The Metaphor

When I was 10, I saw the 1963 World War 2 movie: The Great Escape, based on the true story of the largest breakout from a World War 2 POW camp. Hundreds of Allied servicemen refused to passively accept captivity, and conspired to bust their way out. 

The Great Escape is a powerful metaphor for leaving the city for a life in the country. No-one thrives where our choices are tightly controlled. We all hanker for freedom, and deserve it.

In Stalag Luft 3, the prisoners were confined and constantly watched, while in the city people are hemmed in by traffic, schedules, expectations, constant observation, and the pressure of “always being on”. Routines are imposed, and your sense of freedom and agency is quietly eroded by bureaucracy, regulations, noise, and expectations. It’s easy to feel like you’re living someone else’s script on less than your own terms.

Your move to the country is more than a change of address. It is your escape from congestion, noise and rush into space, connection, meaning, and a new way of life. Your Great Escape to Freedom!!!

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The Escape Plan

Escape mastermind Squadron Leader Roger Bushell oversaw the meticulous planning over many months, and the teams of over 600 soldiers who pooled their skills in intelligence, tunneling, forging, and engineering to build a complex escape system - all accomplished under constant surveillance.

Your own escape needs a plan. You need to prepare yourself and your family well in advance, and have a step by step strategy to reach your goals.

The camp prisoners studied the routines and rotations of the guards and the layout of the camp. They mapped the fences and defenses, observed and recorded the patterns of the searchlights, and quietly built tools and tunnels over months, turning a seemingly hopeless situation into an executable plan.

Likewise, a genuine move from city to country demands a quiet and disciplined preparation. You need to map your finances, research work prospects and schools, understand zoning and entitlements, learn new skills, find a guide or mentor, and put it all together into a plan to prepare yourself and your family for zero hour.

Escape can be a very scary thing! Many of us have a desire to break out, but due to our lack of knowledge, lack of experience, fear of the unknown, or fear of making an expensive mistake, we freeze. A well thought out plan will overcome this inertia.

The stakes are high. You might only have one shot at this. No hasty decisions. This escape needs to be well thought out and planned so it is a one way move to freedom.

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The Self Analysis

Determining your WHY, your motivation, must be your first step. Think about it, talk about it, involve the whole family as you inspire them with a vision of a new life. Write your why down. This will sustain you when you hit snags, have your own doubts, and when you get well meaning advice like, "You are about to do a really dumb thing..."

Second step? A rigorous self analysis to determine your readiness to lead an escape plan. Are you up for the fight?

You are the key ingredient in this process. You are a 21st century Roger Bushell, it is you who will make the critical decisions that will determine success or failure. 

So you need to take a long, cold, objective look at yourself to see if your health, physical capacity, mental resources, practical skills, financial management, resilience, adaptability, commitment, etc. are up to the mission. And if not, part of your plan needs to be to get yourself ready, so you can help your team get ready.

Are you ready to do it yourself, to rough it, to be inconvenienced, to do hard things, to get dirty, to do without, or to "live off the sniff of an oily rag" - if necessary? If not, now is the time to get cracking...

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