Off the Map and Into Reality

This past weekend I went to see Off the Map. The movie initially appealed to me because it was about a family in New Mexico that were living off the grid. I enjoyed the movie for many reasons. Although dramatic, the movie had many moments of comic relief. I want to be William, who leaves the corporate world behind and stays in New Mexico to paint. I’ll never be William. It’s a nice fantasy.
When I was a young girl, I loved watching the TV series, Little House on the Prairie. I read the books. I missed few of the series' shows. I was drawn to the series because, even at a young age, I felt I had been born too late; that I should have been born much sooner. What normal kid listens to big band music in her bed at night? I feel that to truly live in my element, I would have been born in the mid-1800s. Wouldn’t it be great to think of the invention of toilet paper (in 1879) as the ultimate in luxury? I know I would have survived well and flourished. I know this. Is it because I’ve already lived a life back then? Shirley MacLaine would undoubtedly say yes, but I don’t know much about reincarnation and don’t currently harbor any belief that we live our lives over and over and over again (a concept also explored in one of my recent reads, In the Land of Second Chances). I can only say that I have very strong feelings about living in the 1800s. I believe this is why I am drawn to the concept of voluntary simplicity. Although well-cushioned in my own material trappings, I fantasize about living with much less. I haven’t yet found a way to break free from all the trappings. For now, I read about simplicity, visit areas that utilize strawbale construction (such as Narrow Ridge Earth Literary Center, www.narrowridge.org) and other sustainable living elements, cut down on gift-giving (I’ve managed to just about make materialistic gift-buying at Christmas an obsolete practice), etc. What I want to do is get rid of tons of "stuff" that I own, live more responsibly in a smaller residence (I currently rent a big old house built in 1899 that is nowhere near energy efficient in the winter but stays remarkably cool in the summer), cut down television viewing to one hour per day or less, listen to more music and national public radio, read more, take walks more often to explore nature (whether urban or rural), and, well, you get the idea. I’d also like to make a quilt. Completely by hand. With all that fabric I have stored away. Big sigh. Someday. I hope there’s enough time left to break out, let go, and really live.