Retrospective : when community reveals what matters

This week is my last one here, at Vegetarium, and between all the shared moments and the intense workdays, I’ve also spent time alone with my thoughts, trying to take in everything I’ve just experienced and noticing the quiet changes within me. It’s strange, this feeling of discovering yourself through a place, and through the people around you.

This experience has been deeply transformative, on a human, emotional, and meaningful level. I feel an immense sense of gratitude for having lived it here, with these people, at this exact moment in my life. Nothing could have been more right.

Living in a community has taught me the real art of coexisting : appreciating others for who they are, not for who we wish they were. I’ve learned to love sincerely, with respect and humility ; to welcome differences instead of fearing them, to see them as a source of richness rather than a difficulty. At the same time, I’ve learned to know myself better : to listen to my needs, to recognize my limits, and to express my desires without overshadowing those of others. I’ve discovered the power of honest dialogue, the kind that helps you grow without hurting. And I’ve witnessed the incredible strength of a united group, even made up of very different souls, when everyone moves in the same direction. Maybe that’s what human sustainability really is.

As the weeks went by, I also reflected on what living sustainably truly means. It’s not just about ecology, recycling or gardening. It’s also about relationships, rhythm, and mutual respect. Here, I’ve felt what it means to care for both the earth and human connection, as two inseparable parts of the same balance. Living in the mountains has reconnected me to the essential, but I’ve also realized that this lifestyle, that I may have idealized before, requires courage, discipline, and immense resilience. Living secluded is not an escape from the world ; it’s a deep commitment to it. There are sacrifices, challenges, constraints… but I’ve learned to accept them, because they give meaning to everything else.

As I prepare to leave Vegetarium, I feel that I’m not just taking memories with me. I’m taking a new way of seeing the world : more grounded, more open and more conscious.

Maya

P.S. This might sound a little formal, but I couldn’t end this retrospective without a heartfelt thank you. Not a light or polite one, but a deep and sincere thank you ; to Filip, Barbara, and Joanna, to Stefan and Nashielli, to Amelie, Mila, Maélys, and Misho, and to everyone I met along the way. Thank you for the light, the patience, the deep conversations, the laughter, and the shared silences.