Yes folks, we are doing this thing! Our house is sold, along with nearly all of our stuff. We've got about 5 medium-sized boxes of books and clothes that will be joining us in our 27' Airstream Flying Cloud as we travel about the country. It feels amazing.
The most common response we get when we tell people what we're up to is, "Wow, that's awesome, good for you, living the dream!" Then there are a handful of people who just can't process the information. "What?! What about... (your career / retirement / friends / family)?" And that's pretty much how we feel about what we're doing too. We spend somewhere around 97% of the time totally stoked. Life couldn't be more exciting. Then every once in awhile there's that sliver of fear/doubt that stabs in and says, "Yeah... what about our careers and stuff?"
No matter how we live it, there's no guaranteed security in life. We've been dreaming about setting off on an adventure like this for awhile now, and so we decided to just go for it. The closer we get to life on the road, the clearer the possibilities become. We are making this leap for many reasons, here are a few:
Embracing Intentional Ownership
As we got ready to sell everything, it was pretty startling to realize how much stuff we'd acquired and tucked away into closets and cabinets and storage tubs. Some of it had been moved from one storage unit to another, unopened, for years. All that extra stuff was definitely a burden we didn't even notice until it was lifted. Now that it's gone, we're committed to never owning anything that doesn't serve a purpose and/or make us happy. We're calling this "intentional ownership", and it feels right. If we don't need it, love it, use it, or share it, we don't own it.
Living Debt Free
Since we sold everything except the essentials, we bought high quality versions of the few things we'll actually use, and got rid of everything we were previously financing. With the profit from the sale of our home, we've purchased a truck + trailer (our transportation and home) free and clear. Beyond that, our newly lowered overhead is making the wolves at the door much easier to feed. Debt may only weigh on the imagination, but it turns out to weigh a lot. From now on our goal is to carry only debts of gratitude.
Seeing The World With Fresh Eyes
You know how when you're on vacation it doesn't seem like a hassle to drive an hour to see something, but you'd rarely make that same trip from home? Or the way it's exciting to check out a new restaurant when you're visiting a new city, but the exact same thing feels routine in your home town? Constantly being in new places means constantly looking through fresh eyes. Actually seeing what's around us instead of overlooking amazing things simply because they are familiar. That fresh perspective has become a craving.
Changing Our Relationship To Time
Time is great and all, but instead of living our lives by the clock, we want to live them in a natural rhythm. That is to say, the rhythm of nature: wake when the sun rises, work until we're tired, relax in the evening, and go to sleep when it's dark. Everything in life happens in seasons and cycles, and we want to align with them instead of always being online. We are setting out to make the things we want to see in the world, and to create at whatever pace our projects naturally demand.
Doing Only What Gives Us More Energy
The routines of life can get tangled on their own, like a pair of headphones in your pocket. When that happens, it's easy to just go along without pulling up to ask, "Is this really what I want to be doing? Is this how I want to be spending my brief life?" We've committed to living our lives fully engaged in the things that give us more energy instead of draining it. More intention, focus, presence, and way less nonsense.
We are taking this time to reduce the number of possessions, projects, and people calling for our attention so we'll have plenty of energy to make the things that matter to us exist in the world.
Jenn's passion is cooking delicious food for people to gather around and enjoy. Shaun is focused on bringing creative ideas to life and sharing the process. Both of us are committed to seeing where we can end up in the world by following the paths that call to us from within. From now on, we are Living Driven.
