Transcended Trucel
Peace & Dharma ; Vishwaguru India!
★★★★★
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2019
- Posts
- 48,730
And ofc she bitches about pollution/corruption and seeing others suffering. Says you do get cheap fresh veggies/fruit and a simple life. But u get a lot of the corruption/poverty/pollution etc.
Thoughts?
Link:
View: https://www.reddit.com/r/simpleliving/comments/pbd9jz/i_moved_to_africa_to_live_more_simply_and_it_did/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
Here is the text:
"
I moved to Africa to live more simply and it did not work
I thought about sharing this for a while, but something has been holding me back. However, I keep seeing really frustratingly inaccurate posts and comments about this topic, and I wanted to share my perspective.
I'm from the United States, and I've constantly worked really hard. I've usually had two or three jobs, I've always been in significant debt, and I spent about 12 years trying to get out of student debt and other various medical debts. I've always idolized slow, intentional living and felt like the root of my problems with my hyper-consumerism and slavery to debt. I figure, if I just moved somewhere where life is more simple and people were more connected to the earth, I would get better. Life will get better. I would find meaning. I would become the Henry David Thoreau of my own life.
So, I did. I quit my jobs, took all my savings, and moved to Africa, which is where I'm writing this.
Anyways, I found exactly what I thought I was looking for. Vendors are selling fresh fruits and vegetables on every corner, people are a lot less reliant on technology, life moves a lot slower, families are a lot more connected.
But it's also poor. Very, very poor. People are suffering and struggling.
It frustrates me endlessly when I see people online mirror the same misguided, condescending, ignorant attitude I had for so long.
There's a reason so many people want to leave these places, and it's not just because they don't appreciate the idea of *simple living*. It's because life is hard. Poverty is hard.
Living in places you've romanticized as being more *slow* and *simple* doesn't mean you get to cherry-pick which parts of poverty you want to cosplay.
* Your water will be toxic, just like everyone else
* Your food will have dangerous chemicals in it, just like everyone else
* The air is filled with pollutants that will choke you all day, every day, just like everyone else
* Your politicians will be corrupt, and the evidence of that corruption is on every street
* You will be an outsider because you're willfully giving up what other people would kill to provide for their families
Do you think you have the money to insulate yourself from what literally everyone else is experiencing? Because a simple life becomes a lot less simple when you have to drag your corporate job overseas. You will not get high-speed 5g while you're milking a cow or whatever you have in mind. It just doesn't work like that.
Please keep in mind how silly it sounds to say, "I want to give up my easy, boring life and move to Africa or South America or \[insert impoverished place\]". Because at the end of the day, if you're from the West, you have the option to *experience* these places and *leave any time.* People from Africa can't just decide, "you know, this simple life isn't for me, I'm going to move to Canada" because that's not the reality for 99% of people. The world is not fair, resources are not distributed fairly, and the ability to move freely around the world is largely determined at birth and only available to a small percentage of the total population.
We romanticize "other places" because we think they hold the possibility of a better life, but I honestly don't believe in that anymore. Life is great where you make it. You will not find that perfect location that will make you the best version of yourself if you are not willing to cultivate the best version of yourself wherever you are.
Edit to add: Since people are asking, I live in North Africa, specifically Morocco. I didn’t include it because the main point isn’t Africa, it’s the universality of the mindset of picking “another” place and assuming everything will be better/different/easier/more meaningful, etc. Africa isn’t a monolith, but this also isn’t a criticism of Morocco, North Africa, Africa at large, or anywhere in particular. I actually have no plans to leave Morocco and have built a life here, I don't know if I will ever go back to the states.
Edit to also add: For everyone calling me a stupid first world entitled idiot bitch… yeah. That’s the point. I was an idiot, and now I’m slightly less of an idiot. I’m trying to share my experience from one idiot to my fellow idiots who have the mindset that I had, the mindset I see on this sub every day. But if it helps you feel better, please comment on what a stupid idiot I am "
Thoughts?
Link:
View: https://www.reddit.com/r/simpleliving/comments/pbd9jz/i_moved_to_africa_to_live_more_simply_and_it_did/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
Here is the text:
"
I moved to Africa to live more simply and it did not work
I thought about sharing this for a while, but something has been holding me back. However, I keep seeing really frustratingly inaccurate posts and comments about this topic, and I wanted to share my perspective.
I'm from the United States, and I've constantly worked really hard. I've usually had two or three jobs, I've always been in significant debt, and I spent about 12 years trying to get out of student debt and other various medical debts. I've always idolized slow, intentional living and felt like the root of my problems with my hyper-consumerism and slavery to debt. I figure, if I just moved somewhere where life is more simple and people were more connected to the earth, I would get better. Life will get better. I would find meaning. I would become the Henry David Thoreau of my own life.
So, I did. I quit my jobs, took all my savings, and moved to Africa, which is where I'm writing this.
Anyways, I found exactly what I thought I was looking for. Vendors are selling fresh fruits and vegetables on every corner, people are a lot less reliant on technology, life moves a lot slower, families are a lot more connected.
But it's also poor. Very, very poor. People are suffering and struggling.
It frustrates me endlessly when I see people online mirror the same misguided, condescending, ignorant attitude I had for so long.
There's a reason so many people want to leave these places, and it's not just because they don't appreciate the idea of *simple living*. It's because life is hard. Poverty is hard.
Living in places you've romanticized as being more *slow* and *simple* doesn't mean you get to cherry-pick which parts of poverty you want to cosplay.
* Your water will be toxic, just like everyone else
* Your food will have dangerous chemicals in it, just like everyone else
* The air is filled with pollutants that will choke you all day, every day, just like everyone else
* Your politicians will be corrupt, and the evidence of that corruption is on every street
* You will be an outsider because you're willfully giving up what other people would kill to provide for their families
Do you think you have the money to insulate yourself from what literally everyone else is experiencing? Because a simple life becomes a lot less simple when you have to drag your corporate job overseas. You will not get high-speed 5g while you're milking a cow or whatever you have in mind. It just doesn't work like that.
Please keep in mind how silly it sounds to say, "I want to give up my easy, boring life and move to Africa or South America or \[insert impoverished place\]". Because at the end of the day, if you're from the West, you have the option to *experience* these places and *leave any time.* People from Africa can't just decide, "you know, this simple life isn't for me, I'm going to move to Canada" because that's not the reality for 99% of people. The world is not fair, resources are not distributed fairly, and the ability to move freely around the world is largely determined at birth and only available to a small percentage of the total population.
We romanticize "other places" because we think they hold the possibility of a better life, but I honestly don't believe in that anymore. Life is great where you make it. You will not find that perfect location that will make you the best version of yourself if you are not willing to cultivate the best version of yourself wherever you are.
Edit to add: Since people are asking, I live in North Africa, specifically Morocco. I didn’t include it because the main point isn’t Africa, it’s the universality of the mindset of picking “another” place and assuming everything will be better/different/easier/more meaningful, etc. Africa isn’t a monolith, but this also isn’t a criticism of Morocco, North Africa, Africa at large, or anywhere in particular. I actually have no plans to leave Morocco and have built a life here, I don't know if I will ever go back to the states.
Edit to also add: For everyone calling me a stupid first world entitled idiot bitch… yeah. That’s the point. I was an idiot, and now I’m slightly less of an idiot. I’m trying to share my experience from one idiot to my fellow idiots who have the mindset that I had, the mindset I see on this sub every day. But if it helps you feel better, please comment on what a stupid idiot I am "