It's been two whole years!

**EDIT** Someone prompted me to look up the song 'Dixie' which is the tune I was singing at the end of this video. It's pretty racist and I had no idea. I WILL NOT be getting a horn that plays that tune as a stretch goal. Yuck. My apologies to anyone who was turned off by that last section.

I've been living in a van for two years as of today! Yay!

It's been a really crazy two years, and one of the most recent challenges for me has been managing my personal health and well being.

Being on the road for 2 years is a lot of wear and tear on my van, and me. In the last year I had the stomach flu for two weeks, tore a hamstring, lost a bunch of clients, had to replace the transmission on my van 3 TIMES, and on top of all of this, I just had to fix small things that break or need replacing in my van. That's just life.

I think people need structure in their lives. I'm usually pretty good at giving myself a schedule and sticking to it, but in the last year I realized that without my structure I start to fall apart. I have to make it to town on the days I put on my schedule and I have to get my blogs published or videos edited on the deadlines.

On top of managing a schedule, I have to stay up on my van repairs. A lot of this year I found myself just letting the small breaks pile up, and then after a while I would freak out and try to do everything in one day. It made for a strange cycle.

This year I did streamline some of my processes and was able to settle more comfortably into my van.

I finally took out the water pump under my sink! Now I have a gravity fed system that works perfectly for me.
I took out the swivel chair in the drivers seat, I never used it anyway
I moved my propane tank under the bed!
I installed a whiteboard and earring holder
My sister started painting a mural on the inside of my water tanks door
I took out the shelving in the back of my van, now there is way more room for storage

More than anything else, I learned that I need to take care of myself

There are so many things you learn living in a van. The first year was almost a crash course in how to travel alone, but the second year felt more like a space of internal growth. I learned more about how I want to spend my time out in the world, how I need to park to make myself feel safe at night, how I need to shop and eat and sleep so I feel good.

These lessons are not universally applicable because they will be different for each person who lives on the road long term.

I'm looking forward to year 3! I never thought I would be here, but I'm really excited that I am. I hope that in year 3 I can install a diesel heater (linked above) and maybe get some better speakers!