What if...

23 March 2026

Last weekend was the final weekend of Koos’s bushcraft year-long course. Those are always wonderful weekends: sleeping outdoors, cooking over a wood fire, making rope, knitting fishing nets, foraging for edible plants, quiet moments to unwind, and long evenings by the campfire. During the campfire, questions were asked and discussed regarding the how and why of our trip to Sweden.

We went to Sweden based on a life philosophy that we want to realize, experience, and live. As also described here on the website: Back to basics, living in the present, together with the earth on the piece of land where we are. Naturally, questions were asked such as ‘what are the setbacks’ and ‘what if it doesn’t work out’. However, that is not going to happen.

So, are there no setbacks? Can it not fail? To start with the latter: No, it cannot fail. Our goal is to move from the ‘normal’ daily routine towards a life closer to the basics, closer to nature, more in the present, more independent, on a smaller scale, healthier, and as self-sufficient as possible. If you look closely at the above, you will see that it is a movement, a process. We have no end goal, but we are in development. We have set that development in motion, so it is not failing; we are doing it, it is happening, it has already succeeded.

Of course, things sometimes go wrong. But the setbacks, for example how long it takes before we can apply for a Personnummer from the Swedish government, do not stand in the way of our goal, because our goal is now, and does not lie in the future. The speed of the movement may be disappointing, but that does not detract from the fact that the movement exists.

This is not a clever line of reasoning to gloss over what goes ‘wrong’. Sometimes things turn out differently than we expect. That is possible; something can take longer, go wrong, or even fail. But if something ‘fails’, we can try again or find another way. Then it is not a failure, but part of our movement.

So do we have no end goal? Yes and no. The ultimate goal is, of course, a completely self-sufficient existence in a small local community (read: Our neighborhood). At the moment, we don't think that is feasible, but who knows how far we will get!