Before I had ever lived off the grid, I had a lot of doubts and uncertainties about my ability to do so. I had been a city slicker my whole life, and while I had done a lot of research on off grid living, without the direct experience I could not be certain that I would be able or willing to live off the grid for an extended period of time.

At the time of writing this, I have been living off the grid for about 16 months. There have definitely been challenges, but I overcame each challenge as they came, and now I am living quite happily and comfortably off the grid. I am now confident that I can not only survive, but thrive in this context indefinitely.

This is a huge achievement. There has been a massive shift in my thinking and my confidence level as a result. I know that, given modest resources and a year's time, I can establish a decent start to an off grid homestead all by myself.

There is one more thing that I would like to prove while I am here, whether or not I can make a modest living based on selling my market garden. If I can manage to do that, it would be another massive achievement and it would provide a financially sustainable method of continuing this lifestyle indefinitely. Hopefully by the end of October 2023 I will be able to answer that question.

If it turns out that I can successfully earn enough money to support this frugal off grid lifestyle, then in my mind, that is kind of a "complete package" of skills and abilities for being an off grid farmsteader successfully.

At that point, it could be more bearable to temporarily re-enter the traditional workforce in order to earn enough money to buy my own land one day.

In the past, when I was working a traditional job, I felt very alienated and uncertain about my goals and direction, since the idea of off grid living was still something of a low resolution pipe dream, and I was unsure about whether or not it was a reasonable goal to work towards. Now that I know the reality that it is indeed possible and realistic, I could make more concrete plans to work X amount of time at a traditional job in order to save up enough money to purchase my own land. Or possibly, pooling my money with like-minded people and buying land together. Or moving into a commune and becoming the farm manager. The point is that I now have the confidence, skills, and equipment to live on my own off grid farm, and I can take all of that with me for my next piece of land that I end up on.