How bushcraft changed your life....

[Kim]

This question may not apply to everybody, particularly those who have grown up in a particuarlarly 'green' environment, or been involved in careers that have meant they've been directly involved with bushcraft type skills, but...

How did bushcraft/a bushcraft course change your life?

I know the person I was when I arrived at my fundemental course last July, wasn't the person who left, and I left with a great deal more than I came with in more ways than one. I left not just with skills I'd never had before, knowledge no one had ever taught me before, having completed tasks I never imagined completing, but I left with a new sense of possibility, both about the things I could do and who I could be, the places I could go and a lifestyle I could begin to strive for. And equally as important, I left having made new and lasting friends. Ever since that week the people I have come across having any connection to 'bushcraft' (and I use that term in a general sense) have been nothing but welcoming, willing to share their knowledge and their experiences as if they were friends of old. I can never go back now to the mental landscape I was living in before. It's not always easy, there are times when it feels like the hardest thing to keep on existing in a world that seems just a little off kilter, having lost touch with all that sustains it, but it's an enormous comfort to me to read posts on this site and realise that I'm not the only one who feels that way. Since that week I'm outside a lot more, walking a lot more, looking at the world around me like the living thing it is and learning to appreciate it as such. I'm even hoping to get myself a little allotment (I have no garden). I'm heading of to Sweden next year, plus another tracking course and hopefully the year after to the wilds of america. There's no going back now.
So, here's to a return to the earth, in whatever way that means.

[JakeR]

Nice one Kim. I haven't yet had any "life changing" experiences, as the outdoors have always been a big part in my life anyway. I haven't yet done a bushcraft course yet so have no idea what skills i will leave woodlore with come september.

We'll see!

[C_Claycomb]

Bushcraft has changed my life because I now have a label that I can hang on all the things that I like doing which before, people had simply called excentric, strange, or plain worrying :wink:

Now I can point at the things that Ray does on TV ):

Also, and this is better, it has brought me into contact with more like minded deviants. I have made friends who understand the appeal of drying fungi on the radiators and peering at muddy ground when on walks.

:rolmao:

[RovingArcher]

Good thread. I more or less grew up in the bush, but didn't really connect with it on a more personal/spiritual level for many years. Once I made that connection, my life changed 180 degrees for the better. There is something about being in Nature as part of it that makes us better than we were, in so many ways.

If I had one wish I could bestow on people, it would be that they find a greater understanding of Nature and how she works. It could only make everyones life here a whole lot better.

[maddave]

Bushcraft has changed my life because I now have a label that I can hang on all the things that I like doing which before, people had simply called excentric, strange, or plain worrying :wink:

Now I can point at the things that Ray does on TV ):

Also, and this is better, it has brought me into contact with more like minded deviants. I have made friends who understand the appeal of drying fungi on the radiators and peering at muddy ground when on walks.

:rolmao:

Couldn't have put it better myself.. This is EXACTLY how it changed my life. Before people used to ask if I was a 'survivalist' or suchlike. Now when you say "I do stuff like Ray Mears on the telly" They say "Cool, can ya show me some of yer stuff" It seems TV has become the catalyst for the acceptability of our craft. Bravo I say !! :biggthump

[paul thomas]

I have always been interested in what is now known as bushcraftsince about age of ten and i am now nearly sixty.The term survivalist never sat well with me a bit Ramboish.Since i found this site i am bankrupt but happy never knew where to get all the goodies before.Chris thinks i have problem its called addiction to good knives. paul

[JakeR]

I think it must have something to do with our genetics. Sitting round a fire in the outdoors has a certain calm about it. Possibly dating back to our cavemen days :?:

[Stuart]

Like Chris I think bushcraft just gave what I did a name

What really made a difference was BCUK

The only thing more special than doing what you love, is doing it in the company of good freinds

[grumit]

well said stuart i totaly agree :wave: (hows the jungle)

[TheViking]

Like Chris I think bushcraft just gave what I did a name

Yeah. :biggthump
I've been interested in survival since about the age of 10-11. And of course I searched the net for all available info and found, surprisingly not, a lot of american sites. Then all this stuff with kits and disasters, etc, made me sick. :shock: With age I became more interested in outdoor life, and I think when you hit outdoor life and survival skills together, it becomes bushcraft.

And as we all know bushcraft is different from survival and outdoor life.
When I found BCUK it all changed. Everyday when home from school, I check the new posts and PM's as the first. :wave: :biggthump

Cheers.

[tomtom]

yeh i got to a agree there.. course the name bought us all together to, and thats a pretty good thing i reckon! :wink:

[JakeR]

How did i forget that?! BCUK was what helped me get initially hooked on Bushcraft, and enabled me to talk to like-minders and create friendships. This site really is very, very important to me. And it's Tony, the Mods, and the people that make it happen. You guys rock.

[hootchi]

Couldn't have put it better myself.. This is EXACTLY how it changed my life. Before people used to ask if I was a 'survivalist' or suchlike. Now when you say "I do stuff like Ray Mears on the telly" They say "Cool, can ya show me some of yer stuff" It seems TV has become the catalyst for the acceptability of our craft. Bravo I say !! :biggthump

How did i forget that?! BCUK was what helped me get initially hooked on Bushcraft, and enabled me to talk to like-minders and create friendships. This site really is very, very important to me. And it's Tony, the Mods, and the people that make it happen. You guys rock.

I agree
I think that we have Ray Mears and the people who run this site to thank immensely. I wish I could meet some of them.
Thank You
:uu:

[JakeR]

I can't wait for the meet-up for the exact same reason.

[Rod]

I would echo Chris & Paul's comments, in that it gave a name to what I have been doing for a good while. I did a tracking course with Ian Maxwell earlier this year and that opened my eyes further still, brought some things into focus, as it were and taught me better ways of doing things in others.

The bcuk website has put me in touch with other like minded individuals and confirms my long held suspicion that we are not alone! :wink:

It's great to know you're probably not the only weirdo in the woods

[whitebuffalo]

I think Bushcraft is both a blessing and a curse.

A blessing because I can do things and enjoy things which dont cost the earth (literally).

A curse because I know I can never feel happy living in a world which is so twisted and out of sink with nature. Not just flora and fauna nature but our own nature also. We are told unnatural thing should be exceptable, gay love, pollution, artificial light and even our enforced race against time to name but a few of our twisted lies.

Bushcraft has unblinkered my eyes and sometimes the truth I see scares me.

[al]

gay love being twisted , thats a wind up right ?, whats wrong with gay people? i thought this craft crossed barriers and bridges, gay love twisted :rolmao: in a world full of hate its outragious to hold that against someone, what is wrong with loving someone?

[JakeR]

Well said al, im sure you meant no harm. But i doubt that comment is welcome here, i won't start ranting, just be wary of that.