The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 14 letter word AUTOBIOGRAPHIC
I've seen this crossword clue in The Sunday Telegraph
A
U
T
O
B
I
O
G
R
A
P
H
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C
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Like a self-sufficient life?" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case like a self-sufficient life? = autobiographic.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.