a simple life suggests a life of less, even of poverty (romantically) but actually today, it is a luxury and lifestyle available to few. To get to do less without a trust-fund requires certain hard choices. The choice to have less, to eschew vacations, expensive cars and clothes, to work less but have more time. We have tried to move in this direction for years, choosing part-time work to have more time as a family, instead of travel or stuff, but it is certainly a trade-off and one that friends and family don’t always understand. Ah, but the rewards are sweet. When you are done working at noon and you hike to the top of your hill, noticing the new wildflowers coming up. Simply beautiful.