A Young Lad in a Community

So you might be wondering why a young lad like myself is writing a blog about community living.  Isn't community living for elderly people or hippies? Well yes and no; I have to agree that most of my community are either hippies, aging, or both, but I am not. I might be a little bit of a hippie but not a true one.

My experience with community living started when I was four, when my parents moved to a budding little permaculture village in the sunshine coast hinterlands called Crystal Waters. I grew up in a love/hate relationship with the community but stuck it out until I was seventeen. I then moved to the Sunshine Coast to experience the "real world" which I enjoyed very much. I had a tendency to more around a lot and lived in many different places, but once I hit twenty-eight I had enough of it and decided to stop moving around as much. This is when I looked on the map and tried to put down a spot where I could see myself for the next four to five years. Surprisingly I kept on coming back to Crystal Waters, but I did not know why. My thoughts kept on telling me, "no you can't move back to where you grew up" but then I lost my job and my girlfriend of the time broke up with me and the decision was made for me. I had to move back to my dad’s place as I didn't have the coin to live anywhere else.

To my utter astonishment, not only did I like it here, I thrived. It has been the best thing for my health and my social skills. But why is such a type of lifestyle good for me? Is it just me or can all people benefit from living the community lifestyle? I have decided that the best way to find out is to write a blog about my thoughts and experiences on community living,if I can spot if the benefits are just for my personality type, whether it has something to do with my upbringing, or if people in the "real world" can use some community practices to make their life a more special and meaningful one. I have a feeling this blog might get a little personal and sometimes a bit confronting for me. But hey, if I can crack the code to my happiness and help others in the process, so be it.