> So many people feel they work too much and dream of just getting away to something simpler.
I agree that this the popular sentiment, but I think work is a smaller part of it than we like to think. I think people are simply overwhelmed with the always-on, always-connected lifestyles that fill our every waking moment with outrage-bait headlines and more entertainment media than we could possibly ever consume. Anyone with a phone is always seconds away from piping stress and bad news and drama and conflict and ragebait straight into their eyes for hours at a time. And many do!
Wage stagnation is one thing, but I think the actual amount of work we’re doing gets less and less each decade. When I was young I remember my parents making fun of me for working “bankers’ hours” because my job was 9-6. For them, 10-12 hour days were the norm. Before that, my grandfathers on both sides had to work two full-time jobs simultaneously at different points to support their families. Before that, my great-grandparents started with a homestead where every day was filled with hard labor just to survive when winter rolled around.
Cottagecore aesthetic encapsulates a romanticized version of the laborious homesteading lifestyle but in a way that assumes all of the modern amenities and none of the labor. It sells because most people are so far removed from the idea of how much labor it takes to survive and be self-sufficient that the idea seems downright romantic.
The notion that things would be easier if we simply rolled back the clock to simpler times is demonstrably not true, but the idea of “born in the wrong era” is a common result of romanticizing the past.