Life Happens When You’re Busy Making Plans
Writer and cartoonist Allen Saunders said, “Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans.” John Lennon wrote something similar in 1980. One of the lyrics from “Beautiful Boy” off the Double Fantasy record is, “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” The Saunders quote dates back to 1956, so I consider that to be the original.
I’ve been living out of my car for 21 months while working a full-time office job. As those of you who have been following my journey over the past year know, the plan was to live rent-free, save lots of money, and eventually buy my own place in cash so I wouldn’t have a mortgage. I wrote about it over a year ago in my article, “Why I Choose to Live in My Car.”
But life happened while I pursued those plans. The company I work for lost its contract earlier this year. The new company coming in to take over promised to hire all of us. We would continue working in the same jobs, but we would be working for a different company. However, they reneged on their promise and chose not to retain a significant portion of the workforce, including me. My last day is May 30th.
I’m actually quite happy about it. Over the past few months, my workplace has become a tense and stressful environment that will only worsen as this new company takes over. I’m glad I wasn’t given an offer. And I don’t have any plans to look for work elsewhere. I’m ready to walk away and retire.
I’ve reached the point where my mental health and well-being are considerably more important than a job. Social Security will be significantly less than my paycheck, but I’ll gladly take less money for more peace of mind and greater freedom. I will have more time for traveling and doing things I enjoy rather than being stuck in an office five days a week. I’m looking forward to it.
After downsizing my lifestyle in 2023, I’m now downsizing my plans for 2025. Instead of saving for a traditional sticks-and-bricks residence, I plan to upgrade my vehicle. I’ve considered several minivans and SUVs, and I’m leaning heavily towards buying a Toyota Sienna hybrid. I think it will make an excellent vehicle for traveling around the country.
The reason for the vehicle upgrade is simple. Living out of a small sedan has been feasible because I work full-time at an office where I can access kitchens with refrigerators to store food, as well as microwaves, lockers, and other amenities. But I will no longer have that. Therefore, I’m getting a larger vehicle with more living space. It’s also a lot less expensive than a condo or a small house.
As I transition to retired life, I want to continue to extract as much joy, happiness, adventure, and wonder as possible with this lifestyle. There are so many places I want to visit across the country. I’m looking forward to hitting the road and embarking on more fun-filled experiences as a full-time nomad.
I’ve learned to be less attached to goals and plans and more attuned to just going with the flow. Change is the only constant in life, and I’m willing to alter plans based on whatever curveballs life throws at me.
Brazilian novelist Paul Coelho said, “Maybe the journey isn’t about becoming anything. Maybe it’s about unbecoming everything that isn’t really you, so that you can be who you were meant to be in the first place.”
It’s been a continuous process of unlearning, unbecoming, and uncolonizing the mind. It’s about removing societal expectations and countering the propaganda nonsense all around us in modern society. It’s about peeling away the layers upon layers of cultural conditioning.
This lifestyle has been a way to challenge the systems and structures in society that keep us chained to traditional ways of living and working. It has become a viable way to break that cycle of dependence, expand freedom, and pursue a more vibrant and fulfilling life.
I’m an unconventional human living an unconventional lifestyle. This is who I am and who I was meant to be. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
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I have lived in my car since August 2023. You can follow my adventures on Facebook and Instagram
Hi Tom,
I have been reading you for almost a test, it's a pleasure to get to know you that way. I was always curious how is your private life? In context of wife, kids? Don't you miss it? Maybe I miss something but I think you write rarely about it. It's going to be very difficult leaving this life.
Husband, father of two from Kraków, Poland.
For me it was almost always a blessing when I lost a job. Whenever I visit the US next time, I would love to meet for a coffee with you. Best wishes from Germany, Michael