Welcome to Apple Lucy Living, where I’ll chronicle my journey to absolutely living a hippie lifestyle. But what exactly does that mean? I’ll get to that in a minute, but first I have to explain the beginning. It all started in the living room.

My son and I were talking about interior decorating when he pointed out that our house was very bland, to put it kindly. I just assumed that this is what a house decorated by a grown-up should look like. And why wouldn’t I? From the time I left high school until even recently, I’ve been told I needed to grow up. And what was really being implied is that I needed to conform to mainstream norms more.

Now, I sat in my living room, hating everything I saw. The room, myself, the life I thought I was supposed to be striving for. I’d spent twenty-six years ignoring my inner voice, and now I didn’t want to waste another second on the wrong path.

Defining Hippie

So what exactly is this hippie lifestyle I’m yearning for? For a comprehensive understanding of hippies, you can read the full Wikipedia article. But for a quicker reading I have pulled a few quotes from the article that best summarize how I feel:

“Hippies sought to free themselves from societal restrictions, choose their own way, and find new meaning in life.”

“Hippies opposed political and social orthodoxy, choosing a gentle and nondoctrinaire ideology that favored peace, love, and personal freedom.”

“Hippies rejected established institutions, …embraced aspects of Eastern philosophy, championed sexual liberation, were often vegetarian and eco-friendly, promoted the use of psychedelic drugs which they believed expanded one’s consciousness, and created intentional communities or communes.”

The Future

All of that speaks to my soul. Always has. And I’m finally in a place with my life that I can ditch the way I had been living and move towards this hippie lifestyle. And damn, does that feel good. To read the full story of my life journey, check out my first blog post. As for this website, I hope it will continue to grow as I explore where this new path takes me.

According to Wikipedia, the July 7, 1967 issue of Time magazine featured an article about hippies and their code, which was stated as, “Do your own thing, wherever you have to do it and whenever you want. Drop out. Leave society as you have known it. Leave it utterly. Blow the mind of every straight person you can reach. Turn them on, if not to drugs, then to beauty, love, honesty, fun.”

Beauty, love, honesty, and fun. The world can never have too much of that, so I hope you’ll join me on this journey and maybe tap into your own inner hippie.