Let’s Move to the Country!
– Rurally Challenged Ascending City Slickers Take the Plunge –
by Linda Johnson
10th March 2003The Dream…
Most people like the ‘country’. Or, the ‘idea’ of the country – such as the TV ads showing green fields of contented cows, romping lambs and fields of golden wheat. Country style furniture and decorations remain ever popular as people try to re-create a feeling of warmth, cosiness and a time when life was less complicated, less stressful and more nurturing. I confess that I have a lot of cow things and folk art in my house too!
Many people from the city go away to the beach or country for a weekend or holiday and think it would be great to live there permanently. Sensitive and ascending people can feel the vibrational difference in these places compared to the city and the longer one stays, the harder it is to go back to the city where the vibe is lower, the attachments stronger and you are surrounded by people and institutions that suck your chi, bringing you back down to their level. I urge people reading this article to make a conscious effort to take breaks away from the cities and feel the difference in the vibration in the country, mountains or sea.
However, bear in mind that visiting a place and living there permanently are two different things. Much of the country dream is pure fantasy, and those who can separate the fantasy from the reality and plan accordingly will be better prepared for life in the country, or anywhere you are unfamiliar with.
We are by no means experts on life changes yet, but have seen examples of what happens when people follow a fantasy without any sort of planning and we do not want to fall into that trap. They end up miserable and unfulfilled because they have not been realistic about what they are doing and why. Many see moving out of the city as a chance to ‘escape’ pressures and responsibilities, but if they are not complete with the old life the dramas will follow.
Preparing to Leave…1. Complete Karma: As an ascending person the most important thing before you go anywhere is to complete all karma. Endeavour to complete your karma with the place you are living, the company you work for, and the people you associate with – especially people you are unlikely to see after you move – or you don’t want to see again. You don’t want to leave any loose end attachments as you will have to complete later with a similar place, person or company [see Attachments article for more details].
2. Lighten the Physical Load: Take the opportunity of a move to sort and sell anything you no longer use or need (start sorting now). If in doubt ask your guidance if you are likely to need the item where you are going. The lighter you travel, the freer you will be. Storage facilities can be expensive. We found the most effective (if you have somewhere to leave it) is to purchase a shipping container. These are much stronger and more secure than a shed and can be used later for storing machinery or as a secure garden shed. If you buy an A-Grade container (these cost a little extra) it can also be re-sold for a good price as it is still roadworthy. Older containers can’t be re-trucked later if they are rusty and these tend to be the ones sold off for storage… which is fine if you want to keep it in the same place permanently.
3. Research the Area: By all means be guided by your own higher self as to where you are to go, but do some research on the area and the facilities so you can plan accordingly. Will you need a car? How far to town? Will you need to work/deliver/sell/post? Will you need specialist facilities/banks? Start preparing now. We have tried as much as possible to receive payments and do our banking and bill paying online so we don’t have to physically go to a bank when we move – as it will be a 60km round trip to town.
4. Research the Property: If possible get some independent advice on the properties you are attracted to – do you have your own road access, water, phone access, how much will a power pole cost? How much will building cost? It seems a drag to think about these things when you just want to be a free spirit, set up your tipi and live off the land, but a little planning first will save a lot of headaches later. Many rural properties have noxious weeds that just look like nice green plants to us city slickers. You may find out you’re up for a lot of money to get rid of them – with poisons you don’t want to use. Sometimes these properties are sold off cheaply to unsuspecting folk who find out too late the hidden costs.
5. Plan the Menu: We once went to a gathering of farmers in the area we are moving to and discovered that we (from the city) were the only people who grew our own vegetables – all the farmers went to the supermarket. It is faster and simpler to buy the food that is shipped up frozen from the city than the labour involved in growing when you don’t have to. Part of our plan is to grow our food for the organic quality and self sufficiency, but we know we can’t leave the gardens uncovered like in the city. If you want to grow your own food put some research in and make sure you have water available and fencing organised before you sew the first seed or the local birds and animals will eat it long before you do.
If you are not moving to the country yet, I advise you to start a veggie patch in the city. This will not only give you some nice fresh food, but valuable experience on growing food and saving seed. Potatoes are a good first crop as they will break up hard ground for the next crop – this way your carrots won’t grow at right angles like our first crop. Growing a veggie patch in your back yard will also give you an idea of the scale of growing you’ll need to live off. Your entire tomato crop may give you one cup of spaghetti sauce. All your peas (after two hours of picking and shelling) will give you one meal. You will learn how to stagger your crops so you don’t get ten lettuces in one week… all valuable experience. You will also have lots of fun playing in the dirt and communing with nature.
6. Necessary Evil: Moving to the country means you have an opportunity to use the equity from your city house to buy or build something cheaper and have no mortgage. This also means no ongoing karma with the lending institution. If you put your money into setting yourself up with water tanks and pumps you have no water bills. Although solar panels are expensive once they are up you can have no electricity bills. If you don’t want to live totally off solar batteries, your panels can feed back into the grid. If you generate more power than you use, you may even make some money. Council rates may be less, and car registration and insurance are likely to be less. If you plan for self reliance as much as possible you can minimise the ongoing bills, meaning you don’t need to generate the sort of income to live that you did in the city.
7. Work: You may be fortunate enough to have enough money to live on already, but if you need to earn an income, you’ll need to put some thought into this too. Jobs are hard to come by in country areas. Try and get the local papers sent to you regularly so you can see what work is available. Take into consideration the travelling time from where you live, the petrol you’ll use, and how work time will eat into the time you wanted to spend in the country. You don’t want to take the city job stress to another location. Think about what you’d really like to do and see if there’s a call for it in the area you are moving to, whether for locals or tourists. Take the opportunity of moving to do something different that gives you pleasure.
Depending where you go, country areas contain mixtures of the original settler families, farmers, town folk, new age newcomers, retiring city people and holiday visitors. Many of the people who’ve come from the city are used to new age people and therapies, but it can take a while for the locals and old-timers to accept it so if you are offering new age goods or services, you may need to adjust the literature to attract different clients than you did in the city.
8. Disappearing: Over the years we have been added to many mailing lists and our post office box is always full of junk. For the past few months we have been sending back the junkmail to the senders with ‘Moved from this address’ on the envelope. This means we’ve been disappearing off the lists and the junk mail is diminishing. It also means we’ve been able to keep a list of the mail we still want so we can notify them of the address change. Make yourself a list from all the mail you receive. You’d be surprised how many places you’ll need to notify – but it also gives you the chance to vanish from those you no longer need.
The Reality…
While your soul and higher self are guiding you to move to the country, the physical reality of preparing for a major move is daunting – especially when you have little or no practical experience outside the city. City people are used to keeping to themselves. In the country you will be called upon to help your neighbours and they will do the same for you. City people are used to a disposable life. In the country everything is recycled – it’s a long way to town to buy something. City people have everything they need at their doorsteps – restaurants, theatres, shopping centres. In the country there may be one video store, a local club and the shops shut at 12 on Saturday. Don’t go to the country expecting a city lifestyle and facilities… go to the country to get away from it.
As I write this piece I have spent the weekend visting the land in the country we are moving to for the first time in many months. It has rained and everything is green and has grown – including weeds. I see the work we will need to do to keep the creek clear. I see the work that will need to be done before we can build a house and set up the gardens. But I also sat on the ground, connected to the earth and listed to the hundreds of birds singing in the trees, smelled the fresh air, listened to the creek bubbling along and imagined waking up every day to this instead of rushing off to work.
I was originally hoping I would just move to the country, build a house and put my feet up. But that was when I was still in a fantasy about what living in the country entailed. I know there will still be plenty of work to do in the country, but it will not be a chore. Each day there will be new challenges, new adventures and something to learn. We will have time to be outdoors in the bush, by the creek, in the garden…. with nature.
I came back next day to work in the city and felt all the chi for my dream being drained from me yet again and have to consciously pull it back – it is a daily battle. Despite the daunting feeling of leaving all we know and stepping off into a whole new life we know that we cannot stay here in the city. We are complete and the only way is forward. It is both frightening and exhilarating. As soon as our house is sold we are out of here.
The bottom line is, you cannot continue to ascend past a certain point while living in the city. Due to our earlier ascension work we have been vibrating at a rate higher than the land around us for quite some time, and feel the drain and pressure on our fields constantly. We stayed to complete in the city and to hold the space for other awakening people through our courses and healing, but cannot stay any longer. Once we are set up in the country will will again offer these services – but in a much more beautiful space.
We are sure there are plenty of other ascending people who are feeling as we do – ready to go now – any many others who have taken the plunge. We hope the tips in this article will help you to plan your own life changes. We will write more of our adventures as they happen and bring you stories from others who have taken the plunge to inspire you… in the meantime take a weekend away and feel the difference!