“I thrilled in the fresh perspective that came from tipping the ordinary plane of existence on end.”
I am coming to conclusions about how lovely life is. Nothing new, but I have achieved everything and more this month. In a different way, that I imagined my May 2020 would go, but I am kinda loving it, I’m going with it…
Exploring alternative methods, this “alternative lifestyle” has brought me a lot of peace and just a little bit frustration, (day to day tasks and routines, habits get limited or impossible,), but that lives only in my mind. Nothing is impossible to be honest, I’m just trying to make it work.
I’m writing this article on a windy Friday afternoon, outside the lovely coffee shop, Blackbird, here in Pemberton. Lately, my life has been bouncing between the Squamish, Whistler, and Pemberton, as my friends and work are scattered all over the place. I guess what it’s happening right now, is that living in the car, I get to experience best of the both worlds. The feeling of being tied down is gone, I have all the freedom I need, I am flexible, no rent or yearly contracts tying me down, but I am still choosing this place. I’m still choosing Squamish.
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It feels like I finally got the balance I needed, all these years… It doesn’t mean I won’t travel anymore, maybe just not as much…
But so far, I think I am loving this new reality, it is not the reality “after COVID-19”, but simply a reality that I have created and curated, shaped by myself, for myself. A reality that keeps me on the path I’m meant to stay on, while still following the goals with the end picture in my mind.
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My new routine — van life
“What is van life? You’re living in a van?! As in, you’re sleeping and cooking in that thing?!” Those and my other questions hit my DMs on a daily basis. Also — I do not technically live in a van, but a truck, my trusty 4-runner…
My new routine, looks a bit different. Despite the fact that it is late May, mornings are still pretty chilly. I love epic locations, but the downside is, that they’re usually pretty high up. Which still results in chilly mornings, and chilly nights. What would normally be a 5.30 wake up, and a 6 am yoga+tea+meditation combo, looks like a 7 am wake up, clean up, organization and then, at last, meditation with a possible option of doing yoga. Some locations are less private than others, and sometimes I don’t feel like doing yoga in a full parking lot, you know.
So, it has been a bit of a challenge, adjusting, but I am slowly shaping a routine. I’m a pitta constitution, which means the earlier, the better. And routines are very important for me.
I cannot describe the feeling of the possibility of waking up in a different place every single day. I love it. My mom has always based our travels around that layout. Our family trips to Sardinia, Corsica, around Europe, around Patagonia, anywhere in the world really… she would pack me and my brothers in the van and take off in the middle of the night. We would be waking up in cool places, on top of cliffs, looking at the ocean, in the middle of the desert, by the side of the rain forest and so on… It was a privilege, growing up like that, I am realizing it now.
We grew up into very adaptive young adults I think. Making the most of every situation, being able to adapt to any circumstance and just going with it, not thinking too much… complaining less and solving more problems.
It’s funny how many things that I went through in the past, did not make sense to me at all, but I am now realizing how they all built me how I am today.
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More about Alenka
“My name is Alenka and I’m a Squamish based photographer. I love using my medium to capture sports, adventures, underwater shots, adventures in the mountains and days on snow! Very simply put, I’m one stoked girl, ready to get up at 2 in the morning and hike for sunrise, go to the airport and take a random flight…you name it!
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