Preparing for the New Year: Become the Ant

As a child my tiny house tendencies shined at an early age. When I wasn’t out searching for gnomes or little people living under mushrooms, I was partial to the ant in Aesop’s fable, “The Ant and the Grasshopper.” In the story, not only does the industrious ant live comfortably in a tiny anthill, but his (or her) house is stocked full of food and supplies for the long hard winter.

The story of the ant and the grasshopper begins during the summer when the weather is glorious and warm. The laid back grasshopper decides to spend his time relaxing, playing instruments and observing his neighbor, the diligent ant. From sunup to sundown, the ant spends his summer gathering food from a bountiful harvest. He knows that fall and a cold winter are on the way and the only way to survive is to be prepared. The grasshopper makes fun of the ant and continues his laissez-faire lifestyle. When winter comes, the grasshopper is seen huddling in the snow, cold and hungry, while the ant is warm, safe and fed inside his tiny anthill.

Of course, it’s easy enough to see what the moral of the story is: prepare for hard times and necessity, no matter what the current climate. However, the moral can be extended to include not only food , supplies, or saving money for future plans, but preparing for the type of lifestyle you eventually want to live. If you are on this blog, you are most likely seeking a smaller, happier, more minimalist life. Whether or not you have found that life, there is never a time to rest on your laurels. Spend the end of the year planning ahead for what you want your life to look like in the next 12 months. It’s tempting to live the life of the grasshopper, but take the time and effort to think more like the ant.

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]