It’s no secret that everyday life is stressful – from working long hours at jobs, we don’t enjoy paying outrageous rent in places that no longer thrill us.
Then there’s the social media pressure, where we frequently compare our daily lives to other people’s highlights.
We’ve wasted hours browsing before we realize it, and our minds are overloaded with incessant materialism.
What a wonderful thing it would be to be able to get away from it all. Why don’t we pause for a moment and get back to our roots?
What Does it Mean to Live Off the Grid?
Living off-grid is a liberating lifestyle in which you live without relying on the grid. You are self-sufficient and not reliant on the conventional infrastructures of metropolitan existence.
Living off-grid allows you to reconnect with nature by producing your own power, water, and even food.
Ultimately, this way of lifestyle decreases our negative environmental influence while still giving us unparalleled independence.
15 Reasons For Living Off the Grid
If you are considering a lifestyle change and think living off the grid could be your next best step, take a look below for just a few of the many reasons you should take the plunge.
1. Live Sustainably
It all comes down to living more sustainably. You will produce more than you consume if you do not constantly drain resources. This offers the added benefit of not just supporting your family but also providing for your community.
2. Become Self-Sufficient
Living off the grid involves leading a self-sufficient lifestyle, one that is not reliant on outside resources since you generate your own, minimizing or eliminating your reliance on an infrastructure that could go down at any time.
3. Living Debt Free
A big house, fancy cars, and designer bags are all things we are told that we should want (and buy) once we are successful. But, the truth is that many of us are willing to go into a mound of debt just to keep up with the neighbors.
Without incurring debts, establishing a home on land can free you from those money chains! Let’s face it, living in today’s society is expensive. Moving your life off-grid helps you eliminate many of those unnecessary expenses.
4. Say Goodbye to Utility Bills
Who was it that decided a few massive corporations get to hoard all of today’s energy and make us pay outrageous amounts to power our homes? You don’t have to be a slave to them.
Living off the grid includes finding alternative means of energy, such as wind and solar power – two things that big companies can’t claim as their own. This means that you get to power your life without lining somebody else’s pockets.
5. Letting Go Of the Clutter
Everyone is entitled to those sentimental items that bring back good feelings and memories, but take a minute to think about all of your stuff.
Do you own it, or does it own you? Our possessions have a way of slowly possessing us – taking up space in our home, creating attachments to things rather than people and experiences.
Living off the grid makes you reconsider the purpose and intention of the belongings you choose to keep in your life. You don’t need much when you live off the grid, and letting go and finding freedom becomes much easier.
6. Minimize Your Footprint
There is no denying that living in today’s world takes a lot of energy – and not just from ourselves. Electricity, plumbing, cars, the list goes on – we consume energy constantly, and the nature and wildlife around us are usually left with the bill.
Living off the grid not only lessens the initial footprint that we leave behind, but it also encourages resourcefulness and recycling. This means that you are more inclined to make the most out of things and minimize wasteful tendencies.
7. Learn By Doing
Many of the skills that we learn today are taught through online classes and books, but they lack any genuine hands-on application and exploration. When you choose to move your life off of the grid, you are responsible for many more daily functions.
You will have to grow your own food, rear animals, learn how to dispose of waste responsibly and sanitarily, and harvest and conserve your own water.
These things aren’t difficult to learn, but you will have the chance to deeply tune into sustaining your life on your own.
8. Change Your Diet
Living a clean and holistic lifestyle is not only challenging while living in the system. It is discouraged. Most people choose to move their life off-grid to welcome a more wholesome and healthier lifestyle.
Many of today’s chronic illnesses and ailments stem from our overly-processed diets made up of foods filled with chemicals and who knows what else. Growing, harvesting, and preparing your own food restores your control over the things that you put into your body.
9. Connect with Nature
Living off the grid gives you the opportunity to get back in touch with nature. How often do you have the chance to lay in the grass and stare up at the sky? These experiences help up live in the moment and bring a greater sense of peace and harmony to our lives.
Moving your life off the grid takes you further from the industrialized world and lets you reintroduce yourself to the beauties of the natural world.
10. Ditch Expensive Habits
Shopping, eating out, parting, trips to the nail salon – how many mindless habits do you let consume your week? Sure, these things can be fun once in a while, but they tend to lose their shine when it becomes a means of distracting yourself from living your life.
So much of your time is dedicated to sustaining your lifestyle when you live off the grid. This not only helps you reconnect with yourself and the present, but it also helps you reduce waste and save money!
11. Become Your Own Boss
Even if you like your job or your employer, you are still at the mercy of their needs. Many of the decisions that you make revolve around how it will affect your job or your performance. Everyone says they want to be their own boss, and it is incredibly possible with off-grid living!
You don’t have to be the head of a Fortune 500 company to reclaim control over your professional life. Those who live off the grid find a way to earn a sustainable living while still maintaining their freedom.
12. Experience New Places
In today’s world, it is challenging to find places that haven’t yet been reimagined in human vision. By living off the grid, you get to explore places left untouched and less-populated areas full of adventure and new experiences.
Setting up your new off-grid home in remote areas lets you get to know your space in an entirely new way. Talk about a fresh perspective!
13. Master Necessary Survival Skills
When you move your life off the grid, you will be eliminating many of the support and safety systems offered by communities and cities. This means that you will have to rely more on your own survival skills.
This is difficult for many people, but anyone can cultivate the skills needed to live a happy and healthy life far away from “the system.”
Start with learning easier essential skills and practice them as you become more familiar with nature. Before you know it, you will have plenty of confidence in your survival skills.
14. Reconnect with Loved Ones
Moving off the grid does not mean that you will become a social recluse. Think about how much time you spend with your family and friends now.
Is it even possible with all of the hours you are putting in at the office or the hours you spend running errands on your days off? When you do spend time, is it quality time?
Living off the grid liberates your schedule and lets you choose when and how you interact with those you care about most. And when you do spend time together, it won’t be tainted with stress and distractions.
15. It’s Rewarding
Few people can say they live in a home they made with their own two hands or make their meals using fruits and vegetables they have grown from their own garden. These things take work and dedication, but nothing beats the feeling of knowing that you have constructed your life.
Your hard work isn’t enjoyed by those whose bank accounts you are growing, and you enjoy it!
Final Thoughts on Living Off the Grid
Moving your life off-grid is not easy and unfamiliar, but there just isn’t anything else like it!
What else can give you total freedom, the time to explore the world around you, access to nature, and a healthier lifestyle?
Change may be challenging at first, but it is often the most rewarding surprise there is in life. Happy living!
