MINIMALISM & SURVIVAL KITS
LIFE EXPERIENCES SHOULD WIN OVER OWNING STUFF
When I was 10, maybe 12; the world spun on the axis of outdoorsmanship. I loved making survival kits. I’m not sure what catastrophe I thought I was planning for, but I would spend countless hours jamming 2 matches, 6 inches of dental floss, a 2ft square of tin foil and a couple fishhooks into a waterproof matchbox you could hang around your neck on a string. If I was really on my game I’d probably have managed a penknife and a whistle in there too.
These survival kits represented more about a concept of minimalism then they ever did actual usage. I think other then a few notable times that I took this kit, and several others ( my biggest one fit in a small army first aid kit ) they were really just about the exercise of Tetrising the parts into a seemingly impossible holder, and the eventual removal and re-packing of everything to get it just right.
I grew up on a small family farm in the north of Canada. During most of that stage of my life we didn’t really have electricity, or running water. Television was a treat my family would experience when visiting ‘city folks’. I love that I grew up playing in trees and learning to live off the land, but I blame this off-grid time for my current day uselessness during pop culture quizzes, and music bingo. You don’t want me on your music trivia team.
Throughout my teens, and early married life I lived in the North, involved in agriculture with animals and helping to raise a couple of ginger gals who seem to have taken on animal husbandry and environmental stewardship, and for which I’m very proud of them.
Currently I live in and work from a 24′ school bus based on Vancouver Island and couldn’t be happier. I’ve spent the several years converting it from brown ‘pleather’ seats and fossilized bubble gum, to a cozy little cottage on wheels with a standup desk and room to sleep four. It has 640W of solar power, a full kitchen, bathroom and a roof deck. My #calvaryshortbus home is not unlike the survival kits of my youth. These days I often spend time designing ways to fit little comforts of life into the bus, getting similar feelings of accomplishment from wiring lights, and designing storage, then I did as a kid building survival kits in the North.
Do more with less, instead of owning more stuff.
Learn to fix it, modify it, upgrade it. Game the system by keeping things working.
If you have to talk yourself into going to work every day, you are doing it wrong. Quit and discover your real life.
Spend money on experiences. Travel, concerts, events. These will give you more joy than the newest gadget ever will.