What I Learned from Remodeling, Traveling and Living in A Van (article)

[Richard]

To be clear, what follows is my summary of an article I just read this morning. The actual title of the article is:

12 Life Lessons Learned While Living in a Van and Traveling Europe

and it opens with this:

Is anyone tired of reading stories about #vanlife and how unfathomably cool and liberating it is living life “on the road?”

How exuberant, how effortless these bloggers’ lives seem to be; always amidst some stunning landscape, with an equally stunning significant other languorously draped over a surfboard, brewing coffee, smoking mussels over an open fire, watching the sun rise and set, gazing at the stars without a care in the world…

After briefly acknowledging that, sometimes (often?), social media treatment of a subject simultaneously inspires and vexes us, the author quotes Jack Kerouac from On The Road:

“I realized these were all the snapshots which our children would look at someday with wonder, thinking their parents had lived smooth, well-ordered lives and got up in the morning to walk proudly on the sidewalks of life, never dreaming the raggedy madness and riot of our actual lives, our actual night, the hell of it”

The article concludes with 12 lessons learned by the author. I'll list the lessons here because experienced van dwellers may already be familiar with these ideas. People who are still finding their way in this lifestyle (like me) may benefit from making time to read the complete article to get the most from its elaboration of each lesson learned:

1. You are capable of more than you think.
2. Being able to touch and use things that you’ve crafted with your own hands on a daily basis feeds your soul in immeasurable ways.
3. Organization is essential.
4. There exists always the option to radically simplify one’s daily activities.
5. Mirrors for the purpose of vanity are a waste of time. (Mirrors for driving are an excellent idea though.)
6. Nature can be just as entertaining, if not more so, than digital entertainment.
7. Waking up in natural surroundings drastically alters the course of one’s day.
8. Easy access to electricity really affects the hours one keeps.
9. Water, warmth and safety are no longer ever taken for granted.
10. Fears are often based on what others have said, not what you have actually experienced in your own life.
11. Abundance can be created even from limited resources.
12. Contentment isn’t derived explicitly from solitude or companionship.

As the author winds down to close, this insight about personal transparency felt like gold to me:

It seems to me that sharing our difficulties, our vulnerabilities, and our confusion serves to foment connections and compassion in a way that is hindered when sharing only our gratifications.

It's good to have successes to share. Most people prefer to share their triumphs over their disappointments. But if triumphs are all we share, we risk giving a skewed impression of the lifestyle we've opted into. Yes, there are glorious moments to be experienced. But, as I've learned over the past year, there are some pretty difficult moments to push through.

I feel grateful for those people in this forum who've come alongside to help and encourage me when my path feels like it's imploded into a sink-hole. When I'm feeling like an idiot among sages, some of you are a big part of why I didn't abandon my struggles to learn how to live better in a mobile context. Thank you.

 

[user 37446]

The opening quote that R listed is really accurate, full time rv living and dwelling is often portrayed as a "magical" experience or lifestyle when it can be anything but.

One couple on YouTube whose name starts with W seems to have a pretty idealistic existence...