The Pros and Cons of Moving to the Mountain

Posted on 06/04/2016

How does the idea of moving house to the mountain sound? Don’t be so quick to say yay or nay, there are some facts you will have to consider. The idea of living out in the fresh air is not for everybody, after all, and sometimes people who think they want it end up stranded literally in the middle of nowhere without a Plan B. And sometimes people who don’t like the idea, but do try it, realise that it is sort of a dream come true, getting out of the hectic city life and exchanging it with utter tranquillity. But before you start making any moving checklists and looking for removal companies, you should see the pluses and minuses of living in the mountain are.

Pros

•    Man and the natural world – You wake up to natural scenery and beautiful surroundings on a daily basis. This is the perfect place to realise just how beautiful nature is and now many gifts it actually bears for those willing to explore it.

•    Isolation – No more chaos and others to bump to. Your neighbour’s feelings about something will no longer be relevant in your contemplation about how to spend your day. You will be able to hear your own thoughts and reflect only on them, without any consideration about how others may feel about it. No more crowds and litter and queues and bumping.

•    Philosophy of existence – What better place to think about life, the universe, and everything? You will have all the time in the world to contemplate your place in the universe and how to fill it. You will have the infinite sky as a worksheet and your imagination as a pen.

•    Life as a hippie – If you ever wondered what true freedom feels like and what all those hippies you’ve seen on the streets want, then this is how it’s done. Imagine sipping coffee on top of a cliff, overlooking a busy town or a village. Imagine having dinner under the starts on a nightly basis. This is what freedom us and you can experience it.

Cons

•    Living in nature – This is not for everybody. Some people have become too reliant on electricity and internet and social media to be torn from it. If you are struggling without your laptop, then this life is not for you.

•    Self-reliance – Emerson spoke of self-reliance and Thoreau managed to pull it off by living in solitude for two years, but not everybody can be a loner. Some people are social animals and if they get out of their natural habitat, they cannot thrive.

•    Weather conditions – It’s the mountains. If you expect it to be a sunny day every day, then you are living in delusion. Expect rain, expect wind, even expect snow in the colder seasons. This is nature’s way of teaching respect.

•    The wilderness – There is a reason nature is wild. You never know what to expect there. You can see everything in the mountains, including anything from ants to mountain goats to mountain bears. There is no telling what you may wake up to the next day – and such surprises are not for everybody.

At the end of the day, you get to choose whether you want nature, wilderness, peace, and solitude, or social life, convention, people, and utilities. Then the making of the moving checklist can commence and you can plan your relocation to the mountains. There are many things that could go wrong, but there are also those that go right, so you decide whether mountain life is right for you and then start loading up that removal van.