Day 60: Working and Vacationing During Van Life
I took two weeks of vacation from my full time remote job and am one week into the vacation. But it doesn’t feel like a vacation. It feels like any other week I’d be at work with slightly less responsibility. This is because I like my job and only work for companies that give me space to do good work.
This space means allowing me to: select the most important tactics and ideas and ignore others, outsource or delegate work that someone else can do almost as good as me, work outside the commotion of Slack and frequent email checking, working whenever and from wherever I want to, and trusting me.
I check Slack like I check email: about twice a day. If the nature of your work allows for this, and you can move past the idea that work must feel like work, this could bring a welcome steadiness to your life. This steadiness at work is important to me, especially when experimenting with van life. Van life is more dynamic but less steady than life lived from a traditional home.
Steadiness that comes from non-reactive career choices helps make work days feel closer to what I previously called vacation days, to the point where it’s hard to distinguish the difference. These are the days I’m experiencing now. As much joy and freedom can be summoned on a work day as a vacation day. There are no hump days, case of the Mondays, or thank God it’s Fridays. They are all days to be enjoyed.
Of course there are challenges with work as there are challenges outside of work, and van life can make these challenges harder — not having a steady community, not having a steady internet connection, not having close friends and family close by. But when living from a van and working from the woods, you realize the steady nature of everything. Work is never unsteady. That idea is merely a trap you fall into.
However, work can feel unpleasant. I experienced a prolonged unpleasantness and it’s why I took time off. This step away from work-related responsibilities has helped me realize where this unpleasantness came from. Fortunately, this unpleasantness did not arise from the job or company, rather from the choices I made. I was tempted into pleasing others in the short term rather than doing right by the company in the long term. This led to stress. That stress is gone now and learnings remain, thanks to some paid time off.
Now I can get back to making every day a vacation day, a life day, a day to be enjoyed. Paid time off is there to give me space when I fall into certain traps. This is what I used it for before van life and what I will continue to use it for. Life will not be put on hold for work. If you feel this must be true, I recommend you find a new job. You can enjoy what you do. This is advice for me, advice for you.
