Deep in The Woods

When people meet me abroad or in my home country, they don’t quite understand why I live my life the way I do.

A cabin in the woods, authors photo.

I don’t have many things.

I don’t want many things.

I often joke that I want to live far away from society in the mountains. It is not a joke for me, but sometimes, to make others more comfortable, I chuckle when I say it.

I have never questioned why I am like this, but instead, I ask why I am still like this. I tried for years to be ¨normal¨, or what society considers normal.

I tried to dress up and play the part, but that is all it was — dress up, a character that led me into a deep despair of misery.

See, I was raised deep in a holler, away from civilization. It is in my blood to seek an unconventional life. It is not only in my blood but also who I am; it makes me happy.

Yesterday, I visited the holler where I grew up. It has changed a lot, but the house that my father built is still standing almost 45 years later.

photo by author.

Abandoned.