This is a strange world we live in.  I think the system puts too much pressure on people to conform to a specific kind of life that is promoted as beneficial, without considering the alternatives.  If you don't fit in, it's because there's something wrong with you - and not the environment you're trying to thrive in.

I don't understand why people believe it is so hard, crazy, or misguided to want to live in a 400 sq ft home, off the grid, and self sustainably. You know what's hard, and irrational?  Spending 16 or more years in school, borrowing money based on the concept that you will be able to find a job that will afford you that education, and qualify you to take on a bigger debt that will take you another 15-25 years to pay off, provided that you assumed right, and will keep a job that will allow you to make payments on that mortgage for that entire amortization period, regardless on the future strength of economy and future interest rates. It's crazy to want to risk everything you have ever worked for by depending on a system that is totally unsustainable.  The banks do not create money out of thin air - they borrow it too. The loans that they take out can be recalled at any time, and it will be us who will pay that bill.  If the lifestyle of the masses is based on loans, where in the fuck does the money we need to pay interest come from?  More fucking loans.  

I read an article or two about end of life regrets.  People on their death beds were asked what they regret most about life, and what they wish they did with their time on earth instead.  Most put working too hard for too long on the top of their lists.  They wish they spent more time with family, and allotted themselves enough time to travel and experience more that the world has to offer.  Instead they spent 40 or more hours per week working jobs they hated for 40-50 years, for people they didn't want to spend time with, and gaining skills and completing tasks that didn't better them as people at all.  I listen to those people, and take their advice to heart.  I don't want to feel as though I wasted my life either, and I know there are better and sometimes easier ways to cut a path and do well in life, just by defining "doing well" differently. 

I want to tell you about the story of a close friend of the family.  My dad met him while they were both sailing on a cargo ship that traveled around the great lakes, and sometimes overseas.  His food and board were always taken care of by the shipping company, and he was paid very well, so he always had a lot of disposible income. He has kids, and wife, but he never saw them.  He would miss birthdays, and important life moments.  I still remember how sad it was when my dad went away, and no amount of gifts or anything would help me understand why he always had to go and be gone for 6 months at a time. Eventually my dad realised it wasn't worth it, and decided to take a job closer to home.  Our friend stayed on the boats, and continued to miss out on his childrens lives, and then grandchildrens lives.  One day he came down with a cold. Once he got to port he went to the doctor who told him that he had advanced cancer in his throat.  He died 3 weeks later.   I know that he spent his whole life working very hard in order to provide for his family, in the hopes that he would one day be able to sit back and enjoy everything he had worked for this whole time.  Now his wife and kids wish he spent more time at home, and know that there isn't a house or bank balance big enough to make up for the lost time they wish they spent with him.   Quality - not quantity. 

Humans are animals, and we all have certain things we need to survive and thrive.  If you look at some species of animals, they do not do well in captivity, even when all of there food, shelter, and medical needs are met, and even exceed that of what they would have in the wild.  Some species survive in these artificial habitats, but they don't thrive, and have shorter life spans, and/or will not reproduce successfully.   Why are we any different?   I don't think we evovled enough to thrive in a concrete jungle.   We've got people running on treadmills, and lifting weights, in a gym, because there's nothing in their lives that require them to do physical activity, and if they don't stay active, they will likely suffer or die from some obesity related illness.   You don't need the gym, you need to stop living this artificial life, and go do some physical work that provides you with the food and shelter you need.  

Take my chameleon for example.  He lives inside, so I have to give him a UVB light to replace the natural sunlight he would be getting if he lived in the wild. Otherwise he wouldn't be able to metabolise calcium and his bones would go soft.  He would starve if I didn't feed him, just like we would if the grocery stores went empty.  Without his heat lamp he would freeze to death, just like we would if our furnaces stopped working. 

It would be easier for him to live if I just let him loose in Florida, just like I think it would be easier to live if I didn't rely on the system.