The photo above is just a cool photo I took hiking through Maine on my thru-hike…if I remember correctly, at a road intersection. I’d be more than happy to share my location, but I’m afraid I do not know the exact location.
This blog post which was supposed to be up Friday, but due to mostly excuses, I failed to get this up in time. To be fair I’ve been juggling a bit more than usual as you will learn in this post.
So, I have been living with my parents to save money for an unrealistic goal: Van-life 🤙🏻 with an off road twist, very much like the image below I found on Instagram:
After I got off trail in September 2017, I wanted to live a more intentional life. In order to live a more intentional life, I cut out the stuff that was not me, more specifically the activities and items that did not resonate with me, leaving more time and money on the activities that brought me the most joy. As a result, I basically became a minimalist and questioned everything.
In doing so, I started to realize the unnecessariness of stuff. For example, a TV.
- You spend time using the TV
- You spend money storing that TV
- You spend money transporting that TV
Now replace “TV” with larger items like a furniture, such as couch, bed, or desk. Acquiring and ridding of those items also takes time. Time and money that you could be spending on something you actually want to be doing with your time.
Eventually, I cut out the idea of renting ever again entirely. From there I first looked into tiny houses, but with all the current regulations and resale value, I was turned off by the idea. I still wanted a home base so I looked into traditional houses thinking I could do some investing, but found that I could save about the same amount of money over time renting, unless I happened to buy property in a high value, growth area (which are mostly cities and I’m not a fan).
Some more time passed and I came across a guy on YouTube under the channel name, venture4wd who lives out of his Jeep. This sparked an idea, but when I say it out loud it sounds more like something I would do when and if I were to retire (or if I lived on the West Coast where the rent is insane), but not now, not in Maryland. Still this fact did not convince me and I continued to save for a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon with a roof top tent.
Fast forward to living at home with all of my family including my brothers who I have not lived with this consistently since I had been 18, but were all there because their campuses closed due to the still current Covid19 pandemic. Tension was bearable for a good two months, but now about to enter our forth month together, I realized I was going to need to make a decision soon. As tension increased, I was thinking of pulling the trigger on a used Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, but hesitated, convincing myself that bearing the tension was doable. I was also saving quite a bit of money staying at home, as one could imagine.
While organizing a trip (literally seven days ago) over a video call with friends, I told them about my current tension and solution. In response they looked bewildered and asked, “What do you want? Living out of a Jeep and traveling contradicts with the job you have in Maryland.” After explaining my thought process, they said that it sounds like you have an unrealistic vision of what you want. Finally, they said something that sparked more of my attention:
Your thoughts and current views are being affected by your current environment. In moving out, you will put yourself in a state of mind where you can better understand what you actually need and want, even develop goals that you would not have thought about living with your parents.
So, I started looking for apartments.
Side Notes:
- Received some positive feedback on the blog. In summary, they thought it was worth the effort, but that it could help if I invested in a writing class.
- Feedback:
- I’m actually quite particular, but way back when I wanted to start a blog, even a vlog in 2015, the perfectionist in me never committed to posting. Fed up with myself, I finally started to just do it. This said, over time, I’ve noticed the subpar quality in content, uploading without a proper proofread. Thank you for your feedback. I will be sure to allocate time in growing my writing skill set.
- I’m actually quite particular, but way back when I wanted to start a blog, even a vlog in 2015, the perfectionist in me never committed to posting. Fed up with myself, I finally started to just do it. This said, over time, I’ve noticed the subpar quality in content, uploading without a proper proofread. Thank you for your feedback. I will be sure to allocate time in growing my writing skill set.
- Feedback:
