people think I'm crazy

[tc112969]

When I tell others my plan they think I am insane. If it bothered me I wouldn't tell anyone, I kind of get a kick out of it. I quit a pretty good job in 2006 and my coworkers/friends thought I had lost my mind. "How can you just leave a good job in this economy with no plan for your future while so many without jobs would kill to be in your place", "how will you survive?" things like this. Well I didn't have to work again for 5 years, and they were 5 of the best years of my life. Now I'm about to leave my job again and it's the same stuff. The other day I explained it to a friend like this. I said put yourself in my shoes, taking off on the road alone, and tell me how you feel. The response: lonely, scared, depressed.  OK now I don't want to offend but if I think of myself in your place, 3 kids, a mortgage, a job I can't leave due to my responsibilities, I feel lonely, afraid, and depressed. She seemed to get the point.   Just felt like sharing this.

 

[tc112969]

Oh, and they're right to think I'm crazy, crazy like a fox!

 

[akblack10]

I've said it before....."no matter what path you choose in life, someone will not approve..." &nbsp;<br>So go for it and never look back! &nbsp;<br>Safe travels, or as they say in the nautical world... "fair winds and following seas..."<br>-AK

 

[OrganicandWild]

I'm just getting ready to leave. I've been compiling information and resources for my very analytical folks out of respect. I'm 24, I've vagabonded a lot before but for some reason living out of a van seems crazier to them than jumping trains and chasing&nbsp;gypsies.&nbsp;<BR><BR>My father's exact words "You need to get a plexiotomy and get back in the game." My mother: "But what about your health insurance?"<BR><BR>Well.... I've paid my dues in the corporate world and have come to realize that a 24 year old has no business being bored and miserable. I should be having fun and fun is what I shall have. I tried far to hard to be the person someone else wanted me to be. Restlessness has set in and I am taking flight!<BR><BR>My friends think I'm a hero. I'm breaking the mold and setting out. I prefer to be alone (well I have my dog) and besides,&nbsp;I've always been a little crazy <img src="/images/boards/smilies/smile.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle">

 

[investigator77]

I don't mean to hijack this thread, but OrganicAndWild, what in the heck is a plexiotomy?<br><br>As a mom myself, I can understand your parents concerns, but I can also understand your desire to enjoy life while you are young.&nbsp; We never know where our lives will take us, so we really only have today.&nbsp; My daughter, who is 31 and married, thinks I've gone a little crazy when I start talking about driving to AZ for the RTR all by myself in the middle of winter, and <strong>boondocking</strong> for gawds sake! LOL&nbsp; She worries about my health, safety, comfort, and security.&nbsp; Probably all the things your parents worry about for you.&nbsp; So there's THAT......<br><br><br>tc112969<br><br>Congratulations on following your own passion, and not being a slave to the business world.&nbsp; That's what I love about the RV'rs I've 'met' so far, especially the ones who workamp.&nbsp; I love the idea of working for a few months, and traveling for 6 or 9 months more.&nbsp; What a great way to live.&nbsp; I wish I had the nerve, when I was younger, but it was a very different time back then, so&nbsp;I dream of the day I can start my 2nd childhood, and become a full-time RV lady!

 

[spd2918]

Plexiotomy:&nbsp; "Having a piece of plexiglass inserted into ones abdomen to make seeing the world possible due to the head being that far up one's @$$."

 

[investigator77]

Excellent!!&nbsp; That's the first time I've ever heard that expression.&nbsp; Thanks for explaining <img class="emoticon bbc_img" title="Smile - " src="/images/boards/smilies/smile.gif">

 

[Blue]

I do think ya gotta be a little nuts to do this, especially alone. When I spent three-four months driving through alaska alone, mostly staying in lonely off season campgrounds and not talking to people for weeks at a time, your brain sorta starts to eat itself, emotions like isolation, fear, remorse, guilt, depression, along with clarity, resolve, contentment etc all mix up together and cycle in weird mostly unpredictable ways. Most people cant do it for long, but I think those that do after a while come up with ways to cope, and even begin to long for the isolation (I do anyways) from time to time... yeah... living in a van is a bit nuts, but I dont see it as much more nuts than living in constant financial and debt fears...

 

[akrvbob]

Blue, I totally respect your opinion but I think it was just the opposite for me. I think people who live in houses are nuts, and people who live in vans are the sane ones!!!!!!

But I am just like you and found the first 6 months of living in a van to be very uncomfortable, It was scary, uncomfortable and lonely. I had a long period of transition. But after a while I found it extremely satisfying!

Of course many people never do like it, they are always uncomfortable with it. But I think a surprising number of people do fall in love with it and do it forever.

Today's blog post is on that topic so if you go to the menu bar across the top of this page and click on the "Blog" button you can read my experience in the first few months of vandwelling.
Bob

 

[Patrick46]

I dream of the day I can start my 2nd childhood, and become a full-time RV lady!

I had a customer tell me once: "You're never too old to have a happy childhood!" (Loved that one!!)

_____________________________________________________________

I quit a good paying mill job 26 years ago, (back in Wisconsin), with full bene's and retirement, to move to Oregon.
Everyday, someone would come up to me and ask if we had friends, or family out this way, and could I get a transfer from the company to our division out here??

Nope! We didn't know a soul, and the company's division was laying off out here, so that was completely out too.

I must be NUTS to leave all this!! Heard it all the time!

Now, 26 years later, I (without question) believe it was the 2nd SMARTEST conscious decision I've ever made!
(conning my wife to marry me was #1)

 

[Simran]

Invariably, on the coldest mornings, one of my four sisters will intuitively call to see how I am. I swear they must have a calendar and each sign up for days to be responsible for their big brother. Do they think I'm crazy; not really. They're pretty sure of it. Were they surprised when I bought a van to live in? No; they just smiled, looked at each other and nodded. Me and my van are welcome in their yards any time.

 

[offroad]

If you can take care of yourself without having to run the rat race. Then go for it.

 

[Blue]

AKrvBob- yeah, there was this one day... I had been alone in the RV about four months, and on this day I woke up and remembered that the day before I had found a neat little waterfall, I treked back out to it and spent the whole day just playing with the waterfall, building little dams, making other little waterfalls, making a funnel so somebody could get water easily, etc. absolutely, totally pointless creativity. I messed with it almost all day.

At the end of the day I had realized not once that entire day had I thought about "stuff I need to get done" I wasnt thinking about getting ready for work, paying a speeding ticket, doing my taxes, making up credit card payments (had destroyed them) or anything. It was like I had re-discovered how to just play, and not worry... about anything. When I got my next job, it sorta went away and I was back in the rat race again, filled with worry and stress and determination to get things done and a big giant pile of things needing to get done my boss had given me...

Thats what I miss most, I dont miss feeling too alone (and I did feel that a lot), but I do miss getting all that fear and stress out of my head and being able to just be, just play, just create without any kind of goal other than plain enjoyment of a nice day and a little nature.

 

[offroad]

Blue - and that's where you come up with a financial plan to get out of the rat race on minimal dollars. Some wait until SS kicks in from disability or age. You can do it earlier.

---

Look up mr money mustache and the mustachions. Read about how there goal is early early financial independence.

 

[Patrick46]

Some wait until SS kicks in from disability or age.

yeah, and then you're either too old or too crippled to really enjoy this new found freedom.

This is why I'm now going to Hawaii during my winter months. I wanna be there surfing, scuba diving, and enjoying the sun and the beach, and the ALOHA while I'm still young and able bodied enough to enjoy it!

I'll save the cruise ships and shuffleboard for when I'm too old to really raise hell!

 

[Blue]

well, I think I found the secrete (at least for me) night jobs. I work graves and theres never enough graveyard people, you can find jobs doing a lot of stuff in just about any town with no requirement other than you gotta stay awake. Right now I'm sorta trapped because senior family members are very ill and I'm the only one willing to take care of them full time. but I can see in a few years (most likely) I should be able to get up and get gone for good... until then I'm planning a LOT of vaccations.