It's a hard thing, in your mind, to get past the ... romanticized ... images of living out-n-about. Books like On The Road, or movies like Into The Wild can show you a lot of what it really is like. But the HARSH parts of reality tend to get lost beneath those romanticized images. And until you are actually out in it full time, you just don't have much of a clue how BAD it can get, and how quickly it can all go bad. But that is also why people write about the GOOD parts - to help them get through all the bad parts.
It can be GREAT to not have all the worry about a job/home/bills. But that tends to drown out all those times you have no food and no money and haven't had any for days - and with no do-able prospects to change that in the next few days, much less next couple hours. Waking up to a beautiful sunrise with the dew sparkling across the grass/flowers is remembered. But being thoroughly soaked for 3 or 4 days and nights in a row while moving/sleeping in a foot of mud is something most people try hard to forget - and seldom write about.
So balance out in your mind, between those romantic images and some harsh reality. Will the ... good times ... be enough to get you through the ... bad times. It can be a great experience. But you need the mental toughness to go along with the physical toughness - to be able to survive that experience for any length of time.
And all Choices come with consequences and responsibilities. Many of the consequences have already been mentioned - future housing, jobs, health.
In the end, the choice is yours. Just throw away those thoughts of being another McKandles going out Into The Wild - unless you fully remember what happened to him at the end.
Just a few humble thoughts to share. Take them as such.
Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands
p.s. I've been without a formal job since 2001. The mental drain of scrambling around every day to meet the current bills can be much worse than dealing with a pressures of a full-time job! Yes, I do have lots of "free" time to do whatever I want whenever I want, but I seldom have the money/fuel to go and do anything. I haven't been to a pub or the theatre in many months - just can't afford it or the fuel to travel to one. Just one of those things to consider .... when living down on the raggedy bottom edge of society.
It can be GREAT to not have all the worry about a job/home/bills. But that tends to drown out all those times you have no food and no money and haven't had any for days - and with no do-able prospects to change that in the next few days, much less next couple hours. Waking up to a beautiful sunrise with the dew sparkling across the grass/flowers is remembered. But being thoroughly soaked for 3 or 4 days and nights in a row while moving/sleeping in a foot of mud is something most people try hard to forget - and seldom write about.
So balance out in your mind, between those romantic images and some harsh reality. Will the ... good times ... be enough to get you through the ... bad times. It can be a great experience. But you need the mental toughness to go along with the physical toughness - to be able to survive that experience for any length of time.
And all Choices come with consequences and responsibilities. Many of the consequences have already been mentioned - future housing, jobs, health.
In the end, the choice is yours. Just throw away those thoughts of being another McKandles going out Into The Wild - unless you fully remember what happened to him at the end.
Just a few humble thoughts to share. Take them as such.
Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands
p.s. I've been without a formal job since 2001. The mental drain of scrambling around every day to meet the current bills can be much worse than dealing with a pressures of a full-time job! Yes, I do have lots of "free" time to do whatever I want whenever I want, but I seldom have the money/fuel to go and do anything. I haven't been to a pub or the theatre in many months - just can't afford it or the fuel to travel to one. Just one of those things to consider .... when living down on the raggedy bottom edge of society.