Episode list

Before that, Gregor lived in Paris where he worked as an editor for television, web and film. His life was filled with many audiovisual and artistic projects, paid or not, his agenda was busy, his life overloaded. One day, it's saturation, he loses his footing. He throws everything away and leaves his job and Paris. It's a question of survival. After a few months of vital rest, he leaves to discover other ways of living together: he finds Tera, an experimental eco-village project that brings together about fifteen permanent volunteers. Now Gregor no longer has his hands on a keyboard and his gaze fixed on a screen, he is now hands in the ground, his gaze turned towards nature and mankind. He practises permaculture and has embarked on an edible forest project. He also discovers tools to improve human relations such as benevolence, non-violent communication and meditation. Today Gregor finds himself more at peace, he feels that he still has a long way to go to know, not what he wants to do, but what he wants to be.

Prior to that, Axelle managed projects and worked in the "strategy and development" department of large companies. After years of working in the oil industry, she realized that her work was in contradiction with her values. She earns a very good living but she needs to find meaning and see the sun. She then asks for a sabbatical year and goes scuba diving around the world. She will never be able to work in an office again. She trains herself in the management of the maritime coasts and creates an association for the protection of the sea bed. Today, she lives between Asia and Europe: in Annecy to develop partnerships and in the Philippines to coordinate the project. Her association, People and the sea, supports local populations to implement more sustainable management of marine resources. They employ seven people on site and train about fifty eco-volunteers every year. This solidarity tourism balances the association's finances and should enable them to be remunerated next year. Axelle has found its way and its place between its two worlds, between the Philippines and France, between economic need and ecological necessity.

#03 Overcoming Fears Amandine, self-employed ceramist craftswoman Toulon, Var. What allowed me to stand up to this contagious fear and to my own doubts was to tell myself: there is no possible failure. Before, Amandine was a graphic designer and wanted to practice a creative profession. After several years in a web agency, she is disillusioned, she is just a performer at the service of her superiors. Her know-how is not considered, she is just asked to produce ideas on order. She wants to create, to do with her hands, to let the body decide. Determined, she will change her life and ends up getting an individual training leave after several requests. She can thus pass a CAP in ceramics. Today, Amandine is learning a new profession: she works at home and faces many failures. She defines herself as a "learner". She searches, experiments, tests, fails, starts again, she is in the essential phase of prototyping. She has opened a store on the Internet but cannot yet make a living from her production. Aid for business creation allows her to supplement her income up to the amount of unemployment benefits she would have received. Amandine will soon be able to sell her creations on the markets and confirm her new lifestyle. She has chosen a less ambitious but more accessible model of success. She is no longer afraid, she does.

Prior to that, Luc worked full time as a business strategy consultant. His career was going well, he was very well paid and he travelled around the world. But this was no longer enough for him, he felt stuck in his job to which he dedicated all his available time. He couldn't explore other worlds and didn't want to spend his life writing paper reports. Several times, he stopped working and took sabbaticals. He then realized that he wanted to carry out a project with a cultural and manual dimension. Today, Luc manages a cultural place in the countryside called the Maska. These ancient Roman thermal baths of more than 1000m2 allow him to organize artists' residences, festivals or to host events. This work does not allow him to earn enough money to live. Torn between ties and sandals, he makes the choice not to choose: he becomes a consultant again a few months in the year. Luc hasn't yet found the work method that suits him perfectly, but he no longer spends all year in front of the computer. With the Maska, he has his own field of experimentation, he discovers, adapts, does and learns new things every day.

Before, Adèle worked only in children's publishing. A self-employed entrepreneur, she wrote and edited children's books. She realizes that she can no longer keep up, she lacks time and does not earn enough money to support her family. After a summer of reflection, she decides to leave the small business she co-created. A difficult but necessary choice, she has to find a fixed-term contract in order to have a regular income. Today, Adèle is an employee, a part-time project manager in the public service. She discovers the kindness of her co-workers and the social progress of paid vacations. She has kept her freelance activity in children's literature and runs workshops in social centers. Adèle now has a fixed salary and a secure job. She can look forward to the future with more serenity and rebalance the time allocated to her four lives: her passionate work, her remunerative work, her role as a mother and her life as a woman.

Previously, Vincent was a computer developer in Montpellier. He worked in an office with all the material comfort. Independent, he had regular clients and earned a good living but this form of individual and routine work no longer suited him. Today, Vincent has set up a SCOP with two other developers. The objective is to mutualize costs, to smooth out the money inflow and to perpetuate their jobs. They no longer have a boss, decisions are made collectively. When one of them became a father and needed more money to live on, they decided by mutual agreement that he would earn more, without working more. After freeing himself from the subordination of a boss, Vincent left his office and apartment. In Europe and North America, he rents rooms to individuals and never stays more than two weeks in one place. He creates his own open-space in common areas. Vincent is peaceful, his new way of working allows him to look forward to the future more serenely and to move freely according to his projects and desires. He considers himself stable in movement.

First of all, Yann and Alexandre are graduated in wood and iron trades in BTS and with the "compagnons du devoir". Very early on, they realize that the world of classical work, over-consumption and sedentary life are not for them. They have not changed their lives, they have always chosen to do things differently. Nomadic, they transform heavy trucks into off-road rolling houses. They have no training or diploma in car mechanics, they have become pros through breakdowns and encounters. They have never considered work as an end in itself or as a marker of social success. For them, it is either a means to raise money to finance their project or to directly carry out their project and make things. Sometimes they make objects that are useless, just for the pleasure of working with wood: chnikchnaks. They don't need a lot of money to live: they are self-sufficient in energy, live in a collective and have minimized the costs. Their main expense: food. Alexandre and Yann are itinerant but at home at the same time. They live simply and let themselves be carried by the wind.