After Changing My Lifestyle, My Body and Mind Feel Much Better

On June 15, I rented a plot of land in the Sijiqing area of western Beijing, surrounded by Yuquan Mountain, Xiangshan and the Western Hills, to grow vegetables. Although everything is expensive in this hard-to-live-in capital, because it is agricultural land the price is not absurdly high. The daily rent for a small vegetable plot is less than ten yuan, which ordinary people can afford.

As of today, I have been planting for nearly forty days. Under my care, a wasteland has turned into a flourishing vegetable garden. The leafy greens are already enough to eat, and the fruit vegetables will soon be ready to pick.

Since I got this plot, I often ride my bicycle from home to the field in the early morning or at dusk to do about two hours of farm work. After finishing, I ride a loop along the roads at the foot of the Western Hills, Xiangshan and Yuquan Mountain, covering more than ten kilometers on my way home.

I regard this as my way of keeping fit. In forty days I have lost about five kilograms, moving ever closer to a standard weight, with abundant energy and a great mood. Only with a strong body can one have a joyful mood. My last year's physical checkup showed slightly high blood lipids; now I cannot be bothered to go for a checkup, but I estimate my lipids are already normal.

After leaving farming and spending more than twenty years in the privileged, comfortable city life, I have finally returned to the rough rural life. This year I rented the land a bit late and missed the farming season. Next spring I plan to expand the planted area; besides vegetables, I will also grow various coarse grains and melons and fruits. Except for rice and flour, I intend to grow all my own vegetables, coarse grains and fruits.

For a country boy who worked the land at home until age eighteen, farming is no hardship. Although the first week or two felt a little rusty at the farm work I had long been used to, it did not take long before I was skillful again.

I had wanted to lose weight for years, but my weight did not budge. Renting this plot and changing my lifestyle, without deliberate dieting, the weight has come off. I used to feel drowsy easily; now I am full of energy all day, and my nighttime sleep quality has improved greatly.

Growing my own vegetables, I use no chemical fertilizer—the fertilizer is chicken manure—and no pesticides—the birds handle the insects. The vegetables I grow taste much better than those bought at the market. I rather regret not having found such farmland earlier; if I had, I should have rented and planted long ago.

Since planting the vegetable plot, my mood has been much lighter. Every day I am in close contact with nature, rather than feeling everyone's anxious emotions in various true-or-fake news; my mind is much calmer. Watching the vegetables I grow day by day and feeling the joy of harvest, my face wears many more smiles.

I am not indifferent to society. If the country were now peaceful and prosperous rather than beset by disaster after disaster, I believe my mood would be even more joyful. If I had the ability to change society, rather than no matter how hard I try it all being in vain, I would also be willing to sacrifice myself to change society. But since natural and man-made disasters have reached this extent, they are beyond what an insignificant individual can change. Rather than live in lonely anger, it is better to return to a primitive life and enjoy one's limited life to the full.

After years of dealing with cancer patients and watching so many lives pass away before my eyes every day, I cherish this brief remaining life all the more. Let everything follow its natural course. I believe that humanity, surviving on this planet, will after paying a heavy price become clearer-headed and more rational than before.