busyBeingBorn
New member
Hey everybody, my name is Joel. I'm a 30-year-old guy from Southern Michigan. I recently fell on hard-ish times in every facet of my life. My parents helped me out and bought me a mini-van (03 Pontiac Montana). While talking with my dad one day, it just suddenly occurred to me that I could live in the damn thing. No wife, no property, no kids, no pets, few possessions. And quite a bit of student loan debt to repay :-/ Although scary, the idea immediately intrigued me, and the more I look into it and try to mentally prepare, the more right it feels.
I realize now that I've never been truly happy because I've never identified with the values that drive the behavior of most people and institutions in our society. Like many here, I'm sure, I could write a small book on why I think the way we live is completely insane and totally destructive. My level of alienation from this way of "living" has reached such a peak that I'm now searching for feasible ways of leaving it behind so I can try to live a life more true to myself and, quite frankly, to the process of life on this planet in general.
With my dad's help, I am working a full-time, low-wage job while researching, planning, and making purchases to outfit my van for long-term residency. I'm thinking roughly two years, beginning in the late Spring/Early Summer 2015.
My largest trepidation at this point is temperature control for sleeping purposes. I need quite a bit of sleep (I've experimented with getting by on less, but you can only shortchange yourself so much), and I don't sleep well in hot, muggy weather such as summer tends to bring to Southern Michigan.
The book and website here have already been an enormous help to me in so many ways. Thank you all for doing what you do here!
I realize now that I've never been truly happy because I've never identified with the values that drive the behavior of most people and institutions in our society. Like many here, I'm sure, I could write a small book on why I think the way we live is completely insane and totally destructive. My level of alienation from this way of "living" has reached such a peak that I'm now searching for feasible ways of leaving it behind so I can try to live a life more true to myself and, quite frankly, to the process of life on this planet in general.
With my dad's help, I am working a full-time, low-wage job while researching, planning, and making purchases to outfit my van for long-term residency. I'm thinking roughly two years, beginning in the late Spring/Early Summer 2015.
My largest trepidation at this point is temperature control for sleeping purposes. I need quite a bit of sleep (I've experimented with getting by on less, but you can only shortchange yourself so much), and I don't sleep well in hot, muggy weather such as summer tends to bring to Southern Michigan.
The book and website here have already been an enormous help to me in so many ways. Thank you all for doing what you do here!
