This post could be a bit premature. This October, I would have lived in New Hampshire longer than I lived in San Francisco. Thinking back on so many memories and accomplishments in my time spent there, it feels like I was in SF for a decade when it was June ’08 to August ’10. Two years and two months I lived there and it was incredible but, now I’ve spent a year and a half in New Hampshire out in the middle of nowhere where I know every neighbor and I’ve made a few observations. Let’s start with some examples of the two environments in the most drastic contrasts:
- Today, I posted an ad on Craigslist asking the community where I could get a pig butchered in the Fall. I’m planning on raising them. A guy called who has experience and came by the house to help me plan things and offered to set me up with some feed at no cost. Nice guy. Then, I realized he’s the guy who does my Summer / Winter tire changes every year in town. Nice guy. We had a beer by the river. He offered to even help butcher my pigs in the Fall.
- My drive to work doesn’t have traffic. I have a blinking red light in town and then have one more stop light before work. There’s no delay unless it’s snowing and, on those days, I work from my home office. I haven’t sat in traffic since leaving California.
- I have chickens and a garden. The garden is 3 times as large as my apartment in SF. That to me is remarkable.
- The other day I did some hip firing and various target practice with my new tactical shotgun in my back yard in the middle of the day.
- I can have a fire whenever I want in my back yard. I put down some wood and light it on fire and pull up a stump. It’s pretty awesome.
There are so many wonderful things about living where I am and, truthfully, I rarely take advantage of EVERYTHING there is here. For example, I drive past a mountain to go snowboarding every day and I rarely stop to hop on the slopes. I should do that more. So many of my friends drive for hours and spend thousands to go skiing for a weekend and I have 5 mountains within an hour of me. I’m stupid for not going more. I also have miles of bike able terrain but I don’t ride enough. I’ll do more of that, too very soon.
I guess my time in San Francisco was equally as rewarding as my time in New Hampshire but in another way.
In New Hampshire, there aren’t many job opportunities and there isn’t a lot of commerce. For the people who grew up here, there is this excitement around conveniences like Starbucks and Fast Food and 24 hour restaurants that you find in Boston or New York. I get the most interesting responses to saying I’m not from here and that I’m from Florida via San Francisco and everyone is so intrigued why I would move here to the middle of nowhere. The young couples from the city that come to my cabin via AirBNB and stay for a few days always say the same thing about how lucky I am to live in such a beautiful place among nice people and in an area that’s so relaxed and easy going.
They’re right but it makes me wonder why others don’t live this way as well. Six Months ago, I finally got around to reading 4-Hour Work week. Most of the book I was already applying and some things I was not. One thing that stuck out is that Tim mentioned guys he’d encounter on his adventures. These men were successful in America but always envy him because he is living the life while they’re just on a 5 day cruise and he is living in the Bahamas and they wonder how he can afford it and how lucky he is. The truth is that you can live the life and always be traveling and having adventures if you’re smart. The money I save by living in New Hampshire leads to a richer life. I don’t have 24-Hour sushi places but I have great friends, travel the world and money is not an issue anymore.
I think New Hampshire is GREAT. I LOVE it here but I am also very aware of the fact that my cost of living is 30% of what it was in San Francisco. The result is that there isn’t a single hobby or activity that is being held back by money. In the same month, I bought a 55″ TV, an iPad, AppleTV, Chickens, a bigger chicken Coop, vegetables for my garden and pigs all within a month of a 2-week trip to Europe without once having to use a credit card. CASH ONLY for me.
This is because I live in a very cheap area with very cheap day-to-day spending. My cabin in the woods leads to a lot of happiness but that happiness is amplified by the money I save by living here. No 24-hour Sushi place or In-n-Out burger can compete with the joy I get from paying all of my bills and then saving a bit and still having money to go do something awesome for a few days.
My happiness is a combination of the greatest job I’ve ever had with a wonderful cabin on 5 acres of land on a road with zero car traffic and the extra money each month to literally do anything I want to do. I count my blessings daily.
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What I’m trying to say to my followers is that it’s alright to leave the city. I honestly believe that you WILL have a better life if you leave the city and move to the country. It’s very easy to think that you can’t cope with the comforts of city-life. The bus ride to work, the jokes with your co-workers that a homeless man puked on your shoes as you carry your Starbucks in hand and rush from meeting to meeting only to leave work at 7PM and go to some fancy restaurant because your apartment’s kitchen is too small to cook anything more than a Lean Cuisine meal. You stay up too late drinking and do it all again the next day. You tweet about the weekend in a month where you’ll rent a zip car and go out of the city. You look forward to it but you don’t have to.
It’s scary to think that my nearest restaurant closes at 8PM but why go out when I can cook great meals here with things fresh from my garden or buy food for cheap at the local grocery store at least cheaper than what I paid in SF.
My advice to those who are in cities by choice or not is that they get out. Get out not because cities are that terrible but because I feel that your routine is dangerous and each day in a city is a day you get closer to no longer living a full life. Life in the country, on the surface doesn’t seem to be for everyone. In fact, it is. Everyone can live like this and the only thing you give up is the convenience of late night food and really great martinis. When you realize that it’s more rewarding to be self sufficient, you can use the money you saved to build up the city around you.
At home, I have a home theatre and watch all of the latest movies. I have a full bar and beer and wine cellar. I entertain people, host parties and have events at my place. I perfected coffee and lattes at home so Starbucks is just a grind and boiling water away from being in my cup. I brought the amenities of the city to me. I think the biggest thing about living in the country that I can’t replace is the sex. The sex with such a diverse group of people and the amazingness that, on OKCupid, there are hundreds of girls within walking distance that are compatible with me and single. If you value city-life because dating and sex are so important to you, stay in the city.
I don’t care about sex or dating. It’s not because I have a girlfriend. It’s because I really DON’T care about it. I tell all of my guy and girl friends. The greatest women in my life are the ones that I never had sex with. I have the best friendships because I never ditched a guy friend to go talk to a hot girl or schemed and plotted to sleep with a girl friend of mine. In the country. I literally can not leave my house for 2 weeks and it’s fine. I have a freezer full of food, a big yard and a team based entirely in Europe. I don’t need sex or dating or cocktails with a friend of a friend who shares 200 mutual friends with me on Facebook. I don’t need that and if that’s what you need, stay in New York. If you’re in a city and you could care less about the dating and late night Dim Sum, then I challenge you to try living in a cabin in the woods.
It’s been the greatest experience in my life and I never want to leave. It’s been a dream come true living here.
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I think it’s good that I mention that I rent my place on AirBNB. For friends, the cabin is free to stay in. You can stay here with me and I’ll cook for you or I’ll stay with my GF And you can have the place all to yourself. Any readers interested in a weekend getaway in the woods, feel free to check out my place on AirBNB.
