Van Life Made Me Love Minimalism

In today’s post, follow along for a Q&A style discussion between ClickBank and I over how living in a van changed my life — forever.

Q: Looking back, living in a beautiful remodeled Sprinter van, what are you going to remember the most?

A: I think the time. I feel really present; I know that I’m here and I’m not thinking about anything else. When you live in a van, you are disconnected and almost feel like you’re in a bubble. You’re not looking at your screens every day. You’re not hitting refresh or checking your social media platforms. You forget what life was like before.

It’s very refreshing to enjoy things. I’m not like walking around smelling the flowers or hugging trees and stuff, but I am stargazing. I am setting up fires and doing cast iron cooking. I am hiking and I’m walking and I’m reading and journaling. I’m really carefree.

I hope that once I get back into the real world that I don’t get trapped in all the devices and notification games. I really hope I don’t do that.

The same thing goes for minimalism. It has been really cool to adopt that concept and lifestyle. Everything in the van is everything we own. I remember before van life if we had any free space, we would stuff it full of crap. It was crap that we didn’t really use or need but I was there. I really hope that once we get back into a house, we keep the minimalist mindset of owning less and living with more intent. It’s going to be a big challenge; we all face consumerism and like to buy things.

On one last note, I can say confidently that my identity is not associated with anything I own. I feel like sometimes success brings successful traps. What does a very nice, fancy car do? It traps a piece of you in it. One of my influencer friends actually just got a Lamborghini; it’s so nice. Now she has to wash it every day. She has to take care of it every single day. That Lamborghini is a big part of her life now. I’m not saying this is a bad thing. My life is not better than yours and your life is not better than mine. As I’m now free from traps, I will say that an object will trap you. Objects provide you with a fleeting sense of fulfillment.