More & more young adults are choosing solitude over society. These are people in their 20's and 30's who opt to spend time alone or with only their close circle rather than in the hustle and bustle of city life.
Can you relate?
Like with any other movement there is a backlash. People who criticize the decision to be alone, calling them loners or accusing them of agoraphobia. It all depends on your perspective, I suppose. Personally, I tried city life in my late teens/early 20's and quickly realized that it was not for me. As a highly sensitive person living in an apartment only feet away from strangers, hearing their arguments and feeling their emotions was too much for my nervous system to handle.
So now, my partner and I live a relatively isolated life.
And guess what? I am happy and grateful to live this way. Though it was far from easy to get to this point ... and there are days where it feels like I made the wrong decision. Particularly those days where taking care of my own basic needs - collecting firewood, fillings jugs of water to bring inside for drinking, and taking care of animals - can feel overwhelming too.
Most days, though, I am at peace with the chores I tend to in the morning and the work my partner & I embark on in the afternoons. Every morning I go out to collect some firewood, or to fill the wheelbarrow with a load of horse manure.
Around mid-day I make lunch and try my best to prep food for dinner and sometimes even breakfast the next day. I wish I was one of those people who loves to cook. Sadly, I am not but, I do love to eat and that motivates me to get the ball rolling each day.
And then in the afternoons Jona and I go to our land, about a mile away, to work on our building project. We have done about 80% of the work on the land ourselves, contracting a couple of individuals when the skills for the job outstripped ours.
From fencing the property to sculpting a base for our water tower we have done most of the labor. It is super hard work and I have had to let the gardening aspect of my homesteading chores go to the wayside, sadly. But, in about a year we will be living in a home that we have made with our own hands. That is a great feeling!