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profdant139's avatar
profdant139
Explorer II
Dec 27, 2014

Boondocking and the idea of "dolce far niente" -- wow!

I just came across a reference to the concept of "dolce far niente" -- I had no idea what it meant. It turns out that it is an Italian phrase that means "the sweetness of doing nothing." It is not being lazy or procrastinating -- it is the conscious enjoyment of just hanging out, letting the world go by.

I am posting this here because my immediate thought was "yes, this is what boondocking is really all about!" Unlike camping in a busy RV park or a campground, camping in the outback uniquely lends itself to this idea. And at home, the phone rings, and the emails pile up, and there are chores that really should be done, and the TV, and so forth.

I wish we had a word or phrase in English that captured the same state of mind -- "zoning out" does not work. It is the mindset that you get while sitting in a comfortable camp chair in front of a fire, or in a warm bed listening to the rain on the roof of the RV, or reading on a cold evening inside the RV while the wind blows through the trees.

The closest I can come is a term my kids used to use -- "chillaxing." But it does not quite do the job -- it does not include the awareness of the luxury of doing nothing.

If you have a good English equivalent for dolce far niente, let's hear it!

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