Vanlife and Mental Health: How to Keep Your Sanity While Living on The Road
Wondering how you can prioritize your mental health while also living on the road? We’ve got you covered with our top tips for maintaining your wellness while traveling full-time.
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📍- Somewhere on the Road
Progress has always been a difficult thing for humans to conceptualize. Day by day, it seems that nothing is changing, yet if you look back at the state of your life a year ago, you may barely recognize it.
Thoughts of progress have consumed my days after this past year of full-time travel. My husband, Drew, and I started this journey wanting to see the deepest corners of the country, but as we checked off sites from our bucket list, it seemed this list was only getting longer. Thoughts of everything that remain to be seen are an enormous distraction from how much we’ve already experienced, and the effort of planning our next stop often separates us from being present in our current location.
This is the privileged predicament of those who choose to live on the road. A journey often meant to quench our thirst for adventure can make us crave it even more. There is this plaguing illusion that the journey has just begun, but for us, this could not be further from the truth. It has been a year since we set sail to travel the country, yet even after having explored 27 states together, I still often feel like the same eager girl who just wanted to see America the Beautiful with my own two eyes. Of course, I am no longer that girl who dreamed of climbing the red rock vortexes of Sedona or feeling the mist of the towering waterfalls in Yosemite. I am the woman who has seen all of that and more, so why don’t I feel satisfied with this progress?
Many people start vanlife hoping that it may bring them satisfaction and happiness, but I will warn those optimistic individuals that it may not be that easy. While a mobile life will grant you memories beyond what many people will experience in their lifetime, true contentment is only found from within. It requires presence, and the willingness to accept things exactly as they are today. In fact, I would argue that the chaos of this type of life can make it even harder to find time to devote to keeping your sanity.
We can tell you through first-hand experience, that no matter what your favorite influencers may make you think, full-time travel is not a substitute for self-care. Balancing wellness and travel can be a bit of a challenge, but after some volatile trial and error, we’ve discovered some of the best things that keep us grounded while we are still on this grand excursion of ours. If this sounds like something you’d benefit from learning, then keep reading to find our top tips for how you can care for your mental health while living the #vanlifedream.
Even if your home has wheels now, it is a home nonetheless and you are still a human. Even travelers need to take care of their health and wellbeing.
Sometimes, just stopping in a town with no plans can help you explore at your own pace and without expectations. This photo was taken from Orange Beach, Alabama where we did just that.
If you were at all nervous about bringing along a pet on your vanlife adventures, let me assure you that they absolutely add to the experience. Check out a whole blog about life on the road with pets here.
Of course, if you love eating out as much as we do, I still encourage you to treat yourself from time to time.
One of our favorite hikes on this journey was Devil’s Bridge which we enjoyed during our trip to Sedona, Arizona.
We were even able to meet Aaron Franklin, the BBQ master behind Franklin Barbeque on this outing!
We still love to boondock, but we are happiest when staying at free spaces in between some more comfortable campground stays.
When we passed through Napa Valley, we planned a date to taste our way through some popular wineries in the area.
12 months after starting our journey, here I am after seeing the Pacific Ocean for the first time. As you can tell, happiness and fulfillment are absolutely possible while living on the road.
We hope you enjoyed and learned about how to prioritize your mental health while also living on the road! If you have any questions, or perhaps a tip of your own, please leave a comment so that we can help other travelers together!
Thank you for joining us at Discovery Detour, where the destination is always unknown.