Hi, Phoenix here continuing the winter homesteading blog series. In this post, I want to talk about the susceptibility to social isolation while homesteading. K and I live about an hour and a half outside of town, and try to limit driving that far to once or twice a week. This brings up several challenges.
- It’s more difficult to meet up with friends. It takes a lot of time for them to travel here, or for us to meet them in town.
- Participating in group activities is more challenging, especially if they’re taking place on a day of the week we can’t go to town.
- Homesteading is unto itself a big time-commitment, so carving out time for a weekly meeting like religious gathering is sometimes just unrealistic.
- These challenges exist in other times of the year as well, but are exacerbated by short days, restricted outdoor activities, and bad road conditions.
This isolation exacerbates my depression and makes me feel like I’m a bad friend to those in town.
Thankfully, we have a good network of neighbors here, which keeps the social isolation at bay. With some planning, we also have friends come over or we visit them while we’re in town. We attend community meetings and there are local spiritual groups we could check out.
So, yes, there is risk of social isolation while homesteading. But there are ways to maintain your sanity and to form some close bonds with those around you.
Next blog post: Ode to weather monitors (by Phoenix)