Feels like in this situation of mass quarantine, the whole idea of what makes a city has temporarily disappeared.
So we can’t gather, we can’t do anything publicly, stores closing down, events closing down.
What is there that makes life in the city like life in the city? Now we are near, we can still get supplies, so there’s still some basic shops open, and that’s of course very convenient, to be able to access nearby supplies.
So that hasn’t disappeared.
But in terms of any kind of human activity, it feels now sometimes like I’m living in a log cabin somewhere in the backwoods, deep in the forest.
Because effectively, what makes the way we’re living now different from living in a cabin deep in the forest? I mean, spending time alone within our own home, and there might be other cabins all around us, but they might as well be far away.
So except for the inconvenience of maybe hearing the noise of our neighbours, and the convenience of being able to get supplies relatively easily, – once they’re back in stock, at least – then in some ways it really is like we’re back to the countryside.
So I’m kind of running with this whole approach, and I think there can be a lot of value in this idea of sort of living what I imagine to be sort of a country life, a wilderness life, even in the same old apartment in the big city.
So what makes this country life? Well, it seems like a big part of the country life is feeling more connected with the nature around us.
That’s a big part of the difference between- the city is a place where you can really almost ignore nature entirely.
You can live with the streetlights at night.
You can do things at any time.
You can spend most of your time indoors, so the weather is much less significant.
And really, you can live as if nature did not exist.
It’s this whole manufactured world.
But in the countryside, we’re much more at the mercy of nature, because, well, no streetlights, so definitely the day and night cycle definitely looms large.
And the weather is certainly going to be very important, because if the only way to avoid the weather is to stay inside, and in the countryside, you just have your house.
You don’t have an entire network of buildings that are all indoors that you can just live indoors all the time.
You’re probably going to notice the weather in a, you know, much more inevitable way.
So I think there can be something good about getting back to these simple facts of nature and facts of the weather, the natural world.
So starting with simply noticing the patterns of the daylight, and when it’s bright and when it’s dark, noticing the weather, spending more time out in nature, and, you know, even just when the weather is good, simply going for a walk in the nature, and just being aware of the simple things.
Also, with the time slowed down, with the extra free time that’s now appeared for so many people, we can slow down in our actions and just simply observe nature in a simple way, listen to the birds singing, watch the squirrels and the animals all around, and simply be aware of what’s happening around us.
So this is something that we have available at all times, and certainly not required that we pay any extra attention to this now.
We can easily just simply spend all our time in our lighted rooms watching on-screen entertainment, and that’s certainly another option.
But I’m really enjoying the idea of imagining what would it be like if we are living in the city, but as if we’re in some kind of far-off cabin, simply surrounded by the simple natural world?
#ruralcity #countrylife #countryinthecity