Decision fatigue is a real thing. The constant need for making decisions while living on the road sometimes leads to mental exhaustion. This in turn leads to lethargy resulting in poorer decision making and eventually a refusal to make any decisions.
The latter I experienced on more than one occasion. I complained to a sympathetic listener one day that my head hurt from making decisions and that I was no longer capable of making choices about anything: including what to eat or where to sleep. It helped to say those words out loud, but I still needed to choose my sleeping place that night. And that night, I am pretty sure I munched on Saladas* with vegemite and drank warm tea before bedding down for the night.
Effectively, the daily routine of a van lifer becomes that of a hunter gatherer.
Every day the same questions:
- Where can I find fuel?
- Food?
- Where can I park while I go into the shops? (Some vehicles are too large to park in a supermarket car park.)
- Are there showers here? Are they free?
- Should I find accommodation or go stealth camping?
- Is there a low-cost camping place to park my van and stay overnight?
- Where can I charge my phone / laptop / kindle?
Starting out
Initially, the idea of van life can feel exciting. There is a lot of planning (usually) that goes into a decision to live on the road. Regardless of whether the choice is for a permanent or temporary lifestyle, the decisions are still required.
What and how much to take in the car / van / vehicle.
Clothing?
Bedding?
Kitchen utensils?
Tent or not?
Then what?
Then once you are on the road, the questions vary slightly:
Which direction should I drive?
Should I stay here in this town or move on to another?
How do I budget my money, so it lasts as long as I want it to?
When time is not urgent or acts as a boundary or schedule in your life, the notion of going wherever the wind blows you can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand you can relax and enjoy learning to be present in the moment. This feeling, if you lean into it, becomes addictive and is a potent antidote to a daily grind of work, eat, sleep, repeat.
On the other hand, not being anchored in the usual routines of a working day life can leave one feeling uprooted and directionless.
Daily Life
I remember days while living on the road when I could not make another decision to save my life. Those were the days when I would sit and read all day. I moved from my car only when I required a top-up of water or the urge to eat exceeded the capacity of my meagre food stores. I watched the locals living their lives, fascinated by the relationships playing out amidst the hustle and bustle of a shopping centre car park or at a playground.
Petrol was a constant rainbow I was chasing – especially the cheaper fuel prices for diesel. That said, the cost of fuel did not stop me from driving where I wanted to (or needed to) go.
Decision fatigue is detectable in those not living van life too. it manifests as the “I cannot be bothered” moments, sometimes brought on by physical fatigue but more often by the paralysing effects of fear or stress.
Was I stressed and fearful on the road? Not really. But maybe. Just a little. Making one more decision about where to sleep or where to charge my laptop or what to eat, at times, felt like climbing the proverbial Mount Everest.
Bizarre food choices
Sometimes I fossicked through my food stores and made bizarre meal combinations like baked beans and saladas. or salad with rice thins, even fried eggs inside a burrito wrap with nothing else but salt and a lettuce leaf. Maybe even a tin of tuna wrapped in a couple of lettuce leaves.
Planning and consuming whole meals was not always a joyous task. Particularly when the weather was icy cold and/or wet. Cooking a warm and nourishing meal before dark descended and I needed to be in a warm bed was challenging when darkness settled in around 4.45pm most days in the middle of winter. Sometimes a hot cuppa tea and a cheese sandwich was all I could manage.
Strategies for Decision Fatigue
Using apps such as Petrol Spy help to lessen the burden of driving endlessly looking for decent fuel prices in whichever town I arrived in.
I also found using other apps such as Wiki Camps and Facebook both facilitated finding free camps (or low-cost ones) and connected me to the rest of the world.
Joining a group called the Grey Nomads immediately provided both a source of information about living on the road as well as a sense of community. Humans are naturally herd animals. When we have left the relative safety of a housing community, it eases some of the anxieties frequently experienced by van lifers if they know there are others ‘out there’ experiencing similar worries or events.
Placing a Pick-up order at a local grocery store means not worrying about parking spaces. It also reduces the dollars spent on several trips to the store.
Planning ahead with meals helped me streamline the food preparation part of my day (and my budget). No, I did not have any form of refrigeration, but I discovered that bagged salads provided at least two, sometimes three meals. Adding a can of tuna or salmon or even frying eggs created a nutritious meal and was easy on the pocket. Especially if I went to the supermarket at the end of the day when some of the bagged salads were reduced by almost half.
Use Google Maps / Waze to locate local libraries where you can recharge your laptop. It is worth investing in a small power bank for smaller devices such as your kindle and your mobile phone. I did and on more than one occasion it prevented a total disconnection from the rest of the world.
Beware of your mobile provider’s black spots. My phone and my map application dropped out on a couple of occasions, and I was left with no alternative other than to follow my instincts on unfamiliar country roads until I could pull over and asked a local for directions. Curiously, I was headed in the right direction despite the lack of sign posting. That was one of those moments I was relieved I had filled my petrol tank before setting off on this particular adventure. Especially as it would have been easy to get lost, without GPS guidance, in the backblocks of country Australia right as dusk was falling!
Routines
Creating routines for what to do on waking and when setting up camp or preparing to sleep for the night also helped. The simplicity of having a routine to follow can seriously ease some of the strain inherent in a nomadic lifestyle.
Morning routines such as ensuring a ready source of water for washing and making a morning cuppa (instead of searching for it in the morning when most outlets were closed) also eased any decision fatigue. Nightly routines, such as consistently putting my torches and keys in the same place let my active mind know I was preparing for sleep.
Decision fatigue is not a constant state of mind when living on the road.
It can be, but using the strategies outlined above greased the days of endless time and made room for the practise of being present in that moment.
Watching birds fly, eat, partner, squabble over food scraps; hearing the wind in the trees or the chatter of cockatoos and parrots overhead; noticing rabbits eating at the edge of a reserve; breathing slowly while watching the sun rising or setting over a lake; finding a nest with baby birds watching me as I drank hot tea in the late afternoon (who was watching who?); seeing a kangaroo bounding along the edge of endless canola fields were all exquisite reminders of the wonder of life. Each discovery reinforced the notion we are not alone on this planet and that life is endless and affirming.
If you are considering van life, be aware of decision fatigue as a possibility but do not fear it. Embrace routines and use helpful apps. Make a point of creating ample time to relax and centre yourself in the wonder of life.
Note how life moves in natural cycles: like breathing in, breathing out, the transition from day to night, the dance between prey and predator and your own journey from fear through to contentment. Life is constantly flowing through those cycles, evidence of life as power in motion. As will your journey be when you live on the road.
*Saladas – Australian salty crackers
Christine Writer 