How do you handle the "What Ifs"

[akrvbob]

One of the things that keeps us from starting or enjoying vandwelling is the constant question of "What if..." It can paralyze us and keep us from starting or it can convince us to bring along way more stuff than we need for "Just in case....!"  

What are the "What ifs..." that are hardest for you?

How did you overcome them?

Many "What ifs..." are valid, how do you choose which to heed?

Bob

 

[Almost There]

I always seem to have a backup plan in mind!

What if the campground is full, Plan B might be anything from the closest W/M to the next closest campground.

What if the grocery store doesn't have xxxx, then I'll go with yyyy.

Sometimes one has to have plan D, E & F.

'What if' only has to paralyze if you let it! There's always another work around out there if you think about it. The problem I see is some people become so intent on making on Plan A work that they fail to think of alternatives and then get mired in quicksand when it doesn't work.

My major plans are pretty firm but the rest of them...well, jello works wonderfully...

 

[mockturtle]

I guess my greatest 'what if' has always been, if I have to be hospitalized [or die], who will look after my dog. But I don't let the question bother me.

 

[wagoneer]

In the creeping years it's been health/strength and mobility. Holding up fairly well though.

 

[MikeRuth]

I think as a vandweller you have to be able to go with the flow. If you worry to much about the what if's there gonna hang you up.
Isn't that one of the main reasons for living this life style> to be free(er) just roll along? It is for me.

 

[cyndi]

Always, go with the flow and with the plan that will best suit your needs yielding the necessary results

My big what if's are:
1) the care of my dog. That is handled with an informational packet that includes $$$ for boarding or shipping until my son can get things under control. My son has agreed to take my girl if anything happens to me.

2) Getting somewhere because of family. I have enough emergency money to fly somewhere if I have to. But my family understands that I'd rather drive. I can make it from CA to MA in 5 - 7 days if I have to.

3) My health. I've got issues, but I don't worry about them too much. I have a plan for when I can't live independently.

 

[LosAngelesVandweller]

I agree with Mike Ruth.

To me there is a big difference between preparation and planning. Be prepared, absolutely. Get your hands on as much information/tools/resources/whatever that you can for your journey thru this life. But too much "planning" is, in my opinion, a bad thing. Almost nothing ever goes as planned. I prefer to have "loose" plans...that way when there's a curve in the road youre better prepared to improvise. And that's usually when the interesting/exciting/best stuff happens, right?

Maybe I've lived a bit of a charmed life so far tho...my dad is fond of telling me that I'm like a cat, I always land on my feet!

 

[SoulRaven]

I guess all of my "What Ifs?" are covered by an emergency fund large enough to replace everything, and my philosophy of be be prepared for anything.

That's basically it. I plan on going back up to the Seattle area this summer, I'll get there when I do, enjoying myself along the way, then head for MI & MN before heading back south. No specific plans or dates, just a rough plan, that can change as needed.

Life is so much less stressful to just take it as it comes and if somebody throws eggs at you, make an omelet, if it's lemons, make some lemonade.

It has been very rare for me to have any breakdowns, but I figure if I do, there must be a reason why I'm supposed to stay there a little longer. No big deal.

During a hurricane, the mighty oak tree falls, but the blade of grass that bends in the wind survives and thrives. So I try to be like that blade of grass.

 

[flying kurbmaster]

I don;t like to think of what if's, it is a hypothetical question, but being human they do pop into my head once in a while, I try to remind myself that I have made it so far and have a history of managing so I take that forward or bring it to conscience to overcome the fear, instill confidence, reassure myself. I sometimes like to break down the what ifs by dissecting the reality of them. 

 

[vanman2300]

It isn't so much the what ifs but the failing to reach goals and the consequence. I decided to throw it all in the wind and when things happen figure the solution. I also decided that should I fail miserably and crash I should have a final solution ready. Now I'm a planner to a certain extent so don't mistake the following for me being suicidal or anything like that because I'm perfectly happy with my life. When my health begins to fail or things take a turn for the very worst I have what is known as an exit bag at the ready......a very quick and absolutely painless way to exit the world. It might sound weird but to me it is the next logical step for me rather than waiting in a nursing home to die anyway.

 

[Seraphim]

My biggest 'what if' was always, "What if something happens to me before I have finances set up so my family is cared for?" But that's not an issue any longer, so I'm not really bothered by 'what ifs'.

I always followed a dogma of planning for the worst, hoping for the best. If you plan for a worst case scenario, and feel you're prepared for it, you can move more confidently through the world.

 

[flying kurbmaster]

You are always surprised by what you expect ..... James Michener

 

[Theadyn]

I always worry less when I have a backup plan. In the past I tried to plan for everything, which in turn made things not so fun. Am trying really hard to break out of that type of thinking. I read not so long ago someone put it like this, some of the most interesting things happen when things didn't go as planned. It could be meeting someone that had an impact on your life that you wouldn't have otherwise had met. Or seeing something unexpectedly wonderful taking a different path. I used to get pretty upset when things happened that altered my plans, so I will work on changing my perspective. That saying 'sometimes things happen for a reason'... maybe just look at the 'what if's' as a possible experience you otherwise wouldn't have had. Keep smiling. Have a backup plan and emergency stash. Learn from it.

 

[Bdog1]

Regardless of your living situation, the big concerns seem to be the same. Dependents and health/mobility.

I'm riding all the way to the train wreck!

 

[mconlonx]

You can also turn the "What if...?" question around.

A while ago, I learned about the economic term "opportunity cost." Which is the cost of what you are doing with your resources based on what else you could be doing with the same resources. "What if I do this, instead of that?"

So for the big questions, like making a move to vandwelling, or considering employment opportunities, I usually consider, "When I am at the end of my life, would I regret not having done this?" And with vandwelling, the answer to me is a resounding yes. Same thing when I dropped out of white collar professional life and spent some years as a bicycle mechanic. The "What if...?" question then becomes, "What if I did not pursue vandwelling? Would I be happy? Would my life be more or less rich because of it?"

Bigger issue, "What if I try to reconcile with this person with whom I've had a long-term relationship...?" That's a tough one... but right now, the opportunity cost of pursuing that route is way more than what I'm doing now

Smaller issue, "What if I get stuck in the snow?" That's an easy one -- carry a shovel and have towing service on my insurance.

It's the intermediate stuff that boggles the mind: "What if [disaster] happens? Am I prepared?" And then it's time to take an objective look at personal skills inventory vs. what you might carry and be able to utilize should [disaster] occur. I carry some basic tools, but I'm not an auto mechanic; I carry some rather specialized bike tools because I am a bike mechanic and it's a viable way to make some cash every now and then.

"What if...?" will be a very subjective thing for each individual and situation. No right or wrong answers outside the individual who's asking.

 

[Matt71]

Here are my biggest what ifs, and how I'm handling them:


What if decide we don't want to full time, and have to start over from scratch?

At the 8 month point of our journey we'll be arriving back in our home state. Forgoing any unforeseen tragedy, we should have at least a couple thousand bucks left along with our emergency fund of $2000. I figure, by the 8 month point we'll have a pretty good idea if full time van dwelling is something we want to do and can finance. If we choose to bail, it'll still be warm enough to live in the van while we find an apartment and full time jobs. Also, part of our trip will be scoping out different cities where we might want to settle down.

What if I lose my job?
On top of me working from the road being something my company has never tried before, and the fact that the company is on the verge of collapse, I could lose my job during our travels. My hope is that this doesn't happen until at least the 8 month point when we'll be at a crossroads. I'm hoping that I can manage to find enough photography work on the road to sustain us as I'd rather do that than my current job.

What if the van breaks down?
Once we have our van, one of the first things we'll do is do as much preemptive repair work as we can manage. Once we know what we're getting I can do some research into the most common repairs the vehicle might need, and get those things checked out. Anything that is even borderline we'll likely replace. I'd rather spend the money up front when we still have a house, than be stranded on the BLM land somewhere or forced to get a hotel room while repairs are being made.

These next two are pre trip What ifs that might put an end to our journey before it even starts.

What if we can't rent out our house?
Property values have gone into the toilet where we live, so it's not likely we'll be able to rent our house for high enough rent to cover our mortgage payment. To mitigate this we plan to use part of the house to store our remaining "stuff". This means renting to someone we know and trust enough to take care of our things. Even with cutting down the rent, the only friends we have that we trust enough might still not be able to rent the house. 

What if we can't take our cats?
We're trying very hard to figure out a way that we can bring our two cats with us on the road without exposing them to dangerous temperatures in the vehicle. I'm pretty sure I have a handle on making that work, but I'm not 100%. There's also the chance that the cats will be opposed to the idea entirely. We plan to do some test runs over the summer to see how they manage. If it doesn't work out, I'm not sure what we'll do as one of our cats is temperamental and I wouldn't feel right passing him off onto someone else, and I couldn't bear sending either of them to the Humane Society.

 

[mockturtle]

Matt, my parent's traveled with their cat for years--not full time but for weeks at a time--and I've met quite a few fulltimers who travel with their cats. The main problem seems to be their getting loose and lost. A cat has a mind of its own, as you know, and aren't always easily lured back once having 'escaped'. There are caged cat 'balconies' that will fit into a window and give a cat a perch from which to observe in safety. Can't remember what they are called but I've seen them online and in person. Most cats don't like the actual traveling and need to be secured in a crate. My parents took their cat 'walkies' with a leash and harness but some cats don't like to go outside and need a litter box [which will take up some space].

 

[mockturtle]

They look like this:  cat window box

 

[mockturtle]

Google 'cat window box' for some pictures.

 

[Matt71]

I considered getting one of those 3 foot high fences to put up outside the van, but that will depend on how much storage space we have available. We'll also have vest style harnesses and leashes for both cats, though our cats might be able to get out of those if given enough time.

Fortunately they are both indoor cats. Our female cat doesn't even like to go outside, so I'm not too worried about her. Our male cat is a bit more of a wanderer. He likes to roll around in the grass and lay out in the shade. He's snuck out of the house a couple times and wandered the neighborhood for about 3 days before coming home, so there is some risk. He's a big boy though, so he isn't one to bolt for freedom. Both times he's wandered off was because we left the door open and didn't notice him sneak out. He's not fast, but he's pretty stealthy. We'll likely chop both of them just to be safe.