What I learned from 3 months of living & working off-grid in the Swiss Alps.

August 11, 2022

#1 EVERYTHING HAS ITS PURPOSE 

In the supermarket downtown, I weigh off what food to bring. Weight vs. nutritional value. I bring a lot of nuts, seeds, dried fruit, dried beans, eggs. Everything I will buy I will need to carry in my backpack on my Mountainbike for 1000m climb (1 hr ride).

The cabin we are staying is 20m2. Just a bedroom & a living area. No electricity. No heating. No running water. No wifi. 

It is simple, but everything is well thought through. The stove is a wood burner, that heats the hut, plus the top is used to cook. The wood used for the furnace is dead wood collected around the hut. We cut the wood up into small pieces (takes about 4 hrs p/week). The wood chips are used to ‘flush’ the toilet. The pit will eventually be used as compost.

The leftover veggies are used as compost. The other trash, paper & packaging we carry back down at the end of each week. 

The water comes from the spring. We use it to wash ourselves, the dishes, to cook & make tea. As well as for drinking water. 1x a week we fill up a bathtub with a hose and make a fire underneath to heat the water. We have 1 block of natural soap. 

Being alone in nature, looking at the stars, in a warm spring bath. It doesn't get much better.

There is no electricity, so candles are used to light in the evening to read. Some candles give way more light than others (I never knew). The light is cosy & warm. Relaxing. 

It’s a life way more simple than I am used to living.

Less stuff. Fewer decisions in a day. 

More routines. More time to enjoy. 

Everything takes more time. Daily things we take for granted, like making a tea: carrying the water, collecting the wood, making the fire etc. 

It is humbling to me. Makes me appreciate it more. 

As well as the idea of having to use the energy I carried up usefully. To enjoy what you eat & do something valuable with energy gained from the food. This feeling of responsibility I especially experienced when I ate deer meat. 

The pace & circularity of life up here mimics nature. 

It is comforting and strangely familiar. 

#2 IT'S OUR HUMAN NATURE

Surrounded by nature. So many green plants, and flowers. Ancient trees. Birds, bees, deers, rabbits. Life. 

Spending time around trees and looking at trees reduces stress, lowers blood pressure and improves mood. Numerous studies show that both exercising in forests and simply sitting looking at trees reduce blood pressure as well as the stress-related hormones cortisol and adrenaline (Hidden life of trees, Peter Wolhleben).

Waking up with the daylight & going to bed after sunset. Our natural Circadian Rhythm. It's so easy when there is no artificial light. 

The next day we are collecting chantarelle mushrooms. It's funny it feels weirder to me to pluck them in nature, than getting them from the supermarket. 

It's fun to do. Searching for these golden treasures amongst all the green plants & mosses. 

It actually feels a lot like online shopping. Scrolling, searching for that one perfect shoe. I believe it is the same hunter&gatherer instinct that is being triggered. It is addictive. I wanted to keep searching & finding. 

We stop ourselves by observing what we collected. We have enough. 

I take a deep breath. To calm down this mode of "find more", "one more". 

And repeat inside me "it is enough". 

I love being outside all day. Seeing the weather change. How nature changes throughout the seasons. It reminds me of how we change, our moods, our activities, and how we look.

Although it was challenging at first (I use to be quite a hyperactive over-achiever), slowing down feels good to me. Less doing in a day. Less rushing around. Less talking. Less noise. 

Until I just hear my breathing. 

In. Out. Again & again. 

Normally without me paying any attention. Almost forgetting about it. 

I started practising the 5-sec nasal breathing practice by James Nestor. As he concluded in his book "Breathe": "no matter how healthy you eat or how much you exercise — none of it matters if you're breathing in the wrong way." 

I breathe in slowly, yet steadily for 5.5 seconds. Keep the air in for a bit. And breathe out for 5.5 seconds. Both through my nose. 

I practice 5 minutes after I wake up, and 5 minutes before I go to sleep. And 1 minute whenever I feel rushed or get lost in my mind during the day. 

To my surprise it helps clear my mind, shift my mood, and my running & cycling performance improves drastically. Cycling uphill without heavy mouth breathing and tired legs. I am so stoked about the impact. 

Our body does everything without us paying attention, without our direction. Just naturally. 

All we need to do is create the right conditions for it to perform optimally. Therefore I check in with my body daily. To feel connected to the body and ask "What does it need?" and "What makes it feel good in the long-run?"

That summer I read about gut health by Giulia Enders, a two-time scholarship winner studying medicine at the Institute for Microbiology in Frankfurt, Germany. Her presentation of Darm mit Charme (Gut Charm) won her first prize at the Science Slam in Berlin and went viral on YouTube. In her bestselling book "the gut" she explains how the bacteria in the gut affect our mood. 

After reading this book & other studies I chose to cut out gluten for 6 weeks. 

I was training every day. Using my body. Walking, carrying water, and carrying and chopping wood. Cycling. Hiking. I felt so energised. Not tired at all. 

For example, hiking for 2 hours to get goat cheese from a small farm up on one of the mountains around. A beautiful place where the baby goats stay with their moms. 

I exchanging a kilo of chanterelles for a kilo of goat cheese, as they are both worth €35p/kilo (new economy?). I collected them on the way up. Funny how simple it can be. 

It is so easy to live healthily and become healthier & stronger while living in the mountains. 

I dip in cold glacier water every morning. 

I like to sit by the river. Seeing & hearing it flow. It's so soothing to watch. 

It is just calming to be surrounded by nature. Observing it all. 

I notice I am slowly blending in. Wearing natural colours, not the bright ones animals can see from far. I sit still. A small deer passes without noticing me. 

These habits & routines come so naturally to me. It feels so familiar.

Maybe this is all imprinted in us all because our ancestors lived like this.

Like deers that still know the route across large distances, even if one generation had no access, due to a blocking high-way.

#3 FACILITATE MY FREEDOM 

Lastly, I will share briefly how I continued to work while living off-grid for a few months. I don't want to escape the system, but to do meaningful work, from a place that benefits my health & inspiration. 

First of all, I questioned what really mattered inside my company (The On Purpose Studio)? Where do I create value? Which parts or tasks are just noise? Tough one, you have to be brutally honest. It might also mean letting go of things that you like to do, but don't add real value.  For example, I decided no more informal meetings to get to know each other. To guide someone I don't know who's on a similar journey. Coffees to explore partnerships etc. It took up way more time than it added value. 

I said "no" to all the 'noise'. Which was a great lesson in setting boundaries for me. 

And then for those tasks that really matter, I asked myself how can I simplify, replicate or automate it?

For me, this consisted of improving our online personal leadership program, replying to questions of potential program participants, writing posts & articles, creating newsletters, improving our website and SEO, and promoting our programs to relevant people & parties. 

There are some great tools out there, like Wix, Canva, Buffer and many more, to create, automate, and plan my work ahead. 

I write on paper, in the early mornings when I am focused & undisturbed. 

One day a week I would cycle down to town to upload the work I have prepared, and meanwhile, I would have several truly valuable video meetings. 

My approach to how I run my company shifted when I asked myself: How does my company serve me? It is equally important as how your company will serve the world. 

CONCLUSIONS

Being in nature reminded me of our true nature. It puts things in perspective. Money and excess stuff have way less value up here. 

Presence. Connection. And effort is what brings me true joy. 

A lot more than the convenient life I often strive for.

I am so grateful for all that I have experienced living in a mountain hut for those 3 months in the Alps of Switzerland. My key insights and changes because of it:

• Think more about what's already there, there is so much. 

• Keep it simple. Minimal. Excessive stuff is dead weight. 

• Be conscious of the products & packaging we buy & how they harm nature.

• Start my day by connecting with myself & nature first, before doing anything else. 

• Do less. Slow down. Focus on what really matters. Say no. Plan smartly ahead. 

• Move minimum of 2 hours a day. Breathe consciously for 10 minutes a day. Feel good.