#MicroblogMondays 45: Isolation
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I recently read about the most isolated place on earth: Tristan da Cunha. It takes a week to reach the island from the closest piece of mainland. It’s 1000 miles from the nearest town.
I love islands: the moodier, the better. I’m not really into happy, sunny islands. I’m more drawn to the Outer Hebrides than I am to the Greater Antilles.
Part of me would love the chance to live somewhere like Tristan da Cunha for a year, even if I’d have to contend with slow Internet. (Perhaps I should wait to go until they fix that problem.) And part of me thinks I would go mad living somewhere that isolated when I’m accustomed to being near big cities, with all their conveniences at my fingertips.
Do you think you could live somewhere as isolated as Tristan da Cunha for a year if given the chance?
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| 1. | Mali (No Kidding in NZ) | 17. | Laurel Regan @ Alphabet Salad | 33. | One and Done? |
| 2. | Mali (A Separate Life) | 18. | apluseffort | 34. | Non Sequitur Chica |
| 3. | Jessica | 19. | Shilpa | 35. | Sweet are the uses of Adversity |
| 4. | Loribeth (The Road Less Travelled) | 20. | Ran | 36. | Stephanie (Travelcraft Journal) |
| 5. | Middle Girl | 21. | Teacups & Typewriters | 37. | Traci York, Writer |
| 6. | Lori Lavender Luz | 22. | Daryl | 38. | Microblog Mondays: 6 years of blogging.. |
| 7. | Unpregnant Chicken | 23. | My Path To Mommyhood (Jess) | 39. | Infertile Girl |
| 8. | Just Heather | 24. | S | 40. | Kimberly |
| 9. | Mary Francis | 25. | Rachel | 41. | Charlotte Gellar |
| 10. | Inconceivable! | 26. | Shail | 42. | Good Families Do |
| 11. | A. | 27. | Wide Eyed in Wonder | 43. | Justine |
| 12. | Lindsay | Solo Mama | 28. | Cristy | 44. | Gil (The Hardest Quest) |
| 13. | Isabelle | 29. | Jess @ Just A Box of Rain | 45. | Stacie |
| 14. | Parul | Happiness & Food | 30. | Baby Blue Sunday | ||
| 15. | Kim (These Are The Days) | 31. | Geochick | ||
| 16. | Change & Life (Nabanita) | 32. | Dubliner in Deutschland |
36 comments
I grew up on a farm. That was isolated enough for me. I love being isolated for short periods of time. But ultimately want to be near civilisation!
Years ago, I was in a remote location with no modern amenities like running tap water, nor reliable electricity. It was unbearably hot in in the summer heat of 109 Fahrenheit (43 Celcius). I am so grateful to be where I am now.
Somehow I read this as ‘microbiology mondays’. Well, it is a Monday.
Hmm, Tristan de Cunha is a little too isolated for me. Having said that, I could do the Faroes, or the Shetlands, or Orkney. I love rural living, though.
A yoga friend tried for years to get me to go to this 10-day Vippasana meditation retreat. It’s pretty hardcore – no talking and not much eating, not even pen or paper to write down thoughts, long hours sitting Indian-style, meditating. I used think this would simultaneously be the hardest and best thing I could do for myself given my anxiety ‘stuff.’ I actually signed myself up to go at least twice but always chickened out at the last minute, feeling ill-equipped for such solititude with this brain that’s forever in overdrive. So, no, I don’t think the deserted island life is for me, even if I could seriously benefit from shutting down the noise for awhile.
In a word, no.
Definitely not. I am very extroverted. Scoring anywhere between 90% on that personality measure. This kind of isolation would surely either kill me or drive me mad. Pass. All yours, lady.
I write this as I am standing in my friend’s country house yard. They only have an outhouse, even in the dead if a frozen winter. It is beautiful and peaceful, but… I’m not sure I’d want to live here. On the other hand knowing id be somewhere for a specific/fixed time, I think I could do it. Although, my extroverted self might go crazy.
On this one, I’m going to go with the Thoreau plan: a nice, isolated place I can go to be alone but with a town/friends easily accessible!
So yeah, probably not somewhere *quite* as isolated as Tristan da Cunha…but it would be good to figure out somewhere to go and quietly collect my thoughts.
I like to take my tent and drive an hour or so to a retreat house in South Wales. I love being cocooned in my little home, woken by birds, soothed to sleep by the river close by. A week is great, but a year? I think I’d decamp in a hurry as soon as the weather took a turn for the worst!
As an introvert, I think I would love the quiet for a year. But more than that? Hell no. Get me back to the hustle and bustle of the city. I love quiet getaways but I think I would feel TOO isolated after a certain point. especially with slow (or not) Internet!
Nope. We once traveled through the rural southwest and I about broke out into hives as I realized how far away we were from civilization. Not a WalMart for hundreds of miles — and I don’t even like WalMart!
Nope! My husband always says he wants to eventually retire in Hawaii or some island in the South Pacific. I would SO love to visit Fiji or other places in the South Pacific, but retire? Or live there long-term. A thousand nopes. I’m with Lori. I don’t even like WalMart. I just like knowing one is close by. 🙂
Definitely not! I’m sure it’s the wrong word to use, but even the thought of it makes me feel claustrophobic.
No way! It’s funny my husband and I have talked about this a lot (not island specific but remoteness). He would love to retire off the grid in the middle of nowhere with a great view. While I like smallish towns I don’t ever want to live somewhere that remote! I like my amenities. I’ve lived where one evacuates for wildfires, and earthquakes and have no desire to do it again thanks.
Oh, that’s a tough one! I feel like there is no such thing as true isolation, if you can have even slow internet. I don’t think I could be anywhere 100% alone for that long. I have an irrational fear of killers. Although if I was confirmed alone, I guess that would rule out killers. I think maybe I could swing it for a month or two and then I might go a little crazy. I am also a fan of the not-tropical islands — love the ones off the coast of Maine.
Not to constantly suggest other readings, but there’s this book, Drinking the Rain, by Alix Kates Schulman, where she lived on a New England island for a time, totally isolated and without any conveniences. It was SO good. http://smile.amazon.com/Drinking-Rain-Alix-Kates-Shulman/dp/0865476977/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1436201382&sr=1-1&keywords=drinking+the+rain&pebp=1436201473062&perid=02WDHJKF5S42YZD3TF0E
Nope! I like peace and quiet but I also like to be able to drive (or even better, walk) back to the grocery store the next day for something I forgot 🙂
I would love to live in an isolated place. Although internet connection must be a must. I’ve recently discovered that the WWF runs trips to the Galapagos, Patagonia and other remote and beautiful places. These are calling to me right now.
No I don’t like being isolated for such a long period …
I’m in an odd position in that I’ve been isolated for 2 1/2 years, with almost no social life. There are many reasons for that, but life has been primarily about survival. So, without a doubt, I could not only do it, I would love to do it and I think I would thrive there. The lack of pressure of wondering when the next person is going to behave questionably would be wonderful. I’m not much of a shopper once I have all of the things I need. (IE: desk, chair, dishes, bed, pillows, shampoo, and so forth) So yes, yes, yes.
I couldn’t do it for a year; I’m too social. But a week or two would be nice. 🙂
I love to be by myself (or with my tiny family), and often prefer to isolate myself inside our apartment rather than going out into the city of 3 million in which we live….but I’m not sure I could live in a place that physically isolated. Unless Amazon delivers there….
Nope. I love living in the country, but I need the comfort and convenience of being near a city/town – and having neighbours nearby. I want a couple acres between us, but I like my neighbours. For a long time I lived in a huge, bustling, city and felt completely alone. I don’t want to do that again, even if the environment is different.
I think it would be fascinating to visit, but I don’t think I could handle living there for a year. I would love to work in Antarctica for a summer sometime, though. That’s pretty isolated (though less so than Tristan da Cunha).
I once read tales from students who decided to attend the University of Hawaii. Initially they were all for living in paradise, but not long into the school year the reality of living on an island set in and most dropped out.
I think it takes a special person to isolate themselves knowingly from civilization. I know someone who lived at the South Pole field station for two seasons and talked about the ice forming in the port, essentially cutting them off from the rest of the world. That thought, though so cool, also makes my hair stand on end. The illusion of the safety net is definitely taken away in those instances.
I don’t think I’d last a year. A month maybe. I too like the city life with conveniences at my fingertips. In fact, I just had a discussion with a friend about city vs. rural. He said he grew out of city living and can’t imagine living in a big city anymore. (Denver is too big for him!) I grew up in suburbs and grew into the city. I love everything about urban living right down to the pesky idiosyncrasies of owning an almost 80 year old house.
I think it would be interesting for a short period of time, like a few weeks or possibly months max but I could not do it longer than that. I don’t like the idea of being so isolated.
It’s funny you ask, because my post today was about my thoughts as I finish up year one living abroad. I thought I would miss Starbucks, Target, all those lovely American things. What I really miss is the people. I feel like I ripped my poor daughter from her extended family and our great network of mommy/baby friends. Obviously we still chat with them but it’s not the same. So I would vote no, probably could not do a year on an isolated island!
Nope. I would get way too bored! I would miss family and friends. Whenever I travel I am happy to be away from home for about a month- right around the 30 day mark I start itching to be back to normal life. So if there was enough to do on the island I would probably last 30 days or so- definitely NOT a year.
I’m fascinated by those types of places as well. It would be a rough adjustment to be there for a year, but it’d be interesting for a week or two.
I’m torn – I think I’d love it (especially if you ask me on, say, a Friday before a holiday weekend when I had laundry and grocery shopping to do, and an influx of tourists to contend with), I think my husband would tolerate it, and I know my kidlets (and, hey! My son is named Tristan!) would hate it. It will be interesting to see how this plays out…
I live on an island but its not that isolated, as we are attached to the mainland by a bridge. While I love visiting big cities, I do love island life. Things are slower around here. It’s more casual. There is something so comforting in living in an area surrounded by water and nature. People come to Cape Breton and drive through our highlands and they never want to leave. Growing up on an island, I don’t realize the things I take for granted, that I could spend every day of my summer looking for new beaches and visit a brand new one all summer without even making a dent in the full list, where others have to travel long distances to visit a beach. So I could see myself adjusting to life on that island a bit easier than others, but I wouldn’t/couldn’t do it for long before I would want to be back on my own island.
I’m with Mali…I like isolation, to a point. Sometimes it’s nice but other times I’d rather be in a crowd.
This is my first link up to Microblog Monday!
I would go, but only with someone else to talk with. And lots of books. I need time to clear my head and remember how to read. 😉
Books and music for accompaniment and yeah, I’d be game for awhile. It might let me shut down for a bit and not FEEL quite so intensely. Sometimes it’s like sensory overload and too much info being thrown at me. I would love to turn it all off, even if for a little while. But oh, how I would miss my miracle girl! So even if I WANT to give it a try, I’d have to say no.
I don’t think I could do it for long. As much as I like solitude and quiet, I do love the amenities of being in suburbia. 🙂
NOOOOOO!!! This village is probably my most extreme environment already. I grew up in a city of over 2.5 million inhabitants for 28 years of my life, now I’ve been living in a small village of around 8.000 inhabitants. I can imagine living here for the rest of my life, but living in such a place would be too extreme for me. Even here travelling abroad proves to be a challenge already (it takes much time and more money to go back to Indo compared to those people living in Helsinki for example).