Becoming a Nomad

Where’s Charly?
Jul 21, 2017 · 4 min read

In a nutshell, I’m paring down my belongings, moving into a tiny home on wheels with my dog, and hitting the road to work and travel full-time.

In some ways, I feel like I made the decision overnight, but in others, I feel like it has been slowly coming to fruition for years. The idea of becoming a nomad first struck me in my early twenties. I dug into online articles about converting old school buses into motorhomes; I learned that there is a growing community of people who choose to live in RVs year-round and that they call themselves ‘full-timers’; I brainstormed ways to earn an income remotely that I thought I could pull off with my skill set. Fast forward to my 30th birthday and I found myself running my own small business from home, unmarried and without children, and preparing to move — somewhere, not yet knowing where.

Then one night, on a whim, I participated in a new moon “ritual” of sorts with some friends — a manifestation exercise, if you will. Each of us were to write down simple statements from the perspective of our future selves with prompts like “I’m glad that I…,” “I desire…,” “I’m thankful for…,” etc. The basic idea was that these musings would form seeds of intention that would carry out in our daily lives, thus transforming that vision of a possible future into reality. It may sound kooky on the surface, but the concept is very straightforward. Plant an idea in your head, let it bounce around for awhile, and if it takes root, it will begin to influence your decisions. This happens naturally all the time, but the point of this ritual was to take the reins and do it with intention.

The exercise itself may seem easy enough, but for me personally, it was extremely challenging. Not only did I have to imagine my future in realistic terms in order to make meaningful observations, but I also had to write them down in past tense as if these hypothetical events had already occurred. This required a healthy connection to my own vision of my future, which at this time in my life, admittedly, was a completely blank slate.

As my friends sat vigorously scribbling away, I stared at a blank page as thoughts swirled elusively through my head, escaping my desperate attempts to catch even a single one. Then, terror. Why is this so hard for me? Why have I never thought this way before? How do I not know what I want?

Thankfully, my anxieties were abruptly interrupted — aha! Caught one. I wrote three words on the page: I desire freedom.

I would like to say that this released a landslide of correlated thoughts, but the truth is, those were the only three words that made it into my notebook that night. I was a bit disappointed in myself, to be honest. I was supposed to be connecting to a possible future, and all I could come up with was a single sentence. A sentence which, tellingly, had just as much, if not more, to do with my current feelings than any version of my future self that I could muster up. But despite my initial disappointment, I eventually came to realize that I penned the only three words that mattered.

From those words came an entire thought process that will change my life. Armed with my newly discovered quest for freedom, I began to explore the concept in depth. Freedom can take many forms — what did it mean to me? In pursuit of answering this question, that old familiar idea from my twenties came to the forefront of my mind, and once it was there, there was no turning back: I am going to become a nomad.


I have much left to do in the way of preparing for a location independent lifestyle, but I will be logging my journey through this blog, as well as on Instagram (follow me @wherescharly). Lastly, I cannot explore this topic without mentioning that pursuing this dream would not be possible without the unwavering support of my family and close friends. Special thanks and appreciation to my dad, for his mentorship in all things mechanical, for his “I can build that” attitude, and for the many towing lessons still to come. To my mom, the ultimate planning and preparedness expert, who I know will not let a single thing get overlooked along the way. To my sister, who will probably always think I’m a little bit crazy, but loves me anyway. To my dearest friends, whose excitement for me continues to push me through any doubts and fears. And obviously to Ranger, for his unconditional love and companionship. We’ve been through quite a few bumps in the road together, and with any luck, we’ll hit a few more.

“The future ain’t what it used to be.” — Yogi Berra

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Where’s Charly?

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