Back to Basics: 10 Steps to a More Natural Lifestyle

10 Steps to a More Natural Lifestyle

Find balance, reclaim your time, and reconnect with what matters.

In a world that seems to spin faster by the minute, it’s easy to feel untethered, swept up in screens, endless consumption, and disconnection from the land, the seasons, and even ourselves. But you don’t need to move off-grid or abandon technology to live a more natural lifestyle. A simpler, more grounded way of life is still possible, and it starts with small, intentional changes.

Here are 10 steps you can take today to live more in tune with nature — no matter where you live.

1. Grow Your Own Food — Even Just a Little

You don’t need a farm or even a big backyard to start producing your own food. In fact, many people create surprising levels of self-sufficiency on less than a quarter acre. Whether it’s a raised bed of vegetables, a container garden on a balcony, or a few herbs on a sunny kitchen windowsill, growing something you can eat is a transformative act.

There’s something deeply grounding about eating a tomato you grew yourself or clipping fresh basil for your dinner. It creates a sense of agency and connection. It’s a reminder that not everything has to come shrink-wrapped from a shelf.

Even in the smallest spaces, start with what you can: lettuce in a window box, microgreens in trays, or a single chili plant. These tiny steps can lead to larger systems — and big changes in how you view food and your relationship with nature.

2. Localize What You Consume

When everything you buy is shipped across the world, it's easy to feel disconnected from the act of consumption. You don’t know who made your shirt or where your apples grew. But when you localize — buying from local farms, artisans, and businesses — you create personal, meaningful connections.

You begin to know your farmer’s name. Your baker becomes part of your routine. You see your dollars making an impact in your own community. This isn't just about economics; it's about rootedness — building a life with names and faces, not just logos and brands.

Start by finding a local farmers’ market, co-op, or makers fair. Buy your eggs from the family down the road. Choose a holiday gift made by someone in your town. The closer your consumption is to home, the more whole it feels.

3. Make Something With Your Hands

There’s real power in creating something — even something small. Maybe it’s building a bookshelf, mending your clothes, or learning to preserve food. When you make things instead of buying them, you connect to the process. You learn patience, skill, and appreciation.

Even better, you gain confidence. Each project you finish chips away at the false idea that you need to outsource everything. And few things are as satisfying as using something daily that you made with your own hands.

Don’t wait for the perfect skill or setup. Start where you are: whittle a spoon, knit a scarf, build a raised garden bed. The act of making is the real reward.

4. Build Real-World Community

Living naturally isn’t just about plants and dirt — it’s about people, too. As modern life becomes more isolated, human connection is one of the most essential (and underrated) needs we have. Find your people.

This doesn’t mean joining everything or forcing friendships. It means engaging intentionally — volunteering at the food pantry, helping a neighbor fix their fence, joining a local garden club, or hosting a monthly dinner with people you trust.

It’s not always easy. But real community feeds the soul. It gives your days meaning. It’s an antidote to the loneliness so many feel but rarely talk about.

5. Reconnect with the Outdoors

Whether you live in a big city or out in the middle of nowhere, get outside. Touch the earth. Look up at the sky. Watch birds. Smell the rain. It sounds simple, but these moments reset us in ways screens never can.

Research consistently shows that even a 15-minute walk in nature can reduce cortisol levels and improve mood. But more than that, being in nature reminds us that we’re part of a larger rhythm — not separate from it.

Find a nearby trail. Sit under a tree. Grow something. Let the natural world soften your edges.

6. Cut Back on Unnatural Stimulus

Let’s be honest — most of us are overstimulated. Constant pings, 24-hour news cycles, algorithm-driven everything. It’s no wonder we’re exhausted.

One of the most powerful steps to a more natural life is to reclaim your attention. Put down the phone. Turn off the TV. Allow boredom to creep in — because that’s where creativity, peace, and connection grow.

You don’t need to delete your apps or live in a cabin. But try a tech-free hour each day. Take a walk without headphones. Keep your phone out of the bedroom. Notice how different the world feels when you're actually in it.

7. Simplify Your Routine

Our modern lives are often filled with unnecessary complexity — too many products, too many plans, too much noise. Living naturally means trimming the excess and returning to what’s essential.

This might mean cooking more meals at home with simple ingredients. Or decluttering your space so it supports calm rather than chaos. It might be as radical as shifting to a four-day workweek, or as simple as taking your evenings back from doom-scrolling.

Look at your habits with fresh eyes: What actually serves you? What’s just filling time or space? Then start letting go.

8. Live Seasonally

We weren’t meant to live the same way in July as we do in January. Yet modern life flattens the seasons — fluorescent lights in every room, strawberries in December, and constant productivity as the norm.

A more natural life honors seasonal rhythms. In spring, we plant. In summer, we grow and harvest. In fall, we preserve and reflect. In winter, we rest.

Living seasonally can look like eating what's in season, adjusting your sleep with daylight, or even creating seasonal traditions that mark the passage of time more intentionally.

The more you live in rhythm with the earth, the more you’ll feel balanced — mentally, emotionally, and physically.

9. Learn a Traditional Skill

We’ve lost a lot of useful knowledge in just a few generations — from mending clothes to fermenting vegetables, from sharpening tools to building fences. Reclaiming even one of these skills can make your life feel richer and more resilient.

Pick something that excites you and dive in: learn to can tomatoes, make sourdough, split firewood, identify local plants. You don’t need to become an expert. Just try. In the trying, you become more self-reliant — and more rooted in the world around you.

10. Focus on What You Can Control

It’s easy to get overwhelmed trying to “live naturally” in a world that often feels unnatural. But here’s the truth: you don’t have to do it all.

Start with one step. Grow one plant. Meet one neighbor. Reclaim one morning a week for silence and fresh air.

A natural life is not about perfection — it’s about intention. About being more human in a world that constantly tries to speed us up, sell us something, and disconnect us from the land, our food, and each other.

You don’t need 100 acres or a composting toilet to start. You just need the willingness to listen — to yourself, the seasons, and what matters most.

Final Thoughts

Living more naturally isn’t about checking off a to-do list. It’s about a shift in values — from consuming to creating, from isolating to connecting, from reacting to slowing down and observing.

Start where you are. Use what you have. And trust that each small choice matters.