What is Security?
This post is coming in late because we are right in the middle of moving again and I’ve had to prioritize other things. Today is moving day so I’m going to keep this short and sweet. By the end of the day our family will be living full time off the grid! Our only power will come from a few solar panels and a portable generator. It feels a little bit strange!
Although this move has been easier in some regards, it is still very difficult. One of the most difficult aspects is the emotional side of it. Everyone seems to have a little bit of reluctance to leave here. I don’t mean to water down the meaning of post traumatic stress syndrome, but there seems to be some small amount of legit PTSD from our last moving experience. We have a sense of security here. Although this house is small, old, has a lot of issues, and is far from what we really want, it is a safe place for us. It has a barn, a well, electricity, a road, a basement to take shelter in if needed. It offers security that we won’t have as soon as we leave. However, there are a few major aspects of security that we don’t have here that we will have.
I’m not packing as tightly as I did when we moved here. The move is just two hours away so I’ve already taken a few things to the property and I can come back for more if needed. Besides, if we load our trailer too much we won’t be able to haul it up the road into our property!
First, is land ownership. Even though our property is wild and doesn’t yet have a home on it, we own it and that gives us so much security. It is already growing edible things and we can work the land and provide food for our animals and ourselves. No, it doesn’t mean that it will provide for us right away but it does give me a deep sense of long term security. To make that security more solid, we will not only own it, but will be free of debt as soon as our home in Utah closes, which, should be within a week or two. We feel a sense of financial insecurity because I don’t yet have a job or a business that generates reliable income. That is something I’ll be working on more after the move because I’ll actually be living in a long term situation. Owning land outright without any debt will give us some mental and emotional breathing space!
Second, is a lesson we learned in our last move. There is security in having a community and having people you know you can rely on when things go wrong. Believe it or not, although we are moving into a remote area where only some homes even have access to electricity, there is a strong community in our new neighborhood. There is a wide variety of people around and they are from a wide variety of places, with different backgrounds. Yet, we all seem to share some core values that have brought us to this neighborhood. Most of my family has not even met the majority of the neighbors, but since I’ve spent the most time on our property I’ve had the privilege to meet more of them. They’ve already helped me out several times! I’ve developed a good relationship with a few of them. Some of them are good neighbors and I know I can call on them for help if needed and they can call on me, but others at this point I would call good friends. Don’t get me wrong, we have some neighbors here and I won’t complain about them. They have stopped by and offered help, and we get along with them all. There just isn’t a sense of community here. There aren’t kids for my children to play with, they don’t like each other very much, and it’s just kind of distant feeling. Our new neighborhood is the opposite! In fact, one already calls me on a regular basis just to check on us, see how we’re doing, and to chat. It really means a lot to know that I have friends already even though we haven’t even moved in yet! There are several families with kids as well.
Many of the guys in the neighborhood get together once a month and do something. They have invited me to a few of their activities even though I don’t live there yet. The only activity I participated in was just this last week. They decided to do a bigger activity and planned a day trip down the Current River. We rented boats and a shuttle service which was very affordable, and spent the day floating the river, hanging out, fishing, spelunking, exploring, and just enjoying nature. It was such a nice break for me!!! It was also nice to meet a few more of the neighbors and get to know all of them better.
Right off the river is a large cave with water flowing out of it. We followed it about a quarter mile or so back to where you can’t go any further. There are some places where you have to crawl, and some places where you have to climb. It was an amazing place to explore! The Current River is beautiful!!!
I’m still nervous about moving, and my family has been pretty anxious and we’ve dealt with some rather big emotions this week, I feel so much better about this move because of having a community and knowing that I own my own land. So although we’re walking into a bit of a wild situation, I know I’m not walking into it alone. I have a supportive community and good friends who will be there with me. We learned from our last moving experience that having loving people around you is priceless.
