People camp to get away from their everyday lives and boring routines. But what are we freeing ourselves from exactly? School work, bills, annoying rules, or your boss? When really think about the notion, it seems like camping is less so about the physical containment (living the house versus living in the tent), but more about the freeing of mind.
It's just like a child setting up a safe-zone with only a bed sheet over the table -- everything in the little space is rule-free and worry-free, everything is allowed as long as you like.
The feeling of "going back to the basic" with minimal necessities is exactly why camping is so attractive (since when cherio is replaced by alcohol?). And the fact that everything in the nature is unpredictable makes every camping experience one of its kind.
I don't mean to overlook the tangible part of camping experience, after all, that's why all the camping products are out there for. However, coming after the idea of freedom and the seek for escapes from ordinary lives, the material becomes trivial or simply a statement for self-identity.
Isn't it amazing to realize with how little you can live?
ReplyDeleteI would not say to build up your own little tent or shelter means to live worry-free. I think it is a point where you start from the beginning and make all the rules yourself.
And as we are humans, we always gain for more, even though you reduce your standard of living you always expect to get a benefit out of it for yourself. Which means that little shelter would become more and more comfortable. Maybe this is the reason, why the are so many elderly permanent campers. They started in their youth to camp and it was a romantic and adventurous experience for them, they travelled around as a family, taught their children what abandonment means and eventually they became more and more convenient..there a little flower, a garden gnome and here a fence.
Who knows how we will end up?
I think you're right, starting over could also be an important reason to camp. I don't know if it's something that regular 1-week-campers think alot about, but its defenatly what the tiny-house-movement is all about. instead of having a big house with everything, they get a small house and try to build a life with smaller space and no chance to store unnecessary stuff..
ReplyDeleteso what is the minimum to start with?
ReplyDeleteYourself.
ReplyDelete