Living In The Countryside In The Internet Age: The Story Behind The Alternative Blog

One of the main regrets of people at the end of their days is “not having the courage to do what they wanted to do and not what others expected them to do.” That’s what Bronnie Ware, an expert in palliative care, confesses in her book The top five regrets of the dying .

Other common regrets are: not having been happier or more faithful to himself, not having enjoyed more friends and loved ones, and not having dedicated less to work and more to living. We feel something like this, but without having reached an advanced age or seeing ourselves in a situation of no return.

We lived in the province of Barcelona, ​​where one of us had moved for love 15 years earlier from Vizcaya. We had stable jobs, a mortgage, and we postponed the freedom to retirement, which by the way derives from “joy.”

Our life was moderately satisfying, but we realized that we were aspiring for something more. That Life could not be “just” being born, signing, consuming and dying.

The catharsis in our case did not come from outside, from an illness, an accident, a duel or stress. It was the first year of our son’s life that made us rethink what we were doing, why and where we wanted to go. But it was not sudden …

Searching for coherence led us to live in the countryside

We had been attending Biocultura for years and getting to know other ways of life, reading, doing retreats and courses on personal development, natural nutrition and Perennial Wisdom.

“Our internal life did not correspond to the external one and, thanks to the conscious upbringing of a baby, we had the certainty of wanting something different and the strength to carry it out”

In order not to rush, we decided to answer both independently to two existential questions: what would we do if we won the lottery? And what would we do if we had one year to live? And the answers convinced us.

We didn’t need to die or be rich: it was just a matter of deserting and starting to walk. It was 2006, before the crisis and the labor hecatomb, and decisions were made with another margin of maneuver.

Even so, many took us for aliens when we announced the decision to leave two permanent jobs and go to a small town in the mountains of La Rioja Baja, where we met on vacation and the roots of our ancestors are sinking.

In the 50s, 60s and 70s there was a huge demographic shift from towns to cities in Spain. Our parents were expelled in full childhood from their homes to the industrial centers of the Basque Country and Catalonia due to social circumstances and scarcity.

Some 40 years later, we did the reverse path, but freely, with maturity, studies, resources and the will to lead a life with purpose.

Not everything is so easy, but it’s worth it

It was not all “said and done”, but it took us three years to sell the apartment. The housing market fell and our initial budget fell apart, but we readjusted our plans as we went.

We debuted with a blog of long and incisive articles, “The finger on the wound”, in 2007, which lasted several years.

In 2008 we opened El Blog Alternativo. There were numerous thematic blogs, but none that reflected the holistic and varied world that we liked, and we decided to create it ourselves: slow life, ecology, simplicity, respectful parenting, alternative pedagogies, healthy cooking, natural health, personal growth, spirituality and denunciation of the system. .

The idea was a blog-cocktail of the magazines that inspired us: Cuerpomente – present in our lives since we were young -, The Ecologist, Integral and the extinct Athanor and Crianza Natural.

Then we opened La Cocina Alternativa and from here the cooking classes and other collaborations were born.

Living in a town in the 21st century

Until relatively recently, agriculture, livestock, crafts or a hippy and contemplative life seemed the only options offered by the rural world. However, nowadays, the situation has changed to forced marches and it is possible to reside IN the field without living FROM the field.

“Neither the cities are a Gold of prosperity and employment for all, nor the towns the refuge of retirees”

Thanks to new technologies, towns are increasingly attracting new residents, whether they are banished from the urban market in search of second opportunities, digital entrepreneurs with freedom of movement or romantics of slow life and nature.

There is no single profile of neo-rurals, or of experiences: repopulating abandoned towns, living in ecovillages, squatting, organizing around newly minted free schools, residing in dormitory towns near large cities or simply wanting a greener life.

The towns are open to new neighbors, but they don’t give anything away, nor do they have to be a bed of roses. The adaptation and “success” will depend on the expectations, budget, motivation and circumstances of each one.

“Living in the countryside is not a matter of luck, but of decisions that also have a price”

In our case, everyday life in a small town is very satisfying and full of events, boredom is impossible when living in a community with children; But the road to economic self-sufficiency has been much longer, more hostile and difficult than we had imagined.

Many people tell us that “how lucky” to live in the countryside surrounded by nature, and we always answer them that it is not about luck but about decisions. Because life is built based on decisions, knowing that there is a price to pay for many of them …

Blogs and projects: www.elblogalternativo.com www.lacocinaalternativa.com www.programadeliciosamentesano.com

A thoughtful decision led María del Mar Jiménez and Ángel González to leave their job and home in Barcelona to settle in a town in La Rioja Baja and live off vocational jobs, spreading what they believe in.

They are behind blogs like the Alternative Blog or La Cocina Alternativa, they run the Deliciosmente Sano online school, give talks and workshops, design recipes, manage social networks related to healthy living and prepare a new project: Conscious Home.