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In many cases, I don't understand the appeal of very rural areas.
I'm from a low income area in northeast TN. I spent from 2012-2016 living in affluent Midwestern suburbs. Costco instead of Sam's Club - much better food and higher end merchandise at Costco. Whole Foods. Trader Joe's. Other quality grocery stores and retail.
The offerings around here are just plain sad sometimes. Anything more than a Target is a couple hours away.
Some people regardless of income level don't judge the quality of their lives by where they buy their groceries.
Pondering this thread further, a clarification. There are two kinds of isolation: social, and logistical. Logistical isolation is being far from shopping, having to jump-start one's own vehicle instead of being able to call AAA, relying on a backup-generator, plowing snow using one's own tractor. Logistical isolation maps directly onto rural vs. urban living.
But social isolation brooks no such tidy mapping. Lacking a network of associates and acquaintances, one can be socially isolated in the city, just as much as in the country, especially if WFH. What exacerbates the problem in the country, is that so much of the social-interaction is within kin-group and/or church. Persons without family, who don't partake of organized religion, will feel especially isolated. But immersing oneself in the big-city is no guaranteed solution either. Especially now, during/after the pandemic, we've become atomized and segregated and split... a nation of solitary individuals. The village communitarian mindset is just as absent in the thriving cities, as it is, in the sleepy villages.
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Originally Posted by otterhere
.. You may become resigned to it eventually, but is that how you want to live the rest of your life?
Such trade-offs are inevitable, whether in our youth, our careers or in retirement. It's better to be "resigned" to something, than to vehemently fight it.
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Originally Posted by springfieldva
...There's only so much mileage you can get sitting on the deck admiring a beautiful view with nothing else to do other than putter around the house, maybe take the boat out on the lake to go fishing....yard work. .
The standard trope is that when one is writing the Great American Novel, this can be done in a musty garret in Brooklyn, or on the deck of one's cabin in the Carolina hills. We self-entertain through our personal creative works. The environment is secondary.
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Originally Posted by TamaraSavannah
... doing a grand haul of shopping once a month or so...
This I never understood. A large part of my diet is fresh fruits. They last maybe 4-5 days in the refrigerator. If shopping by "grand haul" once a month, what does one eat, during week 3 or 4?
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Originally Posted by TamaraSavannah
...living in the country is not a place for minimalism and really, is not a world one should downsize for. .
Yes, definitely so. Country living requires the accumulation of all sorts of accouterments... lawn care equipment, backup energy systems, pumps, motors and engines, storage containers (propane, gasoline, oil,...). Tools to repair plumbing, cars, and other tools. Roofing equipment. Chain says, ropes and belaying systems. All sorts of chemicals, for managing insects and other pests, lubrication and insulation, greases and fillers and rust-inhibiters and so on.
It's much easier to be a minimalist in a small apartment in the city.
The locals are very nice, a lot more pick ups and political signs than I'm used too but everyone is pretty easy going. The natural areas up here are great, biking, skiing etc- The lack of people just mean doing more of it alone and not sure I'm ok with that longterm.
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Originally Posted by Hefe
Your relative "youth" comes into play for my perspective. As a born & bred NYCer who moved to the midwest/West for 20 years (including a 2 1/2yr spell in No. WI) I say take the temperature of your feelings after a year in place there, or perhaps 6 months after the house is finished. Then it may be time to move or commit.
Whether you are a city mouse or country mouse comes into consideration - Do you jibe with the local "culture"
around you? Even though it was a long time ago I couldn't wait to leave northern Wisconsin, a bad fit for me. I did okay in University towns though, more social outlets besides bars.
I fall in love with a beautiful natural area and want to spend time there on vacation but after a while I get bored and am glad to get back to a place with choices.
I'm hoping once the house is done I'll have a clearer idea about how much of my (un) happyness comes from the build vs the isolation. I'm 54 and if I downsized can live on pension alone. This really comes into play as well I suppose.
I agree that one can be just as lonely and isolated in a city as in the country or a small town, but one seems much less weird and feel less weird about it in a city. Take NYC, for instance -- tons of people living alone, walking around alone, doing things alone, going places alone, eating alone, etc. I absolutely don't see this in my small town. It's, as was pointed out, families and kinship. People function in pairs or bunches, so the lone (whether lonely or not) individual is more of a freak. "Misery loves company" even if it's not really misery. This is actually probably more of an issue in a small town than in a rural area, as I'm not sure how often truly rural people even actually encounter other human beings.
.......This I never understood. A large part of my diet is fresh fruits. They last maybe 4-5 days in the refrigerator. If shopping by "grand haul" once a month, what does one eat, during week 3 or 4?
Finding out I was a Type II took fruit almost entirely out of my diet.
The "big" items in this category are avocados and lettuce. Lettuce isn't freezable but avocados are, if I want to go that route. Essentially when the avocados run out, switch to other things to put in the salad.
Quote:
Yes, definitely so. Country living requires the accumulation of all sorts of accouterments... lawn care equipment, backup energy systems, pumps, motors and engines, storage containers (propane, gasoline, oil,...). Tools to repair plumbing, cars, and other tools. Roofing equipment. Chain says, ropes and belaying systems. All sorts of chemicals, for managing insects and other pests, lubrication and insulation, greases and fillers and rust-inhibiters and so on.
It's much easier to be a minimalist in a small apartment in the city.
If you chose to put your life entirely in the hands of others.
If you’re living in a travel trailer on your lot, I don’t think you have a real taste of what your life will be like, especially as you’ve mentioned the stress involved with the build. But it seems like you’ve got one foot out the door. I hope you end up where you want to be.
Just wait til you read this,,but we live in a travel trailer on the lot where we are building because no one, and I mean no one will rent you a house when you have cats. If it wasnt for all the issues getting contractors and such we would have been done a month ago but we are just getting to insulation stage and some of our windows arent even in yet. With winter approaching fast its not helping my blood pressure thats for sure.
You're in the travel trailer. Can you hook up and move to a bigger town for the winter? Somewhere close enough that you can go up and keep tabs on the home construction? At least until the windows are all in, and doors all on. Couldn't it then wait until spring to finish up? We've got a four season 5th wheel trailer. It still burns a lot of propane in the winter keeping everything warm and the water running. Moving south before the big freeze sounds like a good idea.
I finally got a call this afternoon that my last windows arrived at the lumber storee (yay). I agree with the other poster who said I dont really have a good feel living in a trailer and I'm sure theyre right.
My issue, and the part that wont change is the sheer amount of folks who I can be social with in a more urban setting. I feel bad as that my wife wanted lakefront and such but she gets to go to Chicago a few weeks a month and get her city "fix" and I dont. unless something drastically changes I'm just not sure I can live outside of a denser area much longer.
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Originally Posted by ejisme
You're in the travel trailer. Can you hook up and move to a bigger town for the winter? Somewhere close enough that you can go up and keep tabs on the home construction? At least until the windows are all in, and doors all on. Couldn't it then wait until spring to finish up? We've got a four season 5th wheel trailer. It still burns a lot of propane in the winter keeping everything warm and the water running. Moving south before the big freeze sounds like a good idea.
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