What travelling in a campervan taught me about myself
SPONTANEITY CAN’T BE PLANNED!
Every time I’ve seen one of those dreamy ‘vanlife’ images there’s been this strange pull from within me, like something tugging at me and drawing me towards it. It’s been one of those things I look upon with heart-emoji eyes and yet I hadn’t experienced it in reality - until now.
LISTENING TO THE CALL
There’s a quote that says “Your freedom will come from the wild part of you that knows the exact way”. That wildness is your soul calling, it’s those intuitive whispers that draw you closer to who you are at your core. It’s been these whispers that have more and more drawn me to carve out a life that is in full alignment with my values. My values have changed as I have changed, and what I value now is very different to what I valued 5 years ago. What I value now is time in nature, adventure, play and a feeling of freedom - so it’s no wonder that the van life finally found me and I spent the last three weeks travelling around Sardinia with my partner so I could answer the call. However, it was the little life lessons that this trip taught me that surprised me the most.
BEING, NOT DOING
When I left for this vacation I was pretty overwhelmed, alongside my growing coaching business, I also have a full-time corporate career - which at times means I don’t always follow my own advice and can struggle to switch off. The start of this holiday was no exception. I thought I could do it all; balance my business, keep my work projects ticking over, enjoy Sardinia and time with my partner. And I’m sure I could have. Then I remembered my values and realised I was completely missing the point.
In today’s society, more and more, we are kept in our masculine energy, the energy of doing. And that’s great when you have a deadline to meet, but when we are in this mode we are not allowing the flow of the feminine to run through us, there is no room for creation or play. Alongside this, many of us are so stuck in the energy of doing, that we don’t simply know how to just be. Don’t know what I am talking about? Try sitting for 10 minutes and doing nothing, no meditating, no reading, no checking your phone, no sipping on a cup of tea - simply be, and watch what comes up. How does it feel? What comes up for you? Are you immediately seeking distraction?
It’s not as easy as it looks. Yet as I sat in our campervan, tapping away on my laptop while my partner was out surfing and enjoying himself, I realised that this is exactly what I needed to learn more of, the art of simply being.
It’s amazing what happens when you let go of the grip on the doing, and come to comfort with being, somehow time seems to expand and lengthen. That’s because, in the being, you are still enough to notice the world around you. As you slow down, you realise the world does too, and that’s because in the being there is presence, with self and with everything around you.
SIMPLICITY IS BLISS
Those that know me, know that I have a packing problem. Packing is my nemesis. The organiser in me wants to pack all required outfits for all possible circumstances and weather climes. And here was I going on a three-week trip in a campervan, for kite surfing and outdoors adventures, in October - I mean where do I even begin?! There’s a whole other layer to this story that I won’t go into now, but let’s say I stripped back my usual packing ways in a bid to show my other half what an excellent ‘camper’ I was, only to visit a store the moment I arrived to buy more warm layers… sigh.
Where I am going with this? Well, after a few days of settling in, I realised I would live in the same clothes day in and day out and not care. I used a fraction of what I packed and that was my reduced version! Living in a van also means you don’t have all your usual daily comforts around you, and yet I was happy as a clam living out of one bag. I didn’t care that I didn’t have a shower, hair straighteners, or even a toilet (I did however panic when I didn’t have access to an adequately sized bush). What I did have was what my soul values most, I had my nature, I had my adventure and play and a boatload of freedom. On top of that, I had quality time with my favourite human - I didn’t need or want anything more because my soul was lit up. I was brimming with joy. This beautiful simple, stripped-back way of living taught me a connection; to Mother Earth, to my partner and most of all to myself.
HOT SHOWERS ARE AMAZEBALLS (APPRECIATE WHAT YOU HAVE)
Speaking of simplicity… after 5 straight days of wild camping, I cannot explain the joy I felt at having my first hot shower (I also cannot explain the colour of the water as I did). I think I spent 15 solid minutes in there, luxuriating in it, thinking to myself “This is the BEST thing EVER!”. It was pure BLISS. And then it struck me - how much do we take a hot shower for granted? It took for me to be deprived of something, for me then to fully appreciate it. This thing that I have access to every day just happens. I turn on the tap and there is a steaming hot shower, and yet I’m ashamed to say it had been a long time since I’d stopped to recognise how utterly amazing it is that I have that privilege in my life.
My vanlife invited me at that moment to be fully grateful for the life I have and all that I have in it.
And that’s what I learned, to slow down and just be, that there is bliss in living simply and to appreciate those things I ordinarily take for granted.
