In Squamish, there are people who choose to live a more nomadic lifestyle, who forgo the 9-to-5 to follow their passions, be it rock climbing or something else. They flock to this town when the weather is good to live out of their vans, RVs or tents full-time.聽
The west coast of North America has long been home to free-spirited people who live the nomadic lifestyle. The imagery of an old Volkswagen bus with a surfboard strapped to the roof and a shaggy, blond-haired surfer behind the wheel is an iconic image of freedom in this part of the world. VW buses have retained their value as subsequent generations buy into this ideal to slice off a little piece of freedom for themselves.聽
Even though this way of life has been around for generations, it is still very much bohemian, an affront to the status quo, so discussing it can be polarizing depending on your beliefs. While some will see it as a desirable expression of freedom, others will see these individuals as a drain on society.聽
Personally, I was curious about what it would be like to live this sort of lifestyle and if I, too, could gain the sense of freedom that the nomads around Squamish exude, so last September, my wife, Spring, and I gave up the security of a permanent home and decided to see what would come of it.聽
Many in Squamish right now would likely view giving up their apartment as downright crazy. At the time we were renting a large, above-ground, two-bedroom apartment with access to a garden and outside storage, all for less than four figures a month. We were told that finding a similar apartment again would likely be impossible. But the desire to try something new and to live another way for a while was simply too great.
Seven months later, we are still largely living this way of life. We still don鈥檛 have a permanent home and have not really missed it much.聽
Our time as nomads has included living in a 60-square-foot Boler camper for a month, travelling around Ireland for five weeks, house-sitting for a few friends in Squamish and spending a good chunk of the winter in the Rockies near Canmore, learning to lead ice climbs on frozen waterfalls and on week-long ski traverses. From now onwards, we are aiming to alpine rock climb much more and are also developing a list of long, multi-day mountain trails that we鈥檇 like to trail-run.
While this might sound like one long vacation, I assure you it is not. In between trips into the mountains, my wife works remotely doing contract work and I do freelance writing, photography and social media marketing.
But what this way of life has given us is time in abundance and freedom from the restrictions that having bills and payments would burden us. If we had an apartment, then we鈥檇 have to work a minimum amount just to pay the rent or mortgage. Aside from food, gas and our phones, we have no other drains on the money we make.
It鈥檚 important to also know that this lifestyle is extremely chaotic. From week to week, we don鈥檛 know where we will be living but, for now, we love the adventure. For many, this way of life might be too stressful.聽
Years ago I engaged in a week-long personality test that concluded I鈥檇 feel the most fulfilled as a firefighter, an artist or an architect. My strengths lay in having no defined schedule and feeling comfortable surrounded by chaos to which I needed to bring order and structure. This is what has drawn me to wild and tumultuous mountain environments and, now, to living mobile and on the road.聽
I once worked in an office job and knew exactly what I had to do every day of the week. It can be difficult to understand, but I used to wake up in a cold sweat and broke out in rashes from the stress of this. There was a deep anxiety from knowing what every day of my life was going to look like at work. But when tomorrow is unknown and a new set of challenges await me, I feel a sense of contentment that only this nomadic way of life can bring.
Many might say we are lucky to be in this position, but I can assure you that luck has had nothing to do with it. In reality, since moving to Squamish six years ago and being exposed to nomadic individuals, my wife and I have been making choices in our lives to get closer to being able to be nomadic ourselves. It鈥檚 been a process of choosing time over money for years now.聽
Subconsciously, we may not have readily acknowledged it, but when faced with the question of getting more time and freedom, Spring and I have always said 鈥測es.鈥� And when it came to making more money in exchange for time, we have said 鈥渘o.鈥�
聽I firmly believe if you make those choices for long enough, you end up in a position where having a lot of free time and having very few expenses becomes a natural conclusion.
I don鈥檛 know how long this will last or if I will want it to last for years or decades, but for now, it works.聽
Probably the most surprising side to this way of life is that we haven鈥檛 missed earning more money.聽
Parts of our past life that we held on to so tightly 鈥� like our favourite TV shows, restaurants or luxury foods 鈥� we easily stopped desiring. In the past seven months, I鈥檝e felt moments of sheer happiness and contentment that I鈥檇 never felt before, happiness that only being rich with time instead of money has been able to give me.聽
These experiences have been so strong as to completely fade our past desires and habits into non-existence. We鈥檝e been glad to let them go.聽
This nomadic way of life isn鈥檛 for everyone, and I am not saying everyone should try it.聽
But what I do recommend is choosing time over making money on occasion, choosing experiences and personal growth over buying stuff.聽
Gift yourself with more free time to chase your passions, have quality time with family and do what makes you wake up excited about the day ahead of you. Money will come and go, but you only get one shot at spending your time. Make sure you spend it wisely.
