Originally posted on RooshV.com
I had planned on renting a house in the West Virginia mountains for one year to learn what kind of mountain man I was, but because of a landlord problem, I stayed for only two months.

Roosh, you stayed for 2 months. That is not long enough to completely change your lifestyle. It takes years, I didn't fully adapt until about 5 years in a rural area. You should give it another shot. 5 years in a rural area will change you and you will not miss the decadent city. People in rural areas are also not trusting of outsiders and I don't blame them. It can take years for rural people to accept you. Some never will because you weren't born there.

You also rented so you didn't get the full experience. There is a big difference between renting a place in the country that isn't yours and having land to work and develop. If you had your own hobby farm with a small tractor and got into gardening, making food plots for hunting, and planting fruit trees you would never be bored.

If you move to a rural area alone and have a stay-at-home job, you will be alone. Unless you make an effort to have social interactions, which involves going to a job site, your neighbor’s house, or to a store, you will not speak face-to-face to anyone all day long.

I consider myself a solitary type who needs a lot of alone time, but the feeling of isolation on the mountain was extreme. I started to crave meaningless interactions with store clerks, and actually tried to have conversations with them as if I were a lonely elderly person (it turns out that just a couple minutes a day of meaningless small-talk contributes to a feeling of being “social”). You will need to have an introverted nature to go several days without talking to people. If you move to the mountain with your spouse and children, on the other hand, you probably won’t notice the decrease in social interaction.

If you work from home, living in the country is similar to the initial weeks of the coronavirus lockdowns. Funnily enough, my mountain experience was a sort of training that allowed me to endure the actual lockdowns without much trouble.

Yes, you live mostly alone unless you are married with a family. That is natural. The loneliness you feel is to direct you to have your own family.

Your social interaction is from the church and with your church friends. Social interaction doesn't need to be planned, sometimes it just happens. I have gone a week or two without seeing anyone to seeing my "neighbors" everyday for dinner. The quality of relationships doesn't compare to your neighbors in the city who you've lived by for years yet only say "Hi" when you see them at the mailbox.

When you do have social interaction, you will listen and appreciate them more then instead of just waiting for your turn to talk.

2. There are more consequences for not being prepared​

If something goes wrong in the country, you have to wait longer to receive aid or a resolution. Power outages are longer. Streets take longer to be plowed after snowstorms. Police take longer to respond to your emergency call (if at all).

When my power went out for a day, I realized how unprepared I was. Electricity powered my well water pump, so not only did I have no power but—when the water tank emptied—no water either. I didn’t have a relative’s or friend’s house down the street where I could shower or charge my phone. I realized that I would need a water backup plan, a portable battery system, and also a small generator. These items aren’t expensive, but they do take some foresight. In the city, I never had to think about coming up with an emergency plan.

You will also need a 4-wheel-drive vehicle, not just for the snow but also the rain when you may have to deal with muddy roads on even your own driveway. In the case of safety, you will need some type of home defense strategy and also a first-aid kit, because you won’t be able to count on the local authorities. If you take a purely city mentality into the country, you may find yourself in a crisis that could threaten your life due to a lack of preparation.

People have gotten soft and forgot how to depend on themselves and their neighbors.

The power goes out longer in the rural areas, but that is why they make generators and wood stoves. You do not need electricity to live.

A generator would have fixed these problems. In the city, if the grid goes down, you are done. Homes in the city connected to the sewer system depend on that utility. The sewage will back up into your house if the utility goes down for a long period. If you live in an area where there is winter, your life depends on the heating utility. I would rather have a wood stove and be able to provide my own fuel. City water is gross and contaminated with chlorine and who knows what else. Look up the research showing trace amounts of birth control present in the water that comes out of your faucet if you have city water.

3. I don’t need as much land as I thought​

Before moving onto the mountain, I figured I needed at least five acres of land (though ten would be better). Maybe I will become a farmer with three chickens that necessitate all that space.

I didn’t ask how many acres the home I lived in had, but based on the size, I guessed between 2-3 acres. After only a month, I realized that it was all I really needed as a single man. One day, I finally looked up how many acres the property had: one acre. On that one acre I had a ton of trees, a storage shed, more lawn than I wanted to take care of, and enough space for multiple garden beds. Even one acre may be too much. When I look for a future house, I will consider plots starting at half an acre.

The amount of land you need depends on what you want to do. If you want to have a hobby cattle farm you need land for grazing. If you don't want much to maintain an acre or less next to national forest is great. I like acreage because you can have your own trail system that you can run on, snowmobile, dirtbike, ATV, etc. You can also plant fruit trees. Imagine having a couple hundred apple trees one day.

Maybe you want to have a hunting property. Woods and thick brush for cover and open fields for food plots. When you start working your own land and watching how the animals interact with it can be very addicting.

4. Old habits die hard​

I thought moving to the mountain would instantly transform me into a mountain man. I’d chop down trees for the fun of it, make bookshelves, and repair my cars like an expert mechanic. Instead, I simply carried over my city lifestyle into the mountain. I woke up, read my books, and worked on the computer like I had been doing for years. The only thing I really added to my routine was watching birds.

After some time, I did start doing yard work, but it would always be secondary to my computer work and tasks that took place inside the house. Only towards the end of the second month did I start using an ax.

Get rid of the computer or the internet. If you need them for work be strict about it and don't use them for anything else.

Try living a few days without the internet. This is what has led me to be free of the smartphone. I used to live my life by the smartphone. It would give me alerts on the apps or text messages and I was a slave to it. After going without it, which I was forced to because there is no service, I was able to break the addiction. I have a smartphone for emergencies but it stays on airplane mode or is off 99% of the time. I have a landline.

Try living in a place where you cut and process your own firewood. Did you learn how to run a chainsaw?

5. Manual labor is more satisfying than computer labor​

It feels good to publish an article like this, one that started as an idea in my mind and morphed into a finished product that other people can gain value from. It also feels good to complete a live stream, but I noticed that I received more satisfaction from doing something physical like raking leaves or rehabilitating a dirty fire pit. I believe this was the case because the result of manual labor is three-dimensional, existing in the same plane as you, instead of only a digital screen. You can visually see, touch, and even smell the fruits of your labor.

It’s pleasing to tire yourself from work, complete the work, and then sit down on a chair to rest while admiring your work. When it comes to completing computer work, however, you simply minimize one window where your work was completed and then open a new window to do more of the same.

The digital world is a lie and will never provide fulfillment in life. Doing something is always better then watching something.

6. Everything is cheaper​

Rent is cheaper. Home prices are cheaper. Groceries are cheaper. Restaurants are cheaper. Even gas is cheaper. I experienced a 10-20% discount from the city on the same goods and services. Why were they cheaper? Doesn’t it take more money to carry goods into the mountains? I’m not an economist so I don’t know, but I greatly enjoyed the discount.

My monthly living expenses in a USA mountain home was maybe only 50% more expensive than living in the center of a fun European city, and the former includes having two cars. Granted, I didn’t party in the mountain (there was nowhere to party, anyway), but based on the same income, going from Europe to the mountain wasn’t a tremendous blow to my budget.

In my experience the only thing cheaper is housing. Everything else is more expensive. Good used vehicles are hard to come by, groceries are limited in selection and expensive, and gas is more expensive.

7. I like birds​

Chickadee

I did enjoy the mountain beauty, silence, clean air, and overall country living, but I most valued being able to feed and watch my birdies. Seventeen different species came to my home, from the little chickadee to the stout pileated woodpecker. When it was time to move out, I was deeply saddened to take down my bird feeders. I felt like I was abandoning my avian friends. There are many birds in the suburbs as well, and I continue to bird watch, but there is less intimacy and connection when you’re not feeding them.

I did learn that if you want to attract birds, it’s best to have a lot of trees. Better yet, be on the edge of a forest. When I look for a future home, I hope to find one that is as suitable for the birds as it is for me.

There are plenty of hobbies in rural areas that you would enjoy that involve birds.

Have you ever heard of Purple Martins? This is a bird that is dependent on man for survival and they are threatened today.

People raise and care for them. Its a fascinating hobby where you create houses called gourds for them. They migrate seasonally then come back.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Purple_Martin/overview#

https://www.birdsandblooms.com/backyard-projects/diy-birdhouse/make-purple-martin-gourd-birdhouse/

8. You get to know your neighbors​

In two months, I talked more with my mountain neighbors than all of my previous city neighbors combined. Even in my late 20’s, when I lived in two houses in Maryland, I don’t recall ever meeting a neighbor. In Europe, I didn’t have a conversation with a neighbor that lasted more than thirty seconds. The less dense the living arrangements, the more conducive it is to getting to know a neighbor. I find this to be the case in national parks as well. The less crowded a park, the more likely someone walking by me will say hello.

Yes, in a rural area you have the opportunity to build tribe. Social interactions become more meaningful. You will eventually know of everyone's business, I think this keeps people more honest.

9. Vegetable gardening is like magic​

I bought the book Square Foot Gardening and was getting ready to start planting vegetables. I was amazed to learn that you could mix up some dirt, plant seeds, and then from that dirt grow your own food that is better than what you can buy in a grocery store. I was waiting for a big catch, but the only one I could find is that it needs some manual labor and patience. Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to start gardening, but in the future it will be one of the first things I try.

With enough land and time you can grow almost all of your own food. The quality of the food you grow is above anything you can buy in the store, you can't even compare it. I had corn grown from a neighbor's land where they do not use artificial fertilizer or pesticides. Looking at it you wouldn't think there is a difference between store bought and that corn but the taste was unlike anything I have experienced before.

10. You don’t necessarily become more spiritual​

By moving to the mountain, I thought that prayer would automatically get easier, and that I’d become a monk in the world with no additional effort. This did not happen. Prayer got no easier and instead of praying more, I ramped up my internet usage. I wasn’t perusing harmful content, but being away from physical temptation and the secular horde didn’t instantly make me feel closer to God. What did was using my will to pray more and give doxologies to God when observing the nature in my backyard. Faith is a decision, a matter of will, so don’t think a new environment will give you what you should seek no matter where you happen to be.

You need to get rid of or reduce your internet time and get out into nature.

I have never felt more spiritual then when in the deep woods or in a tree stand in the snow. Living in nature instead of seeing it contained into a city park. Watching how the seasons come and go and seeing the changes on your own land.

11. I don’t need to live in the mountains​

The mountains are beautiful, but it’s not necessary to live in or near them. I wasn’t receiving direct joy from the fact that my elevation was higher or that I had a nicer view. When I seek a new home, I will consider ones on flat land at sea level. The best part of being on a mountain is saying to others that you live on a mountain, but it’s more of a bonus than a necessity.

Try woods or the plains. Everyone is different. The mountains are beautiful but the land is expensive and there are more tourists. The mountains are also being colonized by the Liberals.

Conclusion

I thought I had to live in the mountain for one year to know what type of home I needed, but two months was enough. A half-acre of land with a lot of trees and birds located a couple of hours from my parents will be sufficient. If God deems it, I will find such a home and say goodbye for good to the European cities and the American suburbs, and adapt to a greater level of isolation where I can continue to work on my salvation.

Roosh, I disagree with you on this. I myself didn't fully adapt to a rural area until about 5 years after relocating. Two months is a vacation, Europeans travel around in hostels for this amount of time.

Your experience to me sounds like a vacation more then a lifestyle change. If you bought an old hobby farm or farmhouse, laid some roots down, and worked your own land your perspective would change. It can be a difficult adjustment but its worth it. Its easier now then ever before as you can buy anything on the internet and wait a few days for it to show up.

Living in a rented building on a mountain is not the mountain man life. Mountain men had to trap for survival and lived off the land. They built their own log homes and were survivors. I don't mean to offend you but sitting inside a building with the internet, electricity, and heat from a utility is not even close to being a mountain man.

Give it another chance. My biggest mistake was not doing this years ago.

I'll never live in a city again. I would rather live out of my car then live in an apartment in the city.

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Roosh, you stayed for 2 months. That is not long enough to completely change your lifestyle. It takes years, I didn't fully adapt until about 5 years in a rural area. You should give it another shot. 5 years in a rural area will change you and you will not miss the decadent city. People in rural areas are also not trusting of outsiders and I don't blame them. It can take years for rural people to accept you. Some never will because you weren't born there.

You also rented so you didn't get the full experience. There is a big difference between renting a place in the country that isn't yours and having land to work and develop. If you had your own hobby farm with a small tractor and got into gardening, making food plots for hunting, and planting fruit trees you would never be bored.

Yes, you live mostly alone unless you are married with a family. That is natural. The loneliness you feel is to direct you to have your own family.

Your social interaction is from the church and with your church friends. Social interaction doesn't need to be planned, sometimes it just happens. I have gone a week or two without seeing anyone to seeing my "neighbors" everyday for dinner. The quality of relationships doesn't compare to your neighbors in the city who you've lived by for years yet only say "Hi" when you see them at the mailbox.

When you do have social interaction, you will listen and appreciate them more then instead of just waiting for your turn to talk.

People have gotten soft and forgot how to depend on themselves and their neighbors.

The power goes out longer in the rural areas, but that is why they make generators and wood stoves. You do not need electricity to live.

A generator would have fixed these problems. In the city, if the grid goes down, you are done. Homes in the city connected to the sewer system depend on that utility. The sewage will back up into your house if the utility goes down for a long period. If you live in an area where there is winter, your life depends on the heating utility. I would rather have a wood stove and be able to provide my own fuel. City water is gross and contaminated with chlorine and who knows what else. Look up the research showing trace amounts of birth control present in the water that comes out of your faucet if you have city water.

The amount of land you need depends on what you want to do. If you want to have a hobby cattle farm you need land for grazing. If you don't want much to maintain an acre or less next to national forest is great. I like acreage because you can have your own trail system that you can run on, snowmobile, dirtbike, ATV, etc. You can also plant fruit trees. Imagine having a couple hundred apple trees one day.

Maybe you want to have a hunting property. Woods and thick brush for cover and open fields for food plots. When you start working your own land and watching how the animals interact with it can be very addicting.

Get rid of the computer or the internet. If you need them for work be strict about it and don't use them for anything else.

Try living a few days without the internet. This is what has led me to be free of the smartphone. I used to live my life by the smartphone. It would give me alerts on the apps or text messages and I was a slave to it. After going without it, which I was forced to because there is no service, I was able to break the addiction. I have a smartphone for emergencies but it stays on airplane mode or is off 99% of the time. I have a landline.

Try living in a place where you cut and process your own firewood. Did you learn how to run a chainsaw?

The digital world is a lie and will never provide fulfillment in life. Doing something is always better then watching something.

In my experience the only thing cheaper is housing. Everything else is more expensive. Good used vehicles are hard to come by, groceries are limited in selection and expensive, and gas is more expensive.

There are plenty of hobbies in rural areas that you would enjoy that involve birds.

Have you ever heard of Purple Martins? This is a bird that is dependent on man for survival and they are threatened today.

People raise and care for them. Its a fascinating hobby where you create houses called gourds for them. They migrate seasonally then come back.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Purple_Martin/overview#

https://www.birdsandblooms.com/backyard-projects/diy-birdhouse/make-purple-martin-gourd-birdhouse/

Yes, in a rural area you have the opportunity to build tribe. Social interactions become more meaningful. You will eventually know of everyone's business, I think this keeps people more honest.

With enough land and time you can grow almost all of your own food. The quality of the food you grow is above anything you can buy in the store, you can't even compare it. I had corn grown from a neighbor's land where they do not use artificial fertilizer or pesticides. Looking at it you wouldn't think there is a difference between store bought and that corn but the taste was unlike anything I have experienced before.

You need to get rid of or reduce your internet time and get out into nature.

I have never felt more spiritual then when in the deep woods or in a tree stand in the snow. Living in nature instead of seeing it contained into a city park. Watching how the seasons come and go and seeing the changes on your own land.

Try woods or the plains. Everyone is different. The mountains are beautiful but the land is expensive and there are more tourists. The mountains are also being colonized by the Liberals.

Roosh, I disagree with you on this. I myself didn't fully adapt to a rural area until about 5 years after relocating. Two months is a vacation, Europeans travel around in hostels for this amount of time.

Your experience to me sounds like a vacation more then a lifestyle change. If you bought an old hobby farm or farmhouse, laid some roots down, and worked your own land your perspective would change. It can be a difficult adjustment but its worth it. Its easier now then ever before as you can buy anything on the internet and wait a few days for it to show up.

Living in a rented building on a mountain is not the mountain man life. Mountain men had to trap for survival and lived off the land. They built their own log homes and were survivors. I don't mean to offend you but sitting inside a building with the internet, electricity, and heat from a utility is not even close to being a mountain man.

Give it another chance. My biggest mistake was not doing this years ago.

I'll never live in a city again. I would rather live out of my car then live in an apartment in the city.

Just make sure that you know what you are doing or have a guide who does. Don't want to break your foot on a trail alone, or eat something bad and get sick in isolation.

Also don't make the mistake of idealising mountain life or any other lifestyle. There is something to be said for being content with our lot in life, and thankful that we have a choice and don't need to be survivalists or wrestle bears to have a happier life. Some people do it out of necessity.

I doubt many here would want to live on a mountain in say Afghanistan or less civilised countries where coming off the mountain into civilisation isn't much of an improvement

Reply 1 Like

Interesting article. Appreciate your candor regarding some of the challenges or drawbacks

On the land thing, one thing to note is that the cost or value of land today in the US is directly proportional to its proximity to a job. If you are location independent then there is a big opportunity to reduce costs. I don’t know where you were but there are probably ways to spend less than you did (or spend more too).

mine drawback you didn’t mention is the lack of choice. There are few were restaurants there are few were mechanics, there are fewer houses to rent, etc. You sort of have to make do with what’s available

As an aside, this experiential writing is interesting. Another author, Neil Strauss, took a turn at that. Interesting coincidence.

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Two months is too short. A man like Roosh who was brought up in a city will need at least a year to acclimatize and change his mindset. You move to the mountains to get away from people, to be left alone. It doesn't mean you have to become a monk but just make do with less human contact. A man will handle that. Besides, nature is your company. When you are in the country you have to actively pursue going out on a regular basis. Hikes are a must. You move to the mountains because you like to hike. Mountain peaks are to be conquered, not just observed from a distance. Move your ass! When you get used to going out hiking you will have more intention to pick up tools and do something around your house. In order to get rugged you need to go outside as much as you can. It didn't work for you because you still applied a city mentality. You need to become an explorer. Go into the wild.

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Roosh, you stayed for 2 months. That is not long enough to completely change your lifestyle. It takes years, I didn't fully adapt until about 5 years in a rural area. You should give it another shot. 5 years in a rural area will change you and you will not miss the decadent city. People in rural areas are also not trusting of outsiders and I don't blame them. It can take years for rural people to accept you. Some never will because you weren't born there.

You also rented so you didn't get the full experience. There is a big difference between renting a place in the country that isn't yours and having land to work and develop. If you had your own hobby farm with a small tractor and got into gardening, making food plots for hunting, and planting fruit trees you would never be bored.

Yes, you live mostly alone unless you are married with a family. That is natural. The loneliness you feel is to direct you to have your own family.

Your social interaction is from the church and with your church friends. Social interaction doesn't need to be planned, sometimes it just happens. I have gone a week or two without seeing anyone to seeing my "neighbors" everyday for dinner. The quality of relationships doesn't compare to your neighbors in the city who you've lived by for years yet only say "Hi" when you see them at the mailbox.

When you do have social interaction, you will listen and appreciate them more then instead of just waiting for your turn to talk.

People have gotten soft and forgot how to depend on themselves and their neighbors.

The power goes out longer in the rural areas, but that is why they make generators and wood stoves. You do not need electricity to live.

A generator would have fixed these problems. In the city, if the grid goes down, you are done. Homes in the city connected to the sewer system depend on that utility. The sewage will back up into your house if the utility goes down for a long period. If you live in an area where there is winter, your life depends on the heating utility. I would rather have a wood stove and be able to provide my own fuel. City water is gross and contaminated with chlorine and who knows what else. Look up the research showing trace amounts of birth control present in the water that comes out of your faucet if you have city water.

The amount of land you need depends on what you want to do. If you want to have a hobby cattle farm you need land for grazing. If you don't want much to maintain an acre or less next to national forest is great. I like acreage because you can have your own trail system that you can run on, snowmobile, dirtbike, ATV, etc. You can also plant fruit trees. Imagine having a couple hundred apple trees one day.

Maybe you want to have a hunting property. Woods and thick brush for cover and open fields for food plots. When you start working your own land and watching how the animals interact with it can be very addicting.

Get rid of the computer or the internet. If you need them for work be strict about it and don't use them for anything else.

Try living a few days without the internet. This is what has led me to be free of the smartphone. I used to live my life by the smartphone. It would give me alerts on the apps or text messages and I was a slave to it. After going without it, which I was forced to because there is no service, I was able to break the addiction. I have a smartphone for emergencies but it stays on airplane mode or is off 99% of the time. I have a landline.

Try living in a place where you cut and process your own firewood. Did you learn how to run a chainsaw?

The digital world is a lie and will never provide fulfillment in life. Doing something is always better then watching something.

In my experience the only thing cheaper is housing. Everything else is more expensive. Good used vehicles are hard to come by, groceries are limited in selection and expensive, and gas is more expensive.

There are plenty of hobbies in rural areas that you would enjoy that involve birds.

Have you ever heard of Purple Martins? This is a bird that is dependent on man for survival and they are threatened today.

People raise and care for them. Its a fascinating hobby where you create houses called gourds for them. They migrate seasonally then come back.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Purple_Martin/overview#

https://www.birdsandblooms.com/backyard-projects/diy-birdhouse/make-purple-martin-gourd-birdhouse/

Yes, in a rural area you have the opportunity to build tribe. Social interactions become more meaningful. You will eventually know of everyone's business, I think this keeps people more honest.

With enough land and time you can grow almost all of your own food. The quality of the food you grow is above anything you can buy in the store, you can't even compare it. I had corn grown from a neighbor's land where they do not use artificial fertilizer or pesticides. Looking at it you wouldn't think there is a difference between store bought and that corn but the taste was unlike anything I have experienced before.

You need to get rid of or reduce your internet time and get out into nature.

I have never felt more spiritual then when in the deep woods or in a tree stand in the snow. Living in nature instead of seeing it contained into a city park. Watching how the seasons come and go and seeing the changes on your own land.

Try woods or the plains. Everyone is different. The mountains are beautiful but the land is expensive and there are more tourists. The mountains are also being colonized by the Liberals.

Roosh, I disagree with you on this. I myself didn't fully adapt to a rural area until about 5 years after relocating. Two months is a vacation, Europeans travel around in hostels for this amount of time.

Your experience to me sounds like a vacation more then a lifestyle change. If you bought an old hobby farm or farmhouse, laid some roots down, and worked your own land your perspective would change. It can be a difficult adjustment but its worth it. Its easier now then ever before as you can buy anything on the internet and wait a few days for it to show up.

Living in a rented building on a mountain is not the mountain man life. Mountain men had to trap for survival and lived off the land. They built their own log homes and were survivors. I don't mean to offend you but sitting inside a building with the internet, electricity, and heat from a utility is not even close to being a mountain man.

Give it another chance. My biggest mistake was not doing this years ago.

I'll never live in a city again. I would rather live out of my car then live in an apartment in the city.

*than

Sorry dude, but when you're trying to debate someone...

Also; Roosh never claimed he was a "mountain man", quite the opposite actually. You might want the read the article again. I'm flattered by his humbleness, not offended.

Reply 2 Likes

I think STG's advice regarding removing your computer (or having a desktop instead of a portable laptop for example etc) is the best advice anyone can get when going rural.

Many of your problems seemed to stem from pursuing old escapism paths. which is a form of escaping suffering/discomfort and one that everyone in the city now takes for granted. Lonley? Social media, Got a question? Your fingers are already typing the question before you scan your brain to know if it has the answer. Feeling really lonely? Secular dating apps and night clubs to drown the thoughts!

But with enough time removed from the mindless form of computer-use your eyes suddenly adjust to the beauty of the world around you.

I think you were brave to go head first into the experience though, Solitary living is something every man should experience as it shines a spotlight on the things we think we need vs the things we really need.

Reply 3 Likes

Just make sure that you know what you are doing or have a guide who does. Don't want to break your foot on a trail alone, or eat something bad and get sick in isolation.

Also don't make the mistake of idealising mountain life or any other lifestyle. There is something to be said for being content with our lot in life, and thankful that we have a choice and don't need to be survivalists or wrestle bears to have a happier life. Some people do it out of necessity.

I doubt many here would want to live on a mountain in say Afghanistan or less civilised countries where coming off the mountain into civilisation isn't much of an improvement

Remind Roosh, and everyone, of the wisdom of "there is something to be said for being content with our lot in life". I often think of breaking out of suburbs and moving to a small mountain town. A more real assessment is that all my personal goals can be fulfilled in a suburb (with 14ers less than an hour away) without changing the location of where I happen to sleep. Roosh, its only been 2 months. Pray for Roosh, and me, and everyone else here, on their journey.

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7. I like birds​

I did enjoy the mountain beauty, silence, clean air, and overall country living, but I most valued being able to feed and watch my birdies. Seventeen different species came to my home, from the little chickadee to the stout pileated woodpecker. When it was time to move out, I was deeply saddened to take down my bird feeders. I felt like I was abandoning my avian friends. There are many birds in the suburbs as well, and I continue to bird watch, but there is less intimacy and connection when you’re not feeding them.

I did learn that if you want to attract birds, it’s best to have a lot of trees. Better yet, be on the edge of a forest. When I look for a future home, I hope to find one that is as suitable for the birds as it is for me.

Having something to 'look at' in nature can really help you tune into the hear and now. Looking at avian life is one of the easiest ways to really 'tune in' to nature- it's a similar awareness of surroundings and nature as hunters.
Christianity has many agrarian traditions St Francis, the traditional beliefs of animals 'talking' on Christmas eve...
Skeptics and materialists brush these off, but the 'talking' is real - but it is in a language far older than our words....

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