Is Van Life a Privilege?

As I've begun my journey into living out of a bag and travelling, I've begun to notice the drastic difference between people around the world. I've been more and more exposed to people who are making choices, and those being forced into certain types of living. Whether their reasons are for saving money, experiencing adventure, or simply surviving, it is all considered a means of living alternatively to me.

Coming from Canada, I feel I'm in a sort of bubble where I don't see a lot of homelessness. I tend to surround myself with people who are quite fortunate. So far, I'm thoroughly enjoying experiencing all different walks of life. It makes me feel incredibly fortunate to see how others live.

Choice vs necessity

One thing I've loved doing in the past is making random connections and hearing the stories of others. Not only have I been interacting with those who have chosen to live alternatively, but I've also been meeting people who are doing it out of necessity. Meeting fellow van lifers makes me feel proud to be a part of this community. Meeting people who are living alternatively because they have no other option has been an eye-opener into a world I don't have a lot of experience with. I'm grateful I enjoy this as it makes me feel like I'm growing and learning about who I share this planet with.

Where I come from, we have a lot of funding and government programs to help those in need. It is also a thriving country where people are often not hurting or in much trouble (financially or mentally). Most recently I've been interacting with folks distantly outside of my sphere. It's shown me more of the plethora of walks of life that exist on this planet.

I spent some time interacting with a few un-housed people. Their stories of hardship and their views of the world allow me to learn about how tough living alternatively can be. I've helped some out too, much like I do when I am living out of my van.

I'm now viewing choice vs necessity as a spectrum. I can now see how some are at completely different ends and how some are in between. As for myself, while I see where I fit mostly on the choice end of that spectrum, I notice parts of myself that fall somewhere in between. What a privilege it is to make this choice.

Saving money

One of my largest reasons for choosing to live like this comes from my desire to make my life less expensive than what might be considered normal. This is an active choice I'm making. This choice comes with known and calculated sacrifices and planned-out processes to get to where I want to be.

Ultimately, anyone who is sacrificing the normal way of living could save money. Despite this reason, it can have positive and negative outcomes. If you spend less to exist, your funds take you a lot further. Of course, this is a sweeping statement that not all people will relate to. The benefits of doing this by choice are likely to be a lot higher than the benefits of doing this by necessity.

Unfortunately, there exists a cost to being homeless or un-housed. Those who don't make the choice to live alternatively might experience deeper hardship. When you live in a home or have a place of your own, you can store additional items(i.e. the remaining rolls of toilet paper, a loaf of bread, a jar of condiments, and fresh food). It seems as if being down on your luck has a way of making your more down on your luck.

Living alternatively by choice can reduce your overall expenditure. Other times, while it can decrease your overall costs, you aren't always able to see any real savings.

Adventure

Another reason I can speak to my choice to live this way is craving adventure. I've mentioned before that I crave novel sights. The stories, people you meet, places you see, and things you do all have a large part in this motivation for me. Being adventurous makes me feel alive and like I'm truly taking advantage of whatever the heck life means. Becoming more cultured, learning new languages, and meeting people in hopes of making lifelong friends are all a part of the adventure for me.

I often feel adventure is a mentality. It's a privileged mentality. To me, adventure is hardship in disguise. Those who constantly experience hardship might never consider it an adventure. I come at it with the knowledge that I have a safety net protecting me from the extent of hardship others might experience.

Not everyone has this safety net. Sometimes, there exists a string of bad luck or unfortunate circumstances that just don't seem to end. It is a privilege to be able to see hardship as adventure.

Privilege

As I've said, I feel incredibly privileged to live this way. Not only do I have the motivation to do this, but I also have the funds, time, and desire to experience "hardship". I'm not entirely convinced everyone who chooses to live this way recognizes how fortunate they are to do the things they do.

The privilege and the choice some of us have is incredible. The hurdles I've overcomes to make these choices are plentiful, but it all comes from my ability to make choices. I wouldn't have been able to make these choices without the luck of being born within the circumstances I was.

Others don't come from the same building blocks. This is an unfortunate fact because the chances of you being born privileged are quite low. Again, this instills a great sense of gratitude in me.

Lessons

I've learned a lot about how some people chose to live alternatively and how some have no choice. While some people will never fully experience it, living outside of the norm can allow you to feel adventurous, frugal, and privileged. I'm more and more grateful for the opportunities I have in life and growing more curious about the other people who inhabit this planet with me.