My lifestyle change has slowly evolved over the last 6-years. There have been LOTS of trial and error situations. Despite all of it, I now know my triggers foods, allergies, etc. This information has allowed me to reduce my GP symptoms of nausea, pain, fatigue and less dizzy spells. Of course, what I deem as my 'safe foods' may turn on me from time to time, giving me a dose of GP reality. Yet, that does not stop me from trying new foods and pushing my limits in other areas.
What Would Happen In 2018
Exploring The Outdoors To De-Stress
Slowly, I began feeling better. Not just my stomach, but my mental health as well. So over the years, we have continued to take walks when and where we can. This was something both of us never wanted to stop doing. Just the opposite, we wanted to go to new places all the time and explore. Our love for the outdoors would be a key factor in our next move.
New Health Issue Has Us Reflecting
With his health now in question, we asked ourselves: What are we doing? After some thought, we quickly came to realize his salary was enabling us with a means to spend excess money. We are renting an exceptionally large home we only use a couple of rooms in, are paying for extra cars we seldom drive, and impulse buys that clutter the house, which often go used.
We reflected on the fact that we seldom are able to go on vacations and our nature walks have taken a back-burner. Don’s workload and our health issues made us question the retirement years. Especially knowing that his mom passed away before her retirement from Pancreatic Cancer. We really wanted to be able to see as many National Parks in our later years while traveling the US. Retirement is over 30-years away for us, so would we be capable when the time came? That was the major question driving us forward to change.
2018 Changed Our Lives Forever
In the Fall of 2017 we were inspired by so many people taking the minimalist approach in life. They were cutting out the clutter, downsizing to live smaller and reducing their footprint by working at home. By doing so, they reduced their need for large amounts of income.
So we sat down together and wrote out what we wanted for our future. From there we thought about what steps we needed to take to get there. That leads us to real research on how to make our dreams reality.
Lots of ideas were scribbled on paper from buying a small piece of property to build a tiny home, then onto making that small home mobile. We eventually settled on the idea of living in an RV full-time and working out of it. The main thought was to travel and either work on-line or in the town we visited. But how to accomplish such a dream was what we needed to figure out.
Our New Lifestyle
With our new home signed for, but not in our possession, we went ahead with putting in our notice at work. We gave ourselves an extra week after the last working day, to begin selling off the majority of our belongings. Everything that would not go into the 5th wheel had to go, so we were essentially Downsizing Everything.
As you can imagine the stress was endless, from our RV not being ready for us to pick up on the date we needed, to the worry of where our future income would come from. My gastroparesis was going wild and even with stepping down to mostly liquids, it was hard to manage. I was eager to get the 5th wheel and head off to see family.
Traveling To See Family
All too quickly Fall came and it was getting cold. We had to decide if we were going to go South for the Winter, as so many in RVs do. If we did, I was able to do my work on the road, but Don would need to find something else. Since we did not have much time to do everything we needed to properly get on the road, we decided to hunker down and attempt "...To Stay Warm" if that is possible in negative degree weather.
Gastroparesis Awareness
I also closed down my GPfight website, but have intentions of getting it back up and going. I do not want my prior years of advocacy to collect dust. My GP family means the world to me, you have all given me hope and inspiration -- in return, I hope I have done the same.
Thank You
Thank you for your time and support!