My name is Tiffany and I write under my pen name Silent Echo. I have a 6 year plan in place to covert my life to one that is completely off grid and self-sufficient. The purpose of this blog is to document the skills and things I learn in the process. This started as a blog of my rants and then developed into a documented diary of skill if you will. This 6 year plan was called the Elephany Plan to off grid living.
The name comes from meshing together my spirit animal and my first name
-Elephant & Tiffany-
SILENT ECHO BECAME MORE THAN MY PEN NAME
As my journey has progressed, I have learned many skills that many people have found an interest in. My soap making raised controversy in my personal life between my family and friends and to put any doubts about my ability to rest, they tried some of my stash! Well, they loved my soap. My insurance guy stopped by to go over my life insurance and I was canning some of my awesome strawberry jam that my boys love. The man watched me can my life away as we chatted since canning is such a scheduled process and timing is everything. He then asked, “Do you sell your jam?”. Uh.. I just thought that was the most bizarre thing he could have said. Why would I sell my jam? That is for my family to eat! He went on to say that no one cooks like that anymore and he knows plenty of people who would buy my jam. I just thought he was being polite, until he asked to try the jam. Slowly, sharing my life with folks has sparked interest in my homemade goodies. Since then, people have made requests and asked for me to ‘throw in a little extra’ when I make my home stash. This has grown into something that may be a useful source of income for my off grid life.
With the more recipes I developed and new things I tried, the more people got excited and started to anticipate the new stuff. Silent echo grew into a brand. The Silent Echo shop was born and contains a little gallery of my most popular recipes that people requested.
What makes me successful?
Most of the interesting people of the world will eventually write a book about themselves or someone else will make millions on a book after the have long been gone. If I stopped living today and spent the rest of my life writing about myself, I would die at this computer in mid sentence. My final text would have said something silly or sarcastic about society or the real life zombies of today. The moral of the story is that I continue to grow and expand my mind. There is no end for me. If you ask just about any student or young adult what goals they have in life, they are usually the same with the exception of outlandish charity or non-profit adventure. Does the below quote sound familiar at all?
“I want to go to school and become a doctor and help people and make lots of money. I want to get married and own a home. I think I would like to have children and have always dreamed of making my own traditions. That would be nice. I want to make sure I am saving for my future. OH yeah, I also want to travel the world! Our church held a mission trip to (fill in the blank) and I was so touched by that. Somehow, I want to make my life count to make a difference in that country too and offer free medical treatment.”
Aww, that is so nice. The reality of this expectation that society molds for us as a people translates a little differently. When I hear things like this, I hear so many boxed ideas and written expectations. Before I start my rant… understand that education is so important. I wanted to learn SEO and web design. I went to the library and read books and did a ton of research. I taught myself a skill that I felt was necessary for my survival is the point. Paying for school was not in the budget of my wallet or time. With that said, society has a template of what a successful individual looks like. It took a ton of soul-searching and open-mindedness to actually open my eyes to what was clearly wrong with today.
There is a ton of focus around this generation and the gap. That is irrelevant to some extent. The medical student scenario above really illustrates the ‘success fast track’ that has been laid out for each of us and its complete poppycock. At this point, my rant is over. 🙂
The truth about me, Silent Echo, the author and founder of Elephany Plan is real simple. My life quote is one I made myself and that is “Working to Live vs. Living to Work”. This adopts the idea that my preference in life is to not live every day for a career and vicious cycle of 9 to 5 jobs. I am pursuing a life style change that requires my entire souls involvement. I would rather sweat in a field, picking berries that I grew myself to feed my children who spend their days in real sunlight vs leaving them to go to my job to pays me money to buy things they need from companies who have not a single interest in the well-being of my family. Trading convenience for sustainability.
I have a dream for my life just like you do. My idea of being successful in this life looks a little something like this…
- Never stop learning or trying new things
- Zero debt/Cash only purchases
- No car payment or mortgage
- Living on solar power only
- Conserving water and reducing to zero waste
- Cooking all things from scratch (no boxed or processed foods)
- Waking up each day to provide and not because my alarm went off
- Raising children who know the importance of hard work
- Not having to rely on any store, government or facility to provide for my family
The list goes on and continues to grow as I grow. Goals continue to be set as I progress. I am sure at this point you are wondering why I have a website and blog and all this mess when I want nothing to do with it. I CHOOSE TO NOT BE IGNORANT. This is a big piece of me. Writing and sharing ideas are a huge part of who I am and how I document my progress. One day, it will become less and less of use to me, but for now I am glad to be sharing this with you:)
Reality is that I would be very ignorant to ignore advancements in society as stupid or main stream. Science and technology rock! I would be the first person to tell you about how social media, world-wide web and technology have made such huge strides for humanity. I chose to not to be ignorant, however, all things in moderation. I want to be educated on new methods and wrap my head around new concepts… doesn’t mean I have to incorporate them into my life style.
My father-in-love sent me this song one day knowing that it would make me happy. Still to this day, it remains near and dear to me. It is a constant reminder of what is important in life. This song has brought me out of my tunnel vision many-a-times. If you have a free four minutes to listen a very eye-opening song…please play the video below.
Silent Echo 