Bravery and Stupidity are the same thing, the outcome determines your label. ― Hayden Sixx
“Did I just make the biggest mistake of my life?”
This is something I have been asking myself every few days since my partner and I quit our jobs, sold almost everything we owned, stuck the rest in a small storage unit, rented out our houses, and hit the road in our 2014 Chevy Express van (extended edition).
I know “van life” isn’t a new concept anymore. On one side, it has become somewhat glamorized, or at least that is what the algorithms make me believe, and on another, it’s something a lot of people have been forced into. But I have been doing van life research for probably 9+ years; this wasn’t something I was forced into, and this decision wasn’t something that I made lightly or without reason, but I still constantly doubt it.
The fact is, I was burned out. I’m the type of person that wants to do all the things and yet none of the things at the same time. I have a ton of ideas and goals to pursue, but I’m also extremely practical, and I have an amazing ability to catastrophize any scenario put in front of me. And yet, I was the one who approached my partner with the idea of taking a sabbatical—a mini-retirement, so to speak—about six years ago.
A lot has happened between now and then, and now it’s been 55 days on the road so far and I’m currently sitting in a library in Grand Junction, Colorado, thousands of miles away from my home, attempting to put my thoughts and feelings down on paper. I’m not a “writer”, I hardly even know where to start, I’ve already written and deleted several paragraphs in this post in an effort to avoid rambling too much.
But if you’ve made it this far, my plan is to write about this year-long sabbatical, the literal and figurative bumps along the way, as well as the financial aspect of living out of a van and traveling around the United States.
When I was doing research on how much I should budget for a trip like this, I didn’t find as much useful information as I hoped I would. There would be an occasional blog post or YouTube video, but it was usually only for a month and quite frankly, I need more data than that. There was also usually too much in the “miscellaneous” category. I’m a numbers gal; I like to get into the nitty-gritty when it comes to finances, so too much ambiguity annoys me. To help rectify that for others who may be looking for this information, my plan is to track every cent we spend, which I was already doing before we left, but this time I will be publishing it every month.
Oh, and did I mention I’m into the FIRE movement? I feel like a walking contradiction. How can I want to FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) when I voluntarily quit my job in the tech industry at what is most likely the worst possible time?
And now we’ve come full circle, quite nicely, I might add, to first sentence of this post. Only time will tell, and while I hope that it isn’t the biggest mistake of my life, I also hope that I’m brave enough to tell you if it turns out to be.