They broke the mould when my brother was born. He’s 26, has his own environmental engineering company, is developing a non-invasive technology for measuring underground water pipes, has bought a 7 acre block of land on top of a mountain (a mountain in Australian terms means a speed bump in most other country’s terms) and is living with his cat in a dodgy caravan on his block.
He’s lucky he has only 1 cat or otherwise people would think he’s the crazy cat man who lives alone (or rather, with his 38 cats), eats cockroaches for dinner and walks around wearing no pants whilst talking to himself. In his defense, the caravan is temporary accommodation while he plans and organises the building of his house. If he wants a girlfriend any time soon, he really should get onto that.
Anyway, my sister Shrimp, her partner Brendon, Chris and I all thought it would be a good idea to visit and stay the night. Given the distinct lack of accommodation, we planned to camp in our cars. The normally 2 hour trip to his place would have been uneventful had it not been for the 30 kilometres of car park type traffic on the highway, our GPS sending us in a direction via Botswana, at least 12 phone calls to Josh for directions and approximately 9 wrong turns (he hasn’t owned the block very long, it was dark and the freakin GPS was sending us via Botswana). We did make it and were only partially scarred.
The night was spent around the campfire deep in conversation. There was no TV because there’s no electricity, no noise (once his generator was turned off) because he’s in the middle of nowhere and no distractions because well, there’s no electricity and he’s in the middle of nowhere. Even our accommodations were minimal (but very comfy).
Through his work, Josh spends all day with people. He told us he loves nothing more than coming back to the solitude of his block of land. I myself have previously longed to get “off the grid” and escape the complexity, rules, costs and stresses of normal living. When I think about it, I’ve done this (and continue to) in my own way by living amongst the trees, reducing both the emotional and physical clutter in my life, saying no more often and focusing on what’s important.
What struck me was how simple his existence is and how content he is to live that way. He really is as happy as a pig in mud (or a crazy cat man with 38 cats and no pants).
Our visit was another reminder to me that the simple things in life really are often the best. Thanks Joshy! Now go put on some pants.
How about you? Do you prefer the simple things in life? What do you do to simplify your existence?
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Wow, it sounds like quite an adventure. I wish I could say I enjoy the simple things in life, but I think I’m still working on that (must overcome that shopping addiction first!). This post was a great reminder for me of how important the simple things are…a reminder I’m always in need of so thank you!
Hey PP,
You’re welcome. Glad it helped. Yes, I used to be a bit of a shopaholic myself. Moving to another country and back again cured that (too much stuff to deal with and transport otherwise)!
I hear Botswana is really nice this time of year. ; )
I absolutely prefer the simple things in life. Something we’re doing to simplify our existence is our plan to move to a new area (the town where we went to uni.) Our town right now is beautiful, but unfortunately it’s pretty materialistic and status-conscious. It’s hard not to get caught up in it. DH and I imagine a simpler “who are the Jones?” existence.
Hi Kirwin,
Haha, yeah, if we’d wanted to go to Botswana, the stupid GPS probably would have sent us via Josh’s place!!
Wow, that’s a big (but awesome) move to simplify your life. Moving will also help with the decluttering side of things. I bet you find it’s a huge relief to be away from the Jones!
What a refreshing contrast to those of us who have become corporate slaves and rely on our paychecks to pay for big houses, fancy cars and a bunch of other stuff we don’t need!
I went to Hawaii for vacation once and came across a guy who lived in the middle of nowhere who simply wanted to disconnect from society. At the time, I thought he was crazy, but now I understand.
Great article! It’s definitely too easy to lose sight of the simple things in life.
Hi Vin,
Thanks very much. It is refreshing. He’s a one of a kind that’s for sure. It would be great to see others follow in his footsteps.
Some of the happiest times in my life have been when I have had the least amount of things, and even now, my life in Greece has far fewer things, far fewer conveniences than my life in the States. And for these things I am grateful.
My fiance and I are very lucky, because we both enjoy the simpler things in life. We ask ourselves before buying something: “Do we really need it? Do we really love it?” You can imagine, we don’t have a lot of things (but somehow that still equaled a whole truck load when we moved?). Anyway, when we travel, we stay in hostels. It’s cheap and we get to meet a lot of amazing people from all over the globe. Sure we could stay in a nice hotel (and we do sometimes), but mostly we prefer the camaraderie of meeting fellow travelers and get our joy from the places we see and people we meet on our travels.
Hi Chania Girl,
I totally agree. With simplicity comes freedom I think – less stuff to look after, clean, maintain, store, fewer decisions, less to think about, etc, etc. Chris and I do the same before buying anything. We’ve been especially focused on keeping stuff to a minimum since coming back from living in Canada. We took it as a fresh, clean, uncluttered start.
Hostels are great for meeting people. I lived in one for about 3 months when I first moved to Canada.