We are going to do something completely different on the blog today. I am going to vent. While this lifestyle is incredibly rewarding and I am thrilled I found my way back to it after being stationary for so long, there is a lot that videos and even blogs cannot cover.
To start, have you ever been frustrated or burnt out with all of the things you seemingly have to do throughout the day? Sweeping, cleaning, rearranging, making sure you have water or power… and that’s just on top of the normal, going to the bathroom, making coffee, taking care of animals (or kids if you’re into that sort of thing).
It almost takes as much work, if not more, to make your life work on the road.
Most people don’t have to worry about income or a job that will allow them to move freely. They don’t go into an interview hoping that asking about the flexibility to roam about won’t end the interview before it really begins.
FYI: Some companies might be remote but require you to be stationary.
Most people don’t spend every waking moment thinking about trash and poo. Whether it is mine or the dogs, it’s gotta go somewhere, and sometimes BLM keeps you far from the bins.
Most people don’t check the weather before they step outside or go for a drive, and most people definitely don’t need to move their house every couple of days or weeks. But knowing if you should go a day early to avoid wind and bad weather or just to bring in your awning and camp chairs so they don’t get blown away isn’t something you think of in sticks and bricks.
I find myself loving that I can just go off and explore, that I get to be out in the wonders of nature all the time. Willow and I are never bored and never sick of finding new places and exploring them, but it does just absolutely wear you down over time. Like rocks with wind and water, you become carved from the land and from this lifestyle. You either adapt or you call it quits and get out. I did it once before and ended up coming back.
I keep telling everyone I have “6 states left! Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii!”What will I do when I finally take the epic road trip I have planned and just go knock all but Hawaii down? What happens when I finally visit Hawaii? Believe me, a majority of my time will be focused on not pissing off the natives and finding ways to ethically explore their land and learn from them rather than just being a pesky tourist. I hear such conflicting accounts – the native Hawaiians do not want tourists from the mainland, and then I hear from someone who says they are Hawaiian and lives there that they want tourists to come because it brings in money, but they want us to stay away from lands that don’t belong to us (and don’t jump in a volcano). I’m not joking, that was what they told me. Not sure why they thought I looked like I would jump into a volcano, but okay.
When that is all said and done, is that the end of my traveling? I obviously want to go overseas. I learned from a fellow YouTuber that you can ship your van from Canada to the UK for about $2000 ~ $3000, which doesn’t seem all that bad if you plan to spend a lot of time in Europe. I would try to spend at least a year, if not more. I know that depends on visas and money, but you could see a lot in a year, and for the cost of entry being the same price as a plane ticket? Sign me up!
It feels like I am always trying to escape something. I am always trying to go for the next thing, but not sticking consistently with what I currently have. If I knew myself less I would be at a loss to know why I am feeling like this, but I do know myself. I know this is my ADHD forcing me to dopamine chase because my brain doesn’t make the chemicals it is supposed to.
Maybe I am not meant for anything. I’ll never be special or well known for my writing and that’s okay. I’ll take a quiet life with my dog in the mountains or woods. I just have to get to it.
Have you ever felt like this?
Knowing it is just a momentary blip, how did you cope with it?