Do you ever feel like the 9-5 life isn’t for you? Or that there has to be more to life than waiting for the next weekend or vacation so you can finally relax, destress, and enjoy life?
I’ve felt this way since before I even made it into the working world. By the time I was finished with college, I felt like it was inconceivable that all the work I’d completed would now be rewarded with… more work. Surely there had to be more to life than working day in and day out, just to make ends meet.
Feelings aside, I started my career in the medical field and continued obediently pushing forward. Each year, I would carefully plan out my small amount of vacation time, hoping to squeeze in as much travel as possible. Eventually, my boyfriend and I grew sick of making compromises with our travel dreams, and decided to do something about it.
About 7 months ago, we started talking about buying an RV to travel around the United States in. We’d been planning to move across the country for a while, so it seemed like a great time to really explore our options before we permanently moved our lives 2000 miles away.
Once we made the decision to start looking for an RV, things moved very quickly! We saw one 33-year-old Toyota motorhome on the internet, fell in love.. and had it in our driveway 1 week later. We were so ready to take the plunge that we didn’t even inspect the RV ourselves before buying. My boyfriend’s parents were cool enough to drive 10 hours round trip to check it out for us, and brought it home that day.
Initially, our plan was to work and save money until we quit our jobs in June to hit the road. Both Tim and I had great jobs that would have likely allowed us to transfer to another location when we decided to move, so the idea of resigning was scary for me! Additionally, the student loan debt I’ve accumulated over the years is something that I’ve constantly worried about having the means to pay since the day I signed the loan papers. I know I’m not the only person with these fears, because the majority of Americans are wasting away in their cubicles as I write this.
Immediately following the purchase of our RV, I worried that we were making the wrong decision… until I was unexpectedly laid off from my job 2 weeks later. I was completely blindsided by the layoff, but took it as a sign that we were making the right choice! Coincidentally, once my boyfriend got around to telling his boss we were planning on leaving indefinitely – he was told that he’ll still have a job if and when we return. Another green light from the universe!
Now that we have our money saved, and jobs squared away, all we have left to do is remodel our 1985 Toyota Coachmen and prepare for the road! We recently found significant water damage inside, which means we’ll need to make more repairs than originally anticipated. Not having thoroughly inspected for water damage before buying was a rookie mistake, but we were so excited to buy our camper that we were willing to take that risk. At first we were discouraged about the damage, but decided to look at it as our first of many adventures.
We plan to leave our home in Connecticut on May 1st, so we’re hoping that we can get everything ready over the next 8 weeks. There’s certainly never a “good” time to drop your whole life and start over, but once we made the decision to do it, things started falling into place more perfectly than we ever could have imagined. I hope that this is a good omen to come!
If you want to follow the remodel of our RV, check out my blog thrivingintiedye.com or follow me on Instagram @thrivingintiedye
