Downshifter is ... Downshifting - what is it? Downshifting in Russia
To refuse a good job, to change a city apartment for a bungalow in an exotic country or for a house in a remote village ... Each of us sometimes has a desire to give up everything and leave. And every year there are more and more people with similar thoughts. In this regard, a specific direction arose - downshifting. And an adherent of this trend is called a downshifter. Who is that? Downshifter is a person who escaped civilization and became a voluntary hermit. Let's take a closer look at the specifics and highlights of this lifestyle.
Downshifting - what is it?
This term is used to define a position in life in which a person renounces civilization and calmly lives for himself. That is, he voluntarily refuses generally accepted benefits (career growth, increase in material resources, etc.) and lives peacefully with his family (or on his own) far from the metropolis.
Of course, this idea cannot be called innovative. It originated in those ancient times, when no one knew who a downshifter was. For example, Gautama Buddha left his wealth and went on a wandering in search of answers to eternal questions. Emperor Diocletian of Rome did the same. Having recovered from a serious illness, he renounced the throne and went to a country estate on the seashore. An equally striking example is the artist Gauguin. For the sake of painting, he gave up the career of a bank clerk. And the first downshifter in Russia was Lev Tolstoy. The count left his estate for a quiet life. It turns out that a downshifter is not the opposite of a workaholic. Many classify him as lazy and bum. In fact, he is a very active person, doing what he likes and enjoying it.
In the West, they started talking about downshifting in the 70s of the last century. In our country, he appeared at the beginning of the 21st century. It was then that the first downshifter communities and blogs were formed on the Internet. Since then, this phenomenon has only been gaining momentum: according to psychological studies, about 5% of people looking for work are more inclined towards options with a decrease in employment and a decrease in career growth.
Main reasons
Now you know who a downshifter is. Let's find out the reasons why people start to lead this way of life. Psychologists identify three of the most common:
- Deterioration of health.
During a serious illness (especially if there is a possibility of death), a person experiences a reassessment of values. It dawns on him that there is only one life, and it must be lived the way you want, because every day can be the last.
- Exhaustion of the body.
Climbing the corporate ladder can be very frustrating. A person realizes that he gets from work not pleasure, but continuous stress. This is the main reason why top executives become downshifters.
- Striving for harmony.
Escape from civilization can be called an attempt to return to your own self and spend more time with your family. A person refuses a career, because he understands that this path will lead him to a dead end.
How to become a downshifter
It doesn't take much effort to do this. It is enough to quit your job and start enjoying life, doing what you like. But it's not that simple. A modern downshifter is a former resident of a metropolis with a higher (sometimes more than one) education, at the age of 21 to 45 years. He has already managed to make a career or earn good capital, well, or money is not very important for him, but this is only because he has it, and he does not lack them.
35-45 years old is the age of many Russian downshifters. In most cases, these are people who managed to organize a business in the 90s or have an inheritance in the form of money or real estate that can be sold or leased.
The conclusion is clear: downshifting is not a pleasure for the poor. Of course, you can escape from the benefits of civilization, but you want to eat every day. So in the absence of a solid bank account, you will have to work. After leaving, some downshifters get jobs. At the same time, they are terribly afraid of losing it and being left without money, and this forces them to spend much more time and energy on work than before. Not everyone will pass such a test. Therefore, many return to their homeland or city.
Scale of distribution
Conclusion
The above examples prove that a downshifter is not always a completely free person. Even wealthy and famous people are not ready to exclude all material wealth from life. What then can we say about ordinary people who have a loan or who have taken out an apartment on a mortgage? In such a situation, if they really want to, they cannot leave everything and leave.
By the way, the world has very different attitudes towards downshifters: someone is jealous because they decided to turn their lives 180 degrees, and someone considers them to be losers because of their inability to resist the rhythm of modern life. Despite this, one should understand that one cannot solve one's own problems by escaping from civilization. Perhaps for some people, downshifting is the only way to find happiness. But sometimes those who have given up a career, work and other benefits lose their purpose in life. Everything that was important before fades into the background. Only pleasure remains. This may be good, but life without a goal can hardly be called life.