Thoreau and Self-Reliance

I have always been fascinated with classic literature, and I have real admiration for Emerson, and Thoreau. Maybe this fascination comes from having grown up in New England. Maybe it comes from my love of nature, reflection, and self-reliance.

At a young age, I found myself facing the realities of being in high school and needing a job to pay for my own housing. I went to school, worked, and took on the responsibilities that my family didn't care to...I was on my own, designing a life, and learning to be self-reliant.

Do you consider yourself self-reliant? Maybe you want to become more self-reliant? Do you like the idea of living life on your own terms? Does the idea of being dependent on someone or something disturb you? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you’re someone who needs to take a look at the writings of Henry David Thoreau. Thoreau was one of the leaders of the self-reliant movement in the United States. He is best known for his book Walden, which has become the bible of self-reliance for environmentalists, iconoclasts and anyone with a love of nature and love of themselves and their unique way of life.

Thoreau lived at a unique time in history. Nineteenth century America was in the middle of the Industrial Revolution. The mechanization of labor was bringing great changes to the young nation. Factories and mills were springing up everywhere, replacing the small workshops and smithies that once manufactured goods. The populations of cities and towns were exploding, as people flooded in from the countryside looking for jobs in the new mills and factories. A new middle class was arising due to the managerial positions now available. This middle class wanted all the trappings of their new found wealth. They wanted houses and they wanted possessions to fill those houses.

Thoreau looked at all these developments with distrust and disgust. He saw friends who thought they were free but were actually enslaved. Yes, they lived in fine houses, but they didn’t own them. Instead, the houses were actually owned by banks and mortgage companies and the people in the houses lived to pay those mortgages. The same was true of the possessions in those houses. Thoreau saw an entire generation becoming dulled and insensitive to what actually was important in life.

As a response, Thoreau went into the woods to try and live as self-sufficiently as possible. He built his own cabin. He made what possessions he needed and what he couldn’t make, he traded for using his own labor. For over two years, he lived his life on his own terms, free and independent, owing no other person. The result of this two year experiment in self-reliance was Walden, a chronicle of his two years living off the land in a nearly self-sufficient state. Today, people read the lessons that Thoreau taught in Walden in order to learn how to develop greater self-reliance in their own lives. For anyone interested in the ideas of independence and freedom, Henry David Thoreau is a must read.

But is it truly possible to live a life of self-sufficiency? We all have choices. I prefer to have the luxuries of my car, cell phone, Internet, and television, and all the other things that I include in my life. There is an exchange that takes place...I choose what I want in my life and work to pay for them. I do have a mortgage, not a cabin in the woods like Thoreau. 

Yesterday, I mentioned that I plan on decluttering for Lent this year. I will put at least one item into a garbage bag or recycle bin. I'm also going on a spending freeze, so I'm not buying unnecessary items. In this way, I will use the saved funds to pay an extra payment on my credit cards or an extra payment towards my mortgage. I will make responsible choices and be more self-aware of how I am spending my time and money.

What do you think self-reliance looks like? How would your life be if you were debt free? This type of lifestyle certainly opens up doors of opportunities and ways of making a difference by choosing how you will spend your time, your most valuable resource, and your money.

I hope you'll give self-reliance some thought as you design your Intentional Life.

Cheers!

Lisa