Am I Mad ?...

[Ivan...]

I have had the last couple of weeks in suburbia , house sitting for a pal etc etc , and am fortunate enough to be going wild camping tomorrow for a few days , but i have hated every moment of the most recent period.

My question is am i a bit wierd , by yearning to spend all of my free time in the woods ? I am luckier than most , as i spend nearly all of my time on Dartmoor , with my job , so i can just wander up on the open moor or to a choice of woods , pretty much whenever i please .

So make me feel better , by not thinking it odd, to yearn to aching point to be transported to the woods !

Sensible and foolish answers /comments appreciated .

Ivan...

[Kepis]

Nope not mad at all, im much the same, im itching to get out for a night or two in the woods, yet i spend most of my time in the countryside working like you and only have to walk to the bottom of the garden or 100 yards to the end of the road to get to the South Downs National Park

[Perrari]

People who consider themselves normal think were mad, but were not ! They might be ?

[woodspirits]

Am I Mad ?...

as a box of frogs... ive yet to meet anyone who understands why we do this

[blacktimberwolf]

Having spent the last 20 years in the sticks I couldn't ever go back to living in town....even spending a few hours in a big city now drives me mad, I just wanna get the hell out as soon as possible.
I grew up in suburban London & I've been recovering.ever since.

[tartanferret]

Cabin fever matey !

I've been suffering a bit lately,
just been to MY spot in my local woods to discover it's been logged. GUTTED !,

So found a new temporary spot, lit up my pop can stove and re-heated yesterdays beef stew.

I feel better !

Life is good !

All the best Ivan !

jon

[drewdunnrespect]

gentleman there is no such thing as normal for me because what is nromal is usually common and who wants to be as common as the next chav or whatever. so how can yearning for the woods be odd or wierd So when posed with a question like this i always answer with the same answer in that i reply with.

apply the scales of life philosiphy


now what are the scales of life?

imagine a set of old fashioned scales on your kitchen counter and on one side there is a tray with the word unhappiness written on it and on the other is happiness. now you have 100 hundred brick to plce on them now when yu are born they are put on the happiness side and as you grow older they seperate across the two. Now then the philosiphy is this if you are alwys upset why not take control of your own scales and stop leting other people control the balance. The reason for this is we have to spend equal amount of time working on both. I.E working on getting more bricks in to the happiness side than the unhappy just like we have to work on getting the unhappiness side reduced. so if the woods makes you happy get your self there more often and dont bloody worry about it because your taking control of your scales and at the end of the day thats whats most important in life. So sod what anyone else thinks cos there incharge of there scales nd if you arnt hurting them whats there opinion got to do with it.

Now please remember that even though there are two buckets there is a third area and that is a gray erea that is called the i dont give a monkeys area that is gray because what you have to do is get all your unhappy bricks in this area then take the top bricks from this pile and put them in to th happiness bucket and eventually not have a gray area and have all one hundred brick in the happiness area. So if the woods does it for you get your self there and stop letting someone else take control of your scales.

drew

[British Red]

People, like chickens, should not be battery farmed. All this high rise, pack 'em in, its better for the ecology to breed caged humans, socialist clap trap is nonsense.

I consider myself a free range human. Stuff city living - rats have adapted to it because its suited to vermin!

Red

[blacktimberwolf]

Do free range humans taste better that battery farmed ones ?

[tartanferret]

[QUOTE=British Red;1095819]People, like chickens, should not be battery farmed. All this high rise, pack 'em in, its better for the ecology to breed caged humans, socialist clap trap is nonsense.

I consider myself a free range human. Stuff city living - rats have adapted to it because its suited to vermin!

Red[/QUOTE
Give that man a cigar ! (and nope I'm not a big fan ov 'em either)

[Dreadhead]

once you get used to the freedom of the woods, which is only enhanced with learning skills of the woodsman/bushcraftsman tis hard to go back. iv got major cabin fever as back to being mostly bedbound again for now so definitly know how you feel!

[Ivan...]

Wow ! I expected a limited response , and was very much looking forward to the various comments . Drew i like the bricks theory , i actually posed the question with a serious tone .

Won't get too in depth , but various things in my life have led me to where i am now, breakdown of relationship , change of circumstances etc etc , and not long after , saying sod it ! i am doing my woods thing , stuff happened that very nearly made me give up completely, sell my stuff and conform , i am sooo glad i resisted that temptation , and because the few friends i have in the real world think i am nuts ! "Why wood you want to do that ?" referring to the whole woods/bushcrafting/wildcamping thing . But each to their own.

I am not really worried , what people think , i am not hurting anybody , i just wondered if it was "normal " to feel so frustrated about wanting to get the hell out of the town and to the woods .

Well from tomorrow until Thursday most of my bricks are on the happy side of the scales !

And the rat thing , remember you are probably never more than 12 feet away from a bushcrafter !!

Thanks Guys , maybe i am not mad !!

[British Red]

Do free range humans taste better that battery farmed ones ?

The difference with free range humans is...we will enjoy the sport of hunting you back!

Squeel little piggy

[drewdunnrespect]

Wow ! I expected a limited response , and was very much looking forward to the various comments . Drew i like the bricks theory , i actually posed the question with a serious tone .

Won't get too in depth , but various things in my life have led me to where i am now, breakdown of relationship , change of circumstances etc etc , and not long after , saying sod it ! i am doing my woods thing , stuff happened that very nearly made me give up completely, sell my stuff and conform , i am sooo glad i resisted that temptation , and because the few friends i have in the real world think i am nuts ! "Why wood you want to do that ?" referring to the whole woods/bushcrafting/wildcamping thing . But each to their own.

I am not really worried , what people think , i am not hurting anybody , i just wondered if it was "normal " to feel so frustrated about wanting to get the hell out of the town and to the woods .

Well from tomorrow until Thursday most of my bricks are on the happy side of the scales !

And the rat thing , remember you are probably never more than 12 feet away from a bushcrafter !!

Thanks Guys , maybe i am not mad !!

well good going sun glad your going in the right direction

[vizsla]

i honestly think there is a select few of us who truly live for woods and countryside and only feel at home when they are there even within the bushcraft groups, i no a few people who like bushccraft a few weekends a year they like to spend a night or two in the woods but for the rest of there time they live normal town/city lives, then theres people like us when were not out in the wilds were at home learning about it making kit maintaining kit carving etc with that constant itch to get back out there, it is a addiction that is never fully satisfied due to family commitments work money etc

[RonW]

Yep, you're mad!!!

Or at least you would be in my book, if you'd enjoyed staying in the area under the circumstances you discribed!

I was mad enough to leave that all behind and change a larger city with full social life and job for a rural life with a very uncertain future in another country .....

[kiltedpict]

Am I Mad ?...

as a box of frogs... ive yet to meet anyone who understands why we do this

Same here... But by god I'm happier than they are I'm sure!

[kiltedpict]

Do free range humans taste better that battery farmed ones ?

Oh hell yeah, surely if your in an Andes- type plane crash (god forbid!) then free range will be more tasty then battery!

[Hugo]

Dartmoor is a special place to me, I have been there plenty of times over the years, I have never had a bad day whilst being there. You are a lucky man Ivan, enjoy it mate.
Are you mad, no but us guys who like to camp out are a different breed.

[rik_uk3]

once you get used to the freedom of the woods, which is only enhanced with learning skills of the woodsman/bushcraftsman tis hard to go back. iv got major cabin fever as back to being mostly bedbound again for now so definitly know how you feel!

Town and country have individual merits. I have a great love of the outdoors, can see the Beacons from my bedroom window but also enjoy time in the city. A big city is great so long as you have money in your pocket, money gives you freedom to enjoy what a city can offer, good eateries, theatre, museums, etc. The countryside is quieter and certainly cheaper. Both can be wonderful, take the good bits from both.

[eejitabroad]

not wierd,just different.
I am at my happiest faffing in a canoe,wandering about the forests/mountains with a pack and meeting like minded types on my travels

My firsy purchase, post lotto win would be the biggest chuck of mixed forest i could find.
and then,move in!
tartan ferret,see howies.co.uk for the Tshirt! (no affiliation etc)

[redandshane]

Yes Ivan you are mad but that's got nothing to do with wanting to be out in the outdoors; its because you are a mentalist ,geography will not alter that my man
Unfortunately you are also

A genuinely great bloke and the very best of company so stop mithering and enjoy yourself


No I will not start a fan club

[Gray1100]

Well I would if I could, so to me no you are not mad.
Just very lucky.

[Teepee]

Nothing makes me feel more alive than living and travelling in the wilder places with my pack, I just love it.

I yearn for it every day unless I'm there, which is most days TBH.

I've lived in and worked in central London for years and enjoyed it at the time but I honestly couldn't stand the thought of goin back to it now.

Not a clue if your mad, I feel the same way and I wonder myself sometimes

[mrcharly]

Ever heard of 'spoon theory'? It's a way of explaining what life is like for people who have ME and similar debilitating diseases. http://www.butyoudontlooksick.com/ar...e-miserandino/

I reckon it applies to ordinary life, too. Too many stresses, too many things wrong - you run out of spoons. Getting outside, for me and many others, replaces some spoons.

[Dannytsg]

I think for me after being confied to either an office or various building sites 5 days a week it makes my wanting to get out in the solitude of nature a little stronger. I like to take as much time as I can to do so even if I can just get an hour here or there mid-week as well

[TurboGirl]

Oh hell yeah, surely if your in an Andes- type plane crash (god forbid!) then free range will be more tasty then battery!

I'll be eating the battery humans and working with the free-range ones on surviving It seems quite a few of the folk who live for the woodlands are those who are very limited in their (non?)reality roles to get natural contact. But then the ones who work in the countryside can't get enough either! Village life suits me, despite all its gossip and bickering, because theres the best of both worlds with solitary acres on the doorstep and a co-op to forage within the smell of a cows fart

I don't think anyone on here is truely 'neurotypical'.... delight in the difference of not being a sheep

[John Fenna]

I think your only sign of madness has been in the fact you went to live in suburbia for a while when you have the freedom of the moor everyday......

[oetzi]

Mad as a hatter, but still sane enough to enjoy it. So there is some lee way left

[Tengu]

Im trying to think where I read about a study that said humans, whoever they are and whatever their background like mixed territory.

Which would make sense from the resources point of view.