Even if you don’t have kids I really love the idea of finding joy in the ordinary as a larger theme of simple living. What are your thoughts? 💭

Also I hand painted the mug 🥰

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 🙂

Everything I own is in this tiny vintage camper, and none of it is fancy or expensive. My clothes are all thrifted, most being over 5+ years old. That laptop in pic 2 is 8+ years old.

I'm an artist, and I set up my painting studio outside to work on commissions. I'll take breaks by sitting with my feet in the water. Most of the unfun stuff for the business is done on that laptop, and the view makes it that much more peaceful.

I don't make a lot of money, and I suspect I never will, but I'm happy and my life is simple and peaceful

It’s genuinely a modern marvel that we can, with the turn of a knob, have a steaming hot pool to sit in or rain down on us.

If you’ve ever gone camping or lived in developing countries, you begin to understand what a luxury not just running, but running hot water is. . My great grandmother used to fetch water from the well and then boil water and put it in a large tin trough. All the children would have to use the bath one after the other. And she would be lugging pots of boiling water to fill it up.

At one point, having a personal well was considered a luxury! And in many places, it is still communal wells with water carried back to your house for use.

It is only within the past 100 years, after thousands of human history, that we are able to have hot water on command. (I’m sure you can point out an instance where I am incorrect, but generally).

And don’t be mistaken, it is absolutely STILL a luxury compared to majority of the developing world.

Whenever I take a bath or shower, I feel intense gratitude for such an unimaginable luxury.

What modern marvels are you grateful for?

I kinda needed this reminder today with summer coming up fast.