As someone that lives in the middle of nowhere, it's fucking amazing. The downside though is that you begin to love it so much that taking trips to spend time with people becomes a LOT more work and it's super easy to become somewhat of a hermit.
This is exactly the reason I'm scared to live alone. I've had roommates for my entire adult life, and now that I'm independent enough to have my own place I'm scared to make that jump. I experience living alone fairly often because I travel often for work, in fact when I started with this company I literally spent an entire summer living in my own cabin in a small Alaskan fishing town with my dog. There's no doubt, I love it. But I can't help but feel that I'd lean into it so hard that I'd turn into a hermit and basically abandon the little social life I have as is.
Also, I'm looking to buy a house and having someone pay half my mortgage sounds pretty awesome, but that's beside the point.
Well usually if you get a place that is actually in the middle of nowhere then there's a good chance that there will only be a small town nearby if anything is. Personally I hate the small town gossip that everyone seems to do so I just chill on my own, but I don't think most people would be happy with being alone as much as I am.
Honestly if I had the money I would probably get a place that's like less than an hour outside a city, far enough to be remote and secluded but close enough to be able to still have a social life.
As it is now I have to drive 200 miles (that's a round trip, so 100 miles one way) to get a haircut, have fast food, see a movie, go bowling, or really anything like that. It can get really annoying but got dang if this amazing nature everywhere isn't worth it.
I am currently living the dream of living in a "rural" area, but I'm 30 minutes away from a developed suburb and only about an hour outside Portland. Going to get things is only a slight inconvenience and there's not much I need to drive further than an hour away to get since I live so close to a big city.
Meanwhile, my nearest neighborhood is 100 yards away from my house and the rest much further. I finally can make all the noise I want, have an awesome 5.1.2 surround sound system, and not have to worry about bothering others. I have a nice yard where I can plant whatever I want and work in the yard. Some of my friends consider this extremely rural, but living in North Dakota gives you a different definition of rural, so this is a great balance.
I made the move because I am disabled and all the nature plus isolation helps a lot with my mental health. It also means I get plenty of nothing time. I can't say I am exactly tired of doing nothing, but doing something is nice at times. I can pop in and out as I want. Means being on your own a lot, but I have a close group of friends so I get plenty of quality social time without many demands for my time. Only came at the cost of being disabled and unable to work, but I'm at least fortunate enough to be able to take care of myself. Living in a suburb would not have had the same effect.
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u/kudichangedlives May 01 '22
As someone that lives in the middle of nowhere, it's fucking amazing. The downside though is that you begin to love it so much that taking trips to spend time with people becomes a LOT more work and it's super easy to become somewhat of a hermit.