Give Yourself Grace
Deciding to launch is a big decision. There are lots of factors to consider not to mention your world turning upside down. Maybe you are going into this because you have to. You no longer have a sticks and bricks to live in and you need to come up with Plan B, C, D, or Q by now. Maybe it is fully a choice. You are looking for a new adventure or perspective and you have dreamed about traveling for years. Or maybe you are somewhere in between. Whatever your reason, you will have moments of “what the heck was I thinking”, “I don’t think I can do this” and “am I the only one?” Let me answer the last one first. No, you are not the only one going through a myriad of feelings about making a significant change in your life. At any given campground there is someone sitting outside their rig wondering what they have done by going full time. It’s just a bad day for them. There will be good days and bad days just like in your years previous. The days are framed different with new surroundings and changing neighbors. Give yourself grace. Grace to realize that you aren’t going to know everything right off the bat. Maybe you camped years ago but now things are different. Maybe you have never camped and you are learning on the fly. You can do it! Give yourself grace.
As you are planning your new lifestyle make sure to take time to think about things beyond how to flush your tanks, level your camper and troubleshoot your low water pressure. Think about things such as:
What am I going to do when I get homesick for friends or family?
What am I going to do when I get nostalgic about the life I used to lead?
What happens when things start to get overwhelming because they are all piling up at once?
What happens when the first big thing breaks, what is my plan?
What are you going to do when you start missing some of the things you had to part with?
The mental side of this lifestyle can be just as difficult as learning how to fix or maintain things in your RV. Sometimes more because more emotions are involved. Thinking about your reaction to these questions ahead of time acknowledges that the situations might arise and that you have a plan to help cope if they do. This brings you some control when life starts to feel out of control. Giving yourself grace to feel the emotional side of this lifestyle as well as the logical side can help make the transition from traditional sticks and bricks living to mobile life a bit easier.
One technique that might help, especially if you are a bit apprehensive about launching into this lifestyle, is starting a journal. Every day, jot down a few feelings you have when you are thinking about going full time. What have you learned in your preparation and what are you thinking about. As you get closer to launch, talk about your feelings and how you are feeling supported or how you are supporting yourself. Then, when you launch, keep the journal going for at least the first few months. You can go back and read your fears and excitment and reflect about all you have learned. Frequently we have laughed at something that happened and said, if that happened week 1 we would have been a wreck! Or we laugh at what we were worried about early on which usually had to do with critters in the RV.
Give yourself grace in this process. You are making a major life change that is a different way to live than most Americans. That’s OK. For us, it’s better than OK. As long as we continue to remember to give ourselves grace.