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  • TDS Moderators: AlphaMethylPhenyl | paranoid android

Mental Health Think I can take a LOT more

jasperkent said:
As an old hippie (literally a child of the 60s), what I hear you describing is a rural commune. In the 60s and 70s many of these were founded and the vast majority of them failed for various reasons. The ones that survive are usually faith-based. Not all are cults per se, but they are all cult-like. I immediately think of The Farm here in Tennessee. If some folks could get together and establish a community with strong principles and dedicated participants without the religious crap, I might be interested. Check out the links below to get ideas about what they're doing right (and wrong):
Click to expand...
Israel has kibbutzes, but they have largely turned into free labour camps where the kibbutz owners can profit off of your free labour in exchange for giving you shit housing and some food.

Freetown Christiana seems to be great but doesn’t allow any substances other than cannabis, alcohol, and tobacco and also has a years-long waitlist.

I have strongly considered starting my own commune one day, but that is probably at least a couple decades down the line. Gotta see the world first and all that. And also get some good skills, a career, and a ton of savings.
 
arrall said:
Freetown Christiana seems to be great but doesn’t allow any substances other than cannabis, alcohol, and tobacco and also has a years-long waitlist.
Click to expand...
Fascinating. I'd never heard of this place till now so I Googled it. Sounds kinda cool but I didn't read the whole article. By the name, I'm assuming there's a Christian element?

One similarity with The Farm is that locals seem to like the folks there. You can imagine that when a bunch of long-haired hippies from California came to rural Tennessee in 1971, they were met with a lot of suspicion from the locals. They were. But over the years the hippies proved themselves to be law-abiding, generous, and not trying to push some Commie Agenda on anyone. The locals have accepted them.

Nevertheless, I've talked to couple of people who've visited The Farm (many years ago) and there are a couple of stories that rub me the wrong way. If y'all are interested I'll share them later.

My best friend wanted to start a commune for years. We discussed it at length many times. He was extremely idealistic about it, so I always played Devil's Advocate. I can be a bit of a cynic although I don't always like that part of me. For whatever reason, the commune never happened.
 
I do my best to make a sort of Utopia out of my own little world. It is NOT ideal.
I take care of my mother who has dementia which wears me out emotionally.
I work at a job which wears me out physically.
I have financial woes and lingering substance abuse issues.
BUT I also have my beloved dog, a garden, and 10 acres on which I can pretty much do what I want-- like take a piss outside whenever I feel like it (It's a man thing-- you gals wouldn't understand).
I also have a best friend of nearly 50 years. We talk every day or so and see each other once a week.
Do I LOVE my life? No.
Am I content? Usually.
That's better than most people on this planet can say, so I feel pretty fortunate.

Ya do what ya can with what ya got.
 
in hindsight i am seeing a process and pattern of onset of my "crazy" episodes. just now got to thinking that maybe if i can identify where the process starts there may be a key to break these cycles of insanity and instead of "breaking out" i can use that key to walk out of this prison at will.
high hopes..... lots of work maybe to pinpoint these kick off points.
 
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