Hey all, Glad to be back! Yea! Anyway, before the site was down, we were talking about where did "it" start for you? There were a couple of people who posted about how they tried living the "good american lifestyle" but are now coming back to their "roots". Can you please elaborate? What do you consider the "good american lifestyle" and why are you now abandoning it? What initiated the return to hippiedom? Thanks, I would love to hear your stories.
I didn't see that thread before the forums went down, but it sounds like me. Like, a few years ago, I played Football, I wrestled, I played lacrosse and I was dating a cheerleader. I was a right leaning authoritarian, I wanted to go to West Point (military academy) and I was a republican. I'm not really sure what happened. I think I started to become more liberal when a) i started smoking weed b) my buddies got sent off to war and c) i went to an interfaith summer youth leadership conference that the ADL ran. It forced me to think about myself, my predjudices and life in general. It's good to be free of my self-imprisonment. I am finally begining to find myself.
That post kicks ass! Dude, its always good to see people shape themselves in peaceful ways...war sucks dude...and weed changed my life too! good job!
i think it was mostly because I had a friend i alienated and i saw the error of my ways, everyone else's ways, society's ways and the world's way.. I then started to try to resolve all my conflicts peacefully.
yes, it is very good to be who you are, rather than be whatever the societal archetype is. Also, where I used to resent radicals, I now am one
Ok.. I went into the system (college) to become an artist (free humanistic self expression for the mind opening of anyone who cares to see). So.WTF... I don't even know what side I'm on Personally I tried the hippy thing and was starving to death. I say, when in America.... eat McDonalds, make lots of trash an crank that AC UP!
I used to be a cheerleader and all that sort of stuff. I think I just started to get annoyed with all the stupid drama and stereotypical bullshit. I"ve always been really into art and writing and being different, so I just sort of began to explore other things....it's so much better. Also, I think it was just a part of growing up...I mean, in junior high I didn't really know myself, and once I realized more things, I began to see...you know?
my becomming a hippy was a multi-phase opperation. First I started smoking weed, then I got into classic rock, then I realized that hippys were right wanting peace and brother/sister-hood, then I became a communist, then I started experimenting with other drugs (psychedelics mostly) then I became vegitarian, then I became vegan. I have always been an environmentalist and an artist, I have always had a special connection and appreciation for the earth. It took me really 18 years to fully break away from the typical American life and become a full blown hippy!
I'm one of those who tried to live the all american lifestyle for a while. I was pretty much hippie in the late 60's, early 70's. Then I tried to conform. Went to college, raise my kids in public schools, ate red meat and other junk, and kept quiet about my values. Finally I got to the point where I didn't exist any more. Just the me that everyone wanted me to be. I started leaning more and more back to the old hippie ways. It probably started with better eating habits. Was vegatarian for years. Then my concern for the environment. Then the wars. Then becoming pagan. Now that I have a toddler again, I'm concerned about raising him in a healthy manner to respect the earth and all her inhabitants. I don't want him going off to war to die for someone else's ideals. That's how it all evolved for me the second time around. Kathi
i guess with me i didnt even realize it...in middle school i listened to what everone else was..but then found the beatles and loooved them..even though noone else really did..then eventually started getting more into classic rock..and then found the grateful dead..then really started getting into the peace and love..and then into vegetarian and non conformity...i always cared about the enviroment and i just started becoming more caring...it just was a process...i dont really know how i got just how i am now...it just happened peace and love
I'd also agree it was a multi-phase realization. It all started with rock n roll most definetly. The drugs just kinda meshed into the scenario. But remember..were all born hippies!
For me, it started with the tie-dyed shirts. Then, the next step was my growing frustration with the Bush administration (which is still growing, and probably won't stop growing). Then it was finding hipforums, and learning about the 60s and the counterculture. Then it was listening to the music of the late 60s (and now current music that captures the vibe). I'm still not where I want to be as a person. Unfortunately, I'm ashamed to admit (but it's true) but I have eaten meat in Japan (It was easy for me to reject meat in the U.S., but I wasn't eating enough here, and I didn't resist when my friends threw meet in front of me). But since going to an Ani DiFranco concert in Japan, I've vowed not to eat meat, and I've done a good job of rejecting meat. I haven't been really active in activism as much as I'd like to, but I did go to an anti-war rally last year (the only one I've been able to make it). There are plenty of causes that we can fight for. And I definitely want to become more active in activism.
born a hippy- got bullied for it at a young age so stopped being one for about eight years. then grew confident enough to assert who I am and have reamained a hippy ever since
Brother you should never be ashamed of who you are. We are the same and all so different at the same time. You are who you are. Never conform to being something your not for other's pleasure, or even for your own. The best way to be is to just be. Whatever you intuition tells you, is what is true. That little voice talking in your head knows the anwser, alot of times we push it out of the way though.
i can relate, for about six years i was into conformity, ect.., cuz the first five years were hell....lol but its all good now... i have found my voice and my passion
LOL same here. (I'm a writer though.) I used to be conformist, didn't ever like it much, but I didn't know any better. There aren't really any hippy role models for a shy little kid from Hampshire. Then at sixteenish maybe, I started on the road to hippydom. It probably began with discovering River Phoenix then lead on to the whole hippy thing. It's an ongoing project, but I've never felt freer wiser and happy. Probably because I haven't been. Oh and I changed my name (long story) it just feels more me than my given name ever has, so I like it better. Of course it's hippyish, but then I'm hippyish, so it's all good. TTFN Sage