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The Terror and Tedium of Living Like Thoreau
- willhinsa 11y ago> Much of the time, I slept through the three alarms I set each morning, then put a pot of hot water for oatmeal and coffee on the propane stove. This sentence struck me as odd. I think that the author would do well to connect with her needs as a human, because a regular sleep pattern would do her wonders and is one of the most beautiful things about being able to set your own schedule.
- mikestew 11y agoEver spent time in Alaska in the summer? Getting to sleep at a decent hour can be a real trick unless you're sleeping in a cave. Hell, an entire movie was made with this very problem being a major plot point. http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0278504/ http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0278504/
- JoeAltmaier 11y agoJust saw it last week! It was good - sort of. Very interesting to see Al Pacino as the good guy - mostly. And Robin Williams as a really, really creepy bad guy. I'd never seen him so convincing before.
- hugh4 11y agoLike, I'm sure, many other people, I occasionally think about going off to live in a cabin in the wilderness for a while. It's nice that other people are doing it and writing about it, so I don't have to.
- detaro 11y agoSo you don't have to? Does reading about it really satisfy that impulse (if you have it)?
- hugh4 11y agoHonestly, yes. It does enough to sweep away my romanticised image and replace it with one containing a realistic share of insects and boredom.
- grecy 11y agoAfter living in the Yukon for 4 years (see my post above), I have truly come to respect and believe the saying "only boring people get bored". I have never lived anywhere in my life with so many varied and exciting things to do on any day. I often feel anxious trying to decide between all the amazing options available to me in the Yukon&Alaska. It's such a common thing people up here call it "FoMo" (Fear of Missing out). Depending on the season, I could be hiking, camping, boating, mountain biking, hunting, fishing, paddling around iceburgs, watching bears, watching whales, hiking on glaciers, hiking up mountains, backcountry snowboarding, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, snow mobiling hundreds of miles into the wilderness chasing bison at -40, etc. Of course I might just decide to read a book by the fire too. In every one of those activities, it's exceedingly rare to see other people. If we're out more than a couple of days, we don't even see signs of people - i.e. no fire rings, no roads, no nothing. Move to the North, give it 12 months - if you love it, you'll never leave. If you decide to leave, you won't have lost anything, and you'll have a head full of unique memories.
- pbowyer 11y ago> Depending on the season, I could be hiking, camping, boating, mountain biking, hunting, fishing, paddling around iceburgs, watching bears, watching whales, hiking on glaciers, hiking up mountains, backcountry snowboarding, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, snow mobiling hundreds of miles into the wilderness chasing bison at -40, etc. Of course I might just decide to read a book by the fire too. Where does earning enough money to survive come into it?
- p1esk 11y agoI think you missed the point. Money would be the last thing you needed to survive there.
- roymurdock 11y agoI found this to be a strangely disjointed, self-conscious piece that struck an uncomfortable chord with me. I think everyone has a wild savage living somewhere in the back of their head, telling them that they don't belong in modern society, and that life would be so much nicer out in the wilderness. It's awesome that the author embraced this voice and actually acted on it. At the same time, her writing provides no greater insight than that of a tourist on vacation. She describes a couple cool events and the day-to-day boredom/routine, but she never really commits to the lifestyle of the authors she idolizes. It's as if she knows she's just doing this for a little while so that she can write a meta piece about living in a cabin in Alaska. Thoreau, Emerson, Whitman - they are literary giants because they truly lived an experience, to the point of cultivating and inscribing beautiful insights about their experiences. Transcendentalism is about living in the moment, being one with nature, feeling every gentle gust and hearing every gurgle and lap of the stream. It's extremely self-conscious, but not in the modern way of - oh shit, I need to think about all of this stuff and write it in a way that other people will like. It is a celebration of the senses without paying lip service to what others might think. I respect the author for following Emerson's advice to "Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string," I just wish she had delved a bit deeper. Hope to see more pieces from her in the future.
- skybrian 11y agore: "Thoreau, Emerson, Whitman - they are literary giants because they truly lived an experience." There were at one time millions who lived on the frontier all their lives without becoming great writers. Just being more "committed to the lifestyle" seems unlikely to help much with writing. More likely, you have to have some clear goals in mind when undertaking this sort of experiment. Either that, or luck into some good material. (Although often that sort of luck looks a lot like misfortune.)
- derefr 11y agoI would posit that most living on the frontier were workaholics trying to bootstrap a new society into being. They weren't doing much "living in tune with nature"; they were fighting nature tooth-and-nail for resources to survive and, almost as important, trade with. Living on a frontier with other humans—where you don't have time to listen to a burbling brook, because those other humans have urgent needs—is a very different experience to living isolated, with the rest of nature as the closest thing to a companion.
- acabal 11y agoInteresting read. Remember that Thoreau actually didn't write Walden in a deep isolated wilderness; rather, he lived in a cabin at the far edge of Concord, MA. There's even an entire section in Walden about receiving visitors, and another one about the trips to town he takes a few times a week. So living totally isolated 7 miles from the nearest town (which she makes sound more like a "highway rest stop" than a "town") goes beyond what Thoreau did. I point this out because there's solitude, and then there's isolation. In my mind, there's only terror in one of those.
- jqm 11y agoI believe when Thoreau was arrested for not paying his taxes in opposition to the Mexican War he had walked into town to have his shoe fixed. So yes... it's a common misconception he lived out in the middle of nowhere. He really didn't at all. There were many many people at the time much more isolated and solitary than Thoreau... they just didn't generally write books.
- hmohanraj 11y agoI visited Walden Pond a few weeks ago and learned this as well! It even says on the plaque next to the foundations of his cabin that he was less than a 30 minute walk from his parents' house. It made me laugh, because the brief times Thoreau was mentioned in school, it was always done in a way that reinforced the notion that he was living in isolation.
- jameshart 11y agoYup - I actually live in the woods near Concord where Thoreau used to wander (Walden pond is round the corner). It's very nice. Good schools. You can get pizza delivered. People say "Oh, but surely it's changed a lot since Thoreau's day", but honestly - we're talking about Concord. The town was founded in 1635, it was already 200 years old when Thoreau moved into a hut on his buddy Emerson's land. The Boston and Maine rail line past Walden Pond was already running when Thoreau moved in, for goodness' sake.
- zeddie 11y agoThat area would have changed a lot, if it weren't for a very active preservation effort. The Walden Woods Project, founded by Don Henley (yes, that Don Henley) prevented multiple large commercial development projects from happening in the 1990s, and has allowed the character to be maintained.
- jzwinck 11y agoHas the author read Walden? If she had, she might find it incongruous to use cellular internet service and wi-fi during her adventure. She might also recognize that Thoreau was not so short on things to do, partly because he did things. He designed and built his cabin himself, rather than buying one ready-made. Maybe it's the difference between then and now, but if the dream was to live life raw, why not start with raw materials, and without a smartphone? Days don't seem so long when you are struggling to survive rather than to fill them with alarm clocks and books about people you want to emulate, but only sort of.
- jschwartzi 11y ago"Much of the time, that’s all there is: some movement, and some light, and we call it a day."
- grecy 11y agoI moved to the Yukon 4 years ago, and have spent many hundreds of nights in my tent around the far reaches of the Yukon and Alaska. [1] I don't live "in a cabin" during the week, though I have many friends that do so, completely off grid. The author of this story is searching for a wilderness experience, but not embracing it. Checking wifi almost daily? looking for external stimulus? Avoiding those things is the main reason to move to the North. If you want to truly live the life, it involves getting your own firewood, growing your own food, hunting your own moose, bison, caribou, catching your own fish, building/working on your own shelter, making your own clothes, etc. You will wuickly find that even 20 hour days are short. Of course, it's absurd to "live in the North" without staying through a winter - it's by far the most peaceful, beautiful time in the North, and the best time for thinking and reflection. -50F is a magical thing. [1] Stories and photos from my Northern adventures on http://theroadchoseme.com http://theroadchoseme.com
- dopeboy 11y agoYou know, there's a lot of praise given to entrepreneurs because they're doing what most people are talking about. Well, you sir are doing what most people are dreaming about. I'd love to hear about what drove you to the lifestyle you now have. Also, what do you do to feed yourself? How do you derive an income and live off the grid?
- hueving 11y agoI wouldn't say most people dream about it. At least not in the sense that they want to do it.
- grecy 11y agoI'm passionate about living my dreams. When I have a dream, I work hard, and make it happen. I drove Alaska->Argentina over 2 years, and am about to drive around Africa in 2-3 years. I don't really like "the world" right now. Consumerism, big cities, crowds, iPhones and new cars. I wanted to get away from all of that stuff. I wanted to test myself and learn new things. I wanted to cut my own wood, hunt my own food and learn to survive by my own wits. I also wanted to see exceptionally beautiful places. On my way back from Alaska I passed through the Yukon and thought it was beautiful. The people are friendly, and there are tons of activities to do. I thought I'd give it a shot, so I did. It's very easy to meet people in the North to teach you stuff like hunting, fishing, building a cabin etc. The first couple of times you do it with people that have done it before, after that you're good to go. > Also, what do you do to feed yourself? How do you derive an income and live off the grid? I personally have been working 5 days a week since moving up here, though only because I wanted to save enough money to build my Jeep and drive around Africa. Tons of people up here work 3/4 or 1/2 time (or less). If I wanted to, I could easily earn enough money to "live" by only going to work for 2-3 months a year. The rest of my time would be for activities :) Putting 1000lbs+ of wild, organic meat in your freezer does a lot to cut down your grocery bill, as does all the salmon, halibut and growing your own vegetables.
- nether 11y ago> Finally, one learns that boredom is a disease of civilization. It seems to me that what boredom mostly is is that people have to keep themselves entertained or occupied, because if they aren't, then certain anxieties, frustrations, discontents, and so forth, start coming to the surface, and it makes them uncomfortable. Boredom is almost nonexistent once you've become adapted to life in the woods. If you don't have any work that needs to be done, you can sit for hours at a time just doing nothing, just listening to the birds or the wind or the silence, watching the shadows move as the sun travels, or simply looking at familiar objects. And you don't get bored. You're just at peace. Ted Kaczynski
- fsiefken 11y agoAt first thought there seems to be no substitute for these types of experiences then to just go out there and live the life in the woods. I once read the short story NatuLife by David Brin where a couple are each their own preferred natural life in seperate VR worlds. Perhaps you could simulate part of these existential experiences of being on your own interfacing with nature and the transcendent with survival games like Stranded Deep, Ark: Survival Evolved or Rust (alone on your own server) combined with an Oculus or streaming Android Google Cardboard based setup right now. Or use your imagination with games like Robinson Crusoe solo (board game) or Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead. I remember I once build my own OpenSim island and tried to meditate within the landscape (I used a low-FOV Z800 hmd) so a certain kind of immersiveness is possible.
- q-base 11y agoThis absolutely beautiful inspiring clip "Wanderers" comes to mind: https://vimeo.com/108650530 https://vimeo.com/108650530
- hownottowrite 11y agoAnother article by the same author "The Thoreau of the Suburbs" [February 2015] http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/02/the-thoreau-of-the-suburbs/385128/ http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/02/the...
- a3voices 11y agoSo she swapped a good standard of living for a poor, isolated one and was surprised it wasn't usually a good time?
- douche 11y agoI think the problem was that it appears she was just drifting, with no real purpose whatsoever. She didn't commit to the idea of making a life in the wilderness for the long term - otherwise she'd be more than busy enough splitting firewood and putting up food to get through the winter. Nor did she have any real project to work at that would benefit from the solitude and isolation, no novel to write, no trunk of great books to read deeply and digest, no hard software problem to hack away at. It sounds like she was just kind of there, and then she went back. A brief, rather pointless interlude.