HUMANS OF ŌTAUTAHI: CAMILA

“When I was travelling, I spent three months living in a barn on an organic farm, and I just fell in love with the lifestyle. Having that deeper connection with nature, slowing life down.

“So, the yurt is pretty perfect. I like living in a more simplistic manner. I feel if I had more space, I would fill it with more junk that I don’t need. I love opening the door to go outside to urinate first thing in the morning, and you’re instantly in nature, you know? I’m just loving having that connection that the world is right there. I call it being feral, but it’s not really, it’s just back to basics.

“I teach yoga out here; I move the furniture around, but I can fit six people in. Having the fire going in winter, so it’s nice and warm, low lighting and then the sound of the wind, bird song and the rain; it’s just exquisite.

“I’ve been working three or four jobs – typical millennial! But I’ve recently quit a couple of them, and it’s allowed me to really slow my life down much more. I’m going to be selling my car and getting a really good touring bike or an e-bike. With the new cycleways, it’s easy, and it’s a beautiful ride.

“I think humans aren’t designed to go at the speed that we currently live. And I think that causes much more stress than it needs to; it has a snowball effect. People think that to make life less stressful, they need to earn more money so they can have greater freedom, but that actually gives them greater ties.

“You need to take care of yourself. You need to be selfish in that sense of putting yourself first, so you have something to offer to others – it’s the same as in the airplane when the oxygen mask drops. There are still many ways that I can improve upon how I love myself, or how I embody self-love. But I think I’m on a pretty good track.”

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