For a long time, being prepared was one of the main ways that I tried to keep myself safe. There was a part of me that believed I would be okay as long as I thought of all the possible outcomes in life, and prepared myself for them. I found great relief in tangible preparation. Having the physical things that I needed (or thought I needed) was soothing.

My family and I have been living full-time in our stationary RV for almost three years, loving every minute of it! That doesn’t mean we haven’t navigated more than our share of struggles, but the lessons we have learned and the closeness we have shared more than makes up for the difficulties. Life lessons come in all shapes and sizes, and a lot of ours have come in 340 square feet!

Decluttering my life, both inside and out, has been quite the jagged journey. Actually, it feels more like peeling an onion. I’m puling away layer after layer, crying most of the time, and nothing seems to come off cleanly.

RV living is amazing. Our time has been a challenge, but worth every moment of struggle. There are many tips and tricks for making the most of RV living, and some of those I will share elsewhere, but this article is really about helping you answer the question of what a family needs to understand — what they need to be ready for overall — if they are going to live full time in an RV. 

Accumulation is the norm for a lot of us. We often try to soothe ourselves through what we consume. When I owned certain items or books, I felt that they said something about me. They told the world who I was and what I liked, as if those objects were my credentials.

The tasks of life are not always easy, and often the most important things in our day are the ones we wish we could ignore. We know they are meaningful, but everything already feels so hard. If you ever feel stuck in that place, like I have many times, there is a simple secret to breaking out. It’s so simple, and yet still tricky.

I brought things into my world to heal it, as I had done as a child. It had barely worked for me in the past and it was certainly not working for me in the present. The items I bought to make myself happy felt more like chains that held me underwater than buoys to keep me afloat.