The Secret Cure for Mental Illness: Discomfort
Returning to simple, impractical living is helping me recover from depression.
This morning, I went to collect fire, accompanied by Rocky the mountain dog. Collecting sticks seemed like the best game ever to my fluffy friend, and he made the job somewhat more entertaining by stealing all my logs and chewing them to pieces. Despite the fact that we were in a jungle filled with sticks, the ones I had collected were just so much more interesting.
Even when your work is not being sabotaged by a cheeky little doggo, collecting firewood takes time. Everything takes time here.
I am doing work away (volunteering in exchange for food and board) on a farm in the Indian Himalayas, three acres of land tucked up on the top of a hill, surrounded by jungle.
The lifestyle is simple — we have everything we could need, but no extra comforts. To get any supplies that aren’t grown on the farm, we have to hike down to the nearest village, one hour’s trek down a treacherous mountain path, and from there catch a bus to the nearest shop, and then lug everything back up. We cook food on an open fire and wash ourselves with buckets of cold water. Washing clothes means soap and water, scrubbing out stains, and wringing the water out until your arms ache. We only…
