Perspectives

As I was speaking with a dear friend this week a few thoughts I experienced left me absolutely confounded. While discussing my return to the lifestyle they mentioned they had plans and hopes of being able to retire to a MH 'someday'. This was causing me distress because no matter how much I explained they simply could not see past staying in 'bricks and sticks' until they retired. I understand they have a career and the one they have ties them to staying local, but, that does not mean one must continue to waste all that precious time not Full Timing. To me it seems simply insane to waste all the money to maintain a house, land, much higher utilities, insurance, taxes and all the other expenses of living in a house. They could retire much earlier saving that income while living the lifestyle they so eagerly anticipate.

All of my explanations fell upon a closed mind however. And there is nothing wrong with their choice whatsoever. I only wish they could feel the joy and freedom I experience now rather than later.

My first experience with the lifestyle was not one of choice but rather necessity. I could not wait to return to what society considered 'normal'! It took me nearly a year in that instance to be able to return to an apartment. During that experience I could not see past the hardships I was experiencing and was very unhappy due to my own thought processes. It was truly a celebration when I opened the door and moved into the apartment I was finally able to afford.

Within a very short time however I found myself very unhappy again, miraculously I was missing the experience I had learned while living in a vehicle. Every time the bills came around my mind was disturbed by how much it was costing, and thoughts of other things I could be doing with that money instead of handing it over to someone else who had not worked for it. I continued a year in that turmoil before walking away by choice a second time.

The second time was a much different experience. Due totally to my mindset and thoughts. Add to that the second time I didn't have a vehicle to live in either. As I was sleeping on a park bench or a number of other places however there was a peace, a feeling that all was good, a stirring in my very soul. It took some time but I eventually got a tarp and made a camp that was at least dry, eventually moved near a billboard for electric availability, then on to a tent, and finally to a van. I didn't consider it a struggle tho. Instead I was enjoying the experience and the simple lifestyle greatly! I knew with all I was that I had somehow found peace and every fiber of my being was thrilled daily at every experience.

During this I began people watching. Thinking on how they struggled often with bills, how the enclosure of the house closed them off from the very nature which they enjoyed on vacations, and a good many other things. I couldn't help but feel sorry for them even as they looked at me with contempt or pity. Could they not see they were the ones living a mundane lifestyle which could be stripped from them in the blink of an eye. Wasting days, weeks, years of precious life.

This all caused me to become a very spiritual person. I don't believe in religion or doctrine as it is today. I do however believe in God and the Bible. The simple feeling of peace and prosperity, and contentment free from the bonds of 'normal' was inspiring me daily. I simply KNEW with every thing I am that I was experiencing things as they were 'meant to be'. That the 'normal' life was somehow much less than what society seemed to think it was, and was somehow simply and fundamentally wrong.

I could literally speak for days on end about these subjects and not convince a single person with a closed mind of anything at all. They simply respond 'I'm so happy for you' or 'Wow that must be such fun' or even scowl at me with pity all over their faces as their thoughts tell them that I'm the one who doesn't 'get it'.

It is simply something one must experience for themselves to be able to understand. Until that time it is impossible.