I live in a bigger city but I’m currently residing in a cabin in the woods, away from civilization. It has got a fire place going, some basic stuff and lots of board games etc. It also has a nice garden thing where you can just chill out for a bit. There’s beautiful woods surrounding it where you can walk.
I like living in the city, with all its chaos. But whenever I’m out in nature I feel this immense rest coming over me. I don’t know if I can actually live here, but for now it’s good. My gf’s family is talking about buying property in rural Sweden and they want to build a house there, one where the kids can always visit. I like the idea of living a rural simple life. Can’t leave the city now though, with all the activism going on. Bit harder to radicalize the deers in the woods.
I grew up in an unincorporated community or whatever they call it with about 20 people in it, abu 20 minutes away from civilization, a town with 350 people in it, by car. The political landscape in Amerika makes it very difficult for someone with divergent political views, or trans people, or nonwhite people in the type of rural I’m from to appreciate the nature and beauty it can hold. It was miserable to grow up in, but I think the area is beautiful.
My thoughts about Amerikan rurality are complicated. The vibe much of it exudes is one that says “this is where the federal government ends.” There are still police, of course, but they answer to no one. Infrastructure becomes nonexistent, there is no maintenance or road repair – potholes are eternal. If there’s extreme beef between people or families, murder is a perfectly viable solution for many of them, and they will never be caught. “Drive-bys” and “gang violence” are only used by the Amerikan MSM in reference to “inner city”, or more honestly, black community violence. But I assure you, seemingly random acts of violence are a scourge on rural Amerika. None of this is to say that the federal government respects peoples’ rights or the bourgeois state having iron-fisted control over these areas would be a good thing, but the legalist illusion is shattered, along with the perhaps naive sense of safety that comes with it.
Apologies for taking your rather sweet observations and twisting them dark. Just my experience. I’ve never experienced true city life, largest city I’ve lived in has about 150,000 pop. I can’t say whether I’d like big city life or not, but I do think that after the destruction of the bourgeois state is complete, I’d love settling down somewhere near a river and away from industry, especially if I can get places relatively easily by rail.