Go Your Own Way
Many of us have bellowed ‘Go your own way!’ at the top of our lungs when listening to Fleetwood Mac, but it’s in that pause that we imagine just what going our own way might be like. Of course, in the context of the song it’s a defiant refrain to a love lost, but this is also what the emotional context might be for those who wish to get away from the artificial nature of self in the twenty-first century and instead experience something real.
How do you have the strength to go your own way, and what might this look like? Perhaps it’s purchasing a set of private number plates. For others, it’s feeling happy simply being who they are and liking what they like, such as a gruff forty-year-old security guard who just loves singing to musicals in his spare time. Perhaps we may not consider those two things to go hand-in-hand, but not caring about image would be a strength on this part of this person.
Going your own way, perhaps to the point where you may wish to live off-grid, can be an exhilarating and also quite worrying prospect if you’re not used to this at all. How might you find the strength to live this kind of lifestyle? We would recommend the following mindset:
A Question Of Values
Questioning your values to begin with can be a solid first step. What is it that is important to you? Do you feel that working in the corporate rat race and living in a heavily urbanized environment to be incredibly tiring? Do you wish for more land, or to be more self-sufficient, or to simply feel like less of a node in a machine rather than a living, thinking, breathing person? It’s important to understand what your values are, because when you have them in line, you can begin to generate principles that help you along this journey. Perhaps having your own land and the means to stay practically self-sufficient are important to you, or perhaps you lament the loss of privacy in urbanized areas.
It’s easy to feel as though you’re making the wrong decision if you haven’t yet considered things.
Being Unafraid
Being unafraid takes, by definition ,a little courage. This sounds completely tautologous, but it actually isn’t. Fear keeps you sensible, and it allows you to use your sharpest senses to make the best decision going forward. If your fear of trying something new is put in its proper place, that can revoke the power fear has over you. This is where you can become more of a maverick, allowing yourself to focus on sustaining yourself through perhaps building your own shelter, negotiating the deed to land or renovating an old house for your purposes. It can also help you with protective tasks such as marking out your property borders and …
