Moving to a cabin turned our lives upside down. Our cabin is completely opposite from where we moved from: we lived in a big apartment complex in a big city. And we moved to a one-room cabin outside of Jackson, WY.

But even if your circumstances around moving to a cabin aren’t as extreme as ours (here’s our full story if you’re curious) – moving to a cabin can change your life in big ways.

This is why moving to a cabin is life-changing:

• Cabins are usually very different than where you move from. Most people move to cabins from traditional homes or apartments.
• Most people move to cabins because they desire change in their lives: they want to live in a new environment, they are seeking a change of pace, etc.

The reasons that you have for moving to a cabin set the stage for the impact that it will have on your life. Cabins are life-changing in and of themselves, but your mindset is also important. Your mindset when you move is the spark that determines how big of an impact cabin life will have on you.

If you have an open mind, I believe that moving to a cabin can change your life in positive ways. Here’s the top 3:

3 Ways Moving to a Log Cabin Can Change Your Life

1. You Re-adjust Your Priorities

Because most of us move to cabins from traditional homes/apartments, cabins provide a new environment. This change of setting acts as a blank slate: it presents a chance to start over and re-examine what’s most important.

How this changed our lives: When we moved to our cabin, we started over and made new decisions about every part of our lives. We decided what to bring to the cabin, what our daily routines would look like, and how we wanted to spend our time.

With the chance to ‘start over’ and decide what your days will look like, cabins give you an opportunity to re-adjust your priorities. In this new environment, you’ll have decisions to make about what’s important and how you spend your time.

2. You Think About Nature Differently

Cabins are often in more ‘natural’ settings that where we move from. Whether you move to a cabin in the mountains, woods, countryside, or just on the outskirts of town – cabins are away from the hustle and bustle of the city. They are closer to nature.

How this changed our lives: Our cabin is in the countryside near the mountains. This setting made us think about nature differently because for the first time in our lives it felt as if we were in nature’s space. The weather, the animals, and the scenery around the cabin had a new presence in our lives. Nature determined the pace of our lives in ways that it never had before.

No matter where you move from, cabins offer a unique perspective on nature. The impressive, inspiring, and demanding aspects of nature are seen up close.

 

3. You Need Less Than You Think You Do

This is one of the biggest ways that moving to a cabin has changed our lives. And in part, it’s because we had a lot of stuff before we moved. Not an excessive amount – but I would regularly shop for clothing, things for our apartment, etc. I was in the habit of shopping regularly because I thought that I ‘needed’ new things.

How this changed our lives: After moving to our cabin, I realized that I needed less than I thought I did. We sold almost all of our belongings before moving to our cabin, and to my surprise I did not miss them much! And I discovered that when I had the impulse to buy new things, I could often find a work around or re-purpose items instead. Our cabin is small, so we’ve avoided buying new things that might clutter up the space, and instead we focus on using what we have. We also didn’t have as much for our moving company to load and move, which meant less for us to unpack!

Whether you have many things or only a few before moving to a cabin, you’ll be surprised at what you truly need. Cabins are designed to be practical, functional spaces; and I believe that they inspire us to think creatively about our space.

Themes of Cabin Life

Each of these 3 ways that cabins can change your life are big themes of cabin life. And the ways that I’ve described them here are only the beginning!

For us, these 3 themes have been huge – I feel like I could write a novel of all the ways that moving to a cabin has changed our lives 🙂

Overall, cabins are life-changing in many positive ways. In embracing what they have to offer – a closeness to nature, a new space, and often a downsizing of possessions – cabins change our lives for the better.