Easy. Like lemon squeezy and ABCs and a Recipetin Eats one pot wonder. Easy is straightforward and presents few challenges. It just rolls off the tongue. 

Simple. That is something else entirely. Eating breakfast is simple. So too is a good book and listening to your favourite music on a long drive. It describes something that feels natural and uncomplicated. Like country living. Simple. Not always easy. 

There is nuance in this kind of language and it is an important distinction to make. Simple and easy. Certainly, the two meanings can overlap but life in a rural centre, the real, lived experience of it, often exists far from this intersection.

This distinction comes to life in Claire’s story.

Claire has lived in Albany, on the southern coast of Western Australia, for more than 20 years. Her work took her to the city, overseas, to Derby in far north WA before she landed in Albany and called it home. Having bounced around with a young family, Claire is no stranger to the challenges of building a community beyond the city. Sure, there is simplicity in her life now in Albany (the sense of space and her daily walk along the Middleton beach boardwalk) but that doesn’t mean it is easy.

In a recent conversation, Claire shared that pursuing a life in a rural area is “not taking the easy option.” She labelled this idea of rural living being stress-free and easy as a common misconception. 

Access, she says, becomes multidimensional out here. Access to healthcare. Access to friendships. To help when you need it.  To a cup of sugar from the neighbour. Access to your language group. When compared to its metropolitan counterpart, rural hubs like Albany often live with limited access, and consequently you become very familiar with the exterior walls of your comfort zone. You learn to lean on your neighbours in ways that city life does not always demand.

But as the saying goes, every cloud has a silver lining. For many living in Albany, just like Claire, this silver lining is the deep sense of community connectedness that comes from shared experience. Besides the stunning coastline that gives Albany its maritime charm, Claire reflects most on her role in sporting clubs, hobby groups and volunteering at the local school. 

“You look after each other”, she says. “A lot of us didn’t have family support when we moved rurally so you create a village.” While rural living can challenge our ideas of comfort, it offers new opportunities for relationships and meaningful community engagement that provides a fresh perspective for us all.