Living Remotely in a Mountain Community

Reader Contribution by Bruce Mcelmurray

In the past I have written articles on what it physically takes to live remotely on a mountain. Topics such as getting our firewood, heating and maintaining a woodstove, coping with the snow seven months or more each year, being self-sufficient, and dealing with the weather, to mention a few. All the requirements of living a happy life, yet an equally demanding one, is attitude and emotional stability. This is one area that should seriously be addressed, because if there is any aspect of living remotely in a cabin in the mountains, it is how it is handled mentally.

Planned Mountain Community

While it is true that we live in a planned mountain community, there are unseen hazards that it is best to be prepared for. Our small community is no different than most other communities across the country. We have those who want to be entertained and have social activity, those who work endlessly in the community to make it a better place, those who oppose everything they do, bullies, misfits, and those who just like to cause trouble to try to make themselves appear important or attract attention at the expense of others. Most every community has a similar assortment of people of this nature.

With that being said, the reader needs to know how to live in a small community with a variety of people of different beliefs and attitudes and still maintain your happiness. Our choice is to remain mostly by ourselves and disassociate with those who like to prey on others or constantly cause trouble. We select our friends very carefully and tend to avoid those who regardless of their social or financial stature fall short in being good neighbors. By living remotely, you are somewhat self-isolated anyway, but with the work required to maintain our 11-acre homestead, I simply do not have time to go to the community center to play dominoes. All the psychological aspects of remote living are worthy of consideration before choosing this lifestyle.

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