A minimal life from the ground up - search, passions, and discoveries
Have always wondered how I can be more free and fulfilled.
If you want to live with the minimum get rid of everything you don't need. Not just your materialistic things but also your mental thoughts! That is not easy to do. This is part of what I have done. Following are parts of my story and adventures to and of a minimal life.
As a young child in school there were times I would runaway for a little bit or skip school. Just wanting a break from this so called life. Then would just run to a tree and stay with the ground. Maybe to be more grounded. Maybe the tree was trying to tell me something.
Don't get me wrong school it good. I love learning. But something about that grounded tree. Seemed to teach me so much more than school. But distracted I would go back to school. Not understanding the tree or the ground.
photo credit: prolandscapermagazine
Growing up I joined the Cub Scouts and later the Boy Scouts. Would meet many other scouts and trees! Many fun activities learning things I didn't learn in school. Some being more in the direction of nature. More in the direction of the ground and the tree.
Over the years scouting became a big love of mine! Loved going on hikes and camping! One of the hikes was the Walk for Hunger. Although in a city as opposed to nature. There were still trees and people. We all walked together for twenty miles to raise money to feed hungry people. So called less fortunate people.
photo credit:lowervalleyfoodbank
But these hungry people are more grounded like the tree. So how less fortunate are they? I didn't run away from them like others. Who knows. I have much to learn.
Many summers I would go to scout summer camp! Lots of fun and activities. And trees! Can't forget the trees. And of course ground. But there is ground everywhere. Well most everywhere. Otherwise we would fall! Everything would fall! Just imagine that... having no ground...
At summer camp I was also a leader. I lead other scouts on the ground and around the trees. Such great experiences! Many campfires, stories, swims, hikes, and so no. Another thing about camp was merit badges. We scouts learns many things and skills while earning merit badges.
Yet there was no ground and tree merit badge. Makes me wonder why these are no so important. The ground holds by out feet and trees provide shade and fruits. Fruits that I still not know how to describe.
We also played many games. These games happened to be played on the ground and around trees! In fact the ground and trees were main parts of the game. Yet I didn't realize this at the time. Many hiding games. You run on the ground and hide behind a tree!
The ground gives so much support. The trees are such great friends! The trees always help you.
Ground and trees simply love you and are in balance with themselves and their surroundings. If only we could learn to simply be like the ground and the trees.
Eight years pass while in the Boy Scouts. On my path to the elusive Eagle Scout. Only 2% make it there.
When you watch the campfire you can see these far reaching embers that fly high from the ground and up to the trees. Those little bright sparks burn the brightest and the longest. They have the longest and brightest lives. They are the 2%.
Was in my third troop by now. Living in a new state. This state had more trees! A senior in high school. On the Math team, manager of the soccer team, finishing up my Eagle Scout rank, looking at colleges. Many people thought I wouldn't make it. I was to busy to stop and think. I had forgotten about the trees even.
Just kept going by all the trees. They look like they are still. But they are moving some 19 miles per second or 19 miles per kilometer just like everyone and every thing else! They are just a slight little bit more peaceful and still about it.
Almost forgot about my Eagle Project. You see I didn't entirely forget about the trees. My Eagle Scout project was at a local park. I and many scouts whom I led went into the woods and helped the trees! We cut back dead trees and cleared and marked paths. This way people knew where to walk on the ground and around the trees!
The next summer I moved where there were even more trees and higher ground! Wonder if higher ground is more ground. Moved to a little town in the mountains.
Got a little room on the top floor of a bed & breakfast place. And a job that was right next door at a restaurant. My room didn't have much. A bed, and a fan were all I really needed. Shared a bathroom. Also kept a jar of peanut butter handy as it is a great simple food staple. You see I found my style of simple living early on in life.
Most of my food I ate while I was at work. Would eat when I got there and also before I left. So this worked very well. Most of my food didn't cost me anything. Such a good deal!
Went hiking on my days off to make sure the ground was still there and visit as many trees as I could! Went swimming many days too as there was water than ran over and through a bunch of rocks in the ground. One of the funnest places I have ever gone to swim! Part was like a water slide but you slid with the water on the ground between the trees!
Went to college after that summer. Then back to the mountains. Because I missed all the trees!
Then I went to find my way is this so called thing of life. Starting my own business and many adventures.
Fast forward another couple of decades. I find myself seeking ground and trees once again.
Another passion is pool or billiards. Started learning when I was just tall enough to reach the table. During this time I developed a love for playing cards and chess. Played in some chess clubs and five years on my high school chess team!
photo credit: wallpaperbeautiful.com
Got the opportunity to play on a team in a league. At one point I played on four teams and even made it to the National team championships!
This and many things led me to poker. A game I could play for fun, profit, entertainment, and more! I found myself traveling playing poker. Got rid of most of my things and eventually pretty much everything. Again the minimum. After a few years I cut my belongings down to one backpack worth.
photo credit: travispokertimer.com
Playing poker some woman asked me where I was staying. I told her in the woods. Most people stay at hotels including her. Or at their homes. Many people tell me I need my own place.
So I would play poker all day with my great passion of the game. Then sometimes retire to a hotel and sometimes the woods. Okay usually the woods. It was cheaper, more peaceful, closer to the ground, and the trees!
Time passes and one day I decided to buy a one way ticket to Las Vegas to go play at the WSOP, World Series of Poker. Not those big expensive events, just some small side games. After the WSOP ended I went to California. There I would go more towards minimum living.
Waking up in the middle of the woods on a mountainside. My, myself, and my backpack. This was a dream come true in ways. Usually visiting a park everyday to refill my water bottles. Finding food in the wild if and when possible. Sometimes dumpster diving. Rarely did I however. It's not exactly simple to find and do. But was an experience!
Sometimes I hung out with homeless people. Great to talk to them. They loved my company, stories, and knowledge. They fed me well too. We had nothing. But we have everything to give! Such a different concept from so called mainstream life.
Got food from shelters too as I also volunteered. Being helpful is one of the scout laws and good to live by. May have been living minimally but I even had a day where I made over $1,000. When you make $1,000 while living in the woods you feel rich!
About a year passes of living in the woods. Although I did go to the library most days. Love reading and learning. Found things like maps to find food in dumpsters or fruit trees. The map showing where to find fruit trees proved very helpful! Was contacted by a friend after this year who suggested finding a place.
So I planned on getting my own place and starting a business. I do love and miss the business world. This was to be something with cryptocurrency, poker, virtual worlds, and the like. Which I still hope to possibly do with Steem and possibly ideas of poker and a thing called "Steemland".
She comes and gets me from another state! We go play poker as I met her playing poker at the WSOP two years before. I had been helping her with business and personal stuff for the past couple of months.
Staying at her place while looking for my own place and potential businesses. Things are coming together and looking good. Then one night I wasn't feeling well so went to lie down.
The next two days are so mentally minimal and peaceful! What I have been seeking my whole life! I don't even remember waking up!
A few days later I wake up in a hospital! I'm in the hospital for a few weeks where I discover I got Meningitis. Fast forward two weeks I finally get out of the hospital with my backpack and a second bag of things I got at the hospital. Off to live minimally once again...
One of the first things I got was a handy jar of peanut butter!
Go find a shelter to stay at as I am away from the woods. Living minimally makes getting out of hospital tricky when the woods are far away!
Thank you for sharing this unique perspective. So many of us are wrapped up in our things as support systems for our lives. I can't imagine living day to day with what I curate into a backpack! That takes a kind of courage and tenacity. You certainly earn that freedom!
Freedom isn't earned! It is is understood. We are born free. We die free. Yet we don't live so free. Why is that?
Thank you. Just a simple choice and understanding that I do not need beyond what I need. Which is supplied by the loving abundant universe. Many times I just walked. In time I found food and/or water, always.
So true! You are right! I forget.
Thank you so very much for the votes that mean so much more than just votes! :) <3
Namaste
Is Beaver's, Scouts, Cub's or Girl Guides or Brownies still a practice? I know in smaller communities it is a battle to engage children and parents. Just a thought.
@gardengirlcanada Yes it is. Varies greatly by community of course. I was fortunate to have been in some better groups. Also helped some lesser groups be better as well. Used to to stay a second week at Summer Camp after my troop left with another troop from within a city and be their Senior Patrol Leader to help everyone out!