Just as I realized how this project is redefining what a home is, it also has me examining our life in terms of sustainability. I don’t mean our carbon footprint, I don’t mean taking steps to be organic and reduce our impact on natural resources.
Our dream to be sustainable nomads really hits home the point of what is sustainable about our lives. For me, staying in the traditional path (work hard just to take a 2 week vacation and buy expensive toys for our free time) is becoming less and less sustainable. I love my life, but if certain things stayed the same until retirement age, I wouldn’t make it that long.
We went through an odd period of planning for this project (ironically right after my post on fear), and it made us rethink each step. We don’t know what the final goal will be, or if it will change several times. Actually I expect it to. But we stopped when we both felt we were spinning our wheels and said (of ourselves and each other) – what do we want? What do we want to change in our current situation? What kinds of ways could this project end up that could be considered a failure (as not sticking to the original plan) but we could see being a sustainable lifestyle in terms of our happiness and accomplishment?
One of my biggest fears is not finishing something. I’ve started many things in life, only to run off to do something else before it’s done. I feel a pressure (from who?) to see things through to the end, but I need to admit when the end may not be the best solution. I now see this journey not as one big “do it all or else we fail” – that would just be setting ourselves up for failure. I see it as a long term goal or guideline, but recognize that it’s the direction we move towards rather than the distance we travel that matters.
After our analysis of the state of the project and our commitment to it, we both felt that our topmost priority remains the same. Purchase an RV, convert it to WVO, and drive to Burning Man this year. Where we go beyond that, no one knows yet. However we do know that pursuing this is helping us to change our lives into a more sustainable lifestyle – meaning spiritually, financially, socially, ecologically, and in terms of our life happiness. (I couldn’t find an -ly word for that! :P) We’ve also taken the next big step in the project, which is getting loan info from the bank – we now have a budget to work with! It’s not a large budget, but we don’t want to go deeply into debt or have monthly payments that we can’t meet. Luckily, I have a hankering to redecorate/renovate and Nathan is a tinkerer who wants to learn more hardcore DIY. Somewhere out there, there is a Class A or Class C motorhome with a diesel engine calling our name!
Sustainable Nomads 