Beautiful Inconvenience

The first argument I had about moving to the country was entirely about convenience. Living so far away from “culture” and “events” was almost a deal breaker for me early on in our conversations about rural life. Over time though I came to see that living out of town wasn’t going to change my life as drastically as I once thought. I’m a homebody by nature, and the few activities I cherish are not so far of a drive from our future farmstead as to be impossible to still do. As I write this I have a terribly sore throat. Sipping water feels akin to drinking broken glass and even though I live less than 3 minutes from my doctor right now, I am no more inclined to go visit her than I would be if I lived an hour away. Why? Because that’s just me. I’ll go if it becomes clear that I truly need to, but otherwise I’m content to let my body heal itself. I would make the drive from the country into the city for the same reasons, and have no reason to think I’d go to the doctor less. I wouldn’t go to fewer plays, or to the art museum less because these are things I only do a few times a year anyways. The convenience of having these options close to home hasn’t dramatically increased my use of them. As a child on the farm we made the trip to the city to go to the zoo, the mall, festivals, and lots of other events with as much frequency as my suburban self now does. 

Why this fear about inconvenience? The past couple years I’ve slowly began allowing inconvenience into my life, and my survival is what I lift up as evidence that it’s okay. I started with cloth diapers. I never fully abandoned disposables, but the slight inconvenience of laundering and drying cloth diapers actually felt nice. It touched on something within me that made me feel more connected to my grandmothers. We tried starting our garden plants from seed instead of relying solely on buying plants. This wasn't a universal success, but the seeds we did get to grow and thrive were excellent producers and I love that that we can claim that victory. Our tomato crop was superb! Sure it is easy to say that what you grow yourself tastes better, but as subjective as taste is I feel more comfortable saying that psychologically eating what you've grown yourself feels better. It's the very inconvenience that gives it more value. Another hassle I've taken on is cooking from scratch more. Preparing a meal made from basic ingredients gives me a sense of satisfaction that I can’t get from packaged meals. I also love to sew and although buying a dress is far easier it can never compare to making one. At some point convenience has taken the art and creativity out of living. We've forgotten that problem solving can be fun! I enjoy challenges, I enjoy frugality, and I enjoy nature. For me, having this in abundance can’t be seen as inconvenient. Living in the suburbs has removed me from the challenges and open-air independence that I need. I’m ready to face the challenging world and all the risks that such a venture entails. First on my current list of nuisances is preparing my house for sale so that we can take the next step towards the blessed inconvenience we seek.