What are the professional alternatives when you want to leave everything for the countryside?
Spring is slowly settling in.
Trees are budding and daffodils are popping up on the lawns. The sunny days are becoming more frequent.
Have you noticed that these external changes influence your inner state?
And coincidentally or not, in recent weeks, one topic has come up a lot: the desire for nature and the countryside.
In recent months, many of us have been asking the question: what are the professional alternatives when you want to live in the country?
The campaign: a passing fancy or a real desire?
Your brain likes to project. It likes to fantasize about what your best life could be. The problem is that this fantasy doesn't usually correspond to reality.
When I was a child, I was amazed by the Güell Park in Barcelona, but when I went back there as an adult, I was extremely disappointed.
Have you also had this kind of experience?
To distinguish between what is a passing fancy and what is a real desire, the solution is to experiment and then feel.
At this level, why not try different types of campaigns?
Living in a remote village or a village near a city will not have the same impact on your daily life.
Moreover, by experimenting, you will know if living in the country, with its advantages (proximity to nature, wide open spaces and access to producers) and its disadvantages (isolation, travel time, more limited interbreeding) depending on what is important to you, is adapted.
What is your relationship to work?
Our desire for change can sometimes lead us to act for the wrong reasons.
Changing location is not a miracle cure for all your problems! So, a crucial element to consider before fleeing the city is to question your needs and your relationship to work.
- What motivates your desire for the country?
- Do you like to work alone and remotely or do you like to meet and work in a team?
- What is more important to you: intellectual stimulation or manual work?
- Are you willing to travel?
- How will this change of location affect the people around you?
The answers to these questions are personal, but it is important to answer them to clarify your needs.
What are the alternatives?
Once you know what you want and what you are willing to do to get it, there are several options open to you:
Find a new job in your field or retrain
Those who live in the country also need services!
Perhaps there are job opportunities in your field?
Another possibility would be to retrain in a job that can be done in the country and it's not only agriculture!
Web jobs (editor, developer, graphic designer) can be interesting and compatible with this desire for nature.
Nathalie, a former participant of the Hisse & Haut New Cap's course has become a freelance translator and works in parallel in the local grocery store of her village. A way for her to contribute to the development of local initiatives with impact.
Start your own business and create a customized activity
Creating your own business gives you more geographical freedom, provided of course that your services meet a demand.
For example, urban hairdressers have opted for the "Hair we go" concept - a van transformed into a mobile hairdressing salon to be able to go where the clients are and allow isolated people to have access to services. Service-related jobs (teachers, hairdressers, grocers) are essential in the city as well as in the country.
Negotiate with your current employer for a workstation adjustment
Finally, the last option would be to stay with your company, but ask to telecommute more. This would allow you to move to the country while keeping one foot in the city.
We've tried to be comprehensive, but there may be other issues and possibilities!
After all, the limit is your imagination. 😊