Labels of Simple Living and Voluntary Simplicity

So what’s in a name? How do we describe our life afloat?

I really think that one of the great things about living aboard a boat and cruising is that we can choose a lifestyle that is close to nature, simple, and sustainable from a personal and environmental perspective. There’s actually a name for this kind of lifestyle, for those who live on land rather than aboard a boat. It is called Voluntary Simplicity. The amazing thing is that many, if not most of the cruisers and liveaboard boaters out there are living simply or further choosing voluntary simplicity as a life philosophy but without really know of there’s a descriptive term for both. They’re just living it. Many have embraced this life wholeheartedly–knowing that it is right for them yet not knowing about the “others” out there. Interesting.

Here’s a great blog post about what voluntary simplicity is NOT. Link

Here’s a blog post that I wrote on this topic a couple months ago on our “other” blog (that blog is about working while cruising). Link

Our Finch Neighbors

Posted on by Brenda under Pete's Harbor, photos, wildlife

finch

The boaters may be leaving but our little finch neighbors remain.

Civic Duty vs Whistling in the Dark

Posted on by Brenda under Musings, Pete's Harbor

I’m beginning to think this blog is never going to find its way back to the realities of Sailing Mahdee! This week, I took the time to sit down and make comments on the 1200 page EIR package for the proposed development project at Pete’s Harbor. The process took more effort than expected because I was unfamiliar with the particulars of the Redwood City General Plan–another 1000 pages of plan, appendices, comments, it’s own EIR, addendum, and errata. Gracious! The real civic duty for the citizens of Redwood City includes a heavy load of reading, for sure.

What I’m not quite sure of is why I bothered–except I remember the days of being on the other side of the table when I worked for a government agency that did real public outreach and really did care about what all the stakeholders had to say. Silly me.

You must have some background: I’m one of the people who was happily drinking the Kool-Aid of reinventing government (at the Federal level, at least) in 1997. Since we moved aboard the boat, I must admit I traded in my hard copy of the simple little book The Blair House Papers that said so much, for an e-book version that took up less space aboard.

After sitting through 5 hours of a planning commission meeting–much of it on unrelated projects–I ultimately endured the agony of listening to the landowner’s lawyer twist a knife of hurtful and calculatedly defaming comments in the back of the live-aboard tenants of the marina.

Today I feel like slapping myself and saying “wake up, you’re back in the purgatory of small town politics!”

How could I forget? It’s been too long, now I remember what I’ve always hated about small towns: the impacts of group-think and cronyism in small town politics. Yes, I know that the same risks exist at county, state, and national levels here in the USA. It’s just more sophisticated the further up the power chain you get. Easier to ignore. Even a Pollyanna like me can connect the dots at this simple, small town level. I’d rather be whistling in the dark, but once you’ve shined a flashlight on the face of that darkness, it’s hard to go back to sleep.