And Then I Freaked Out.

Sorry for the delay in updates. I had some stuff that required my full attention. Namely, my freaking out.

Remember in the beginning when someone in the Adventure Park office joked that Rachel and I liked each other *for now*? And remember how I said I might look back on that differently someday? Well, today is that day. That person was not a harmless maker of jokes. That person was clearly a sorceress of some kind and put a hex on us. Here's what happened.

We move in. We grossly overestimate the amount of things we can fit in the RV relative to the amount of space we now occupy. We try to live among boxes and get settled in. And then, there's you know, the other stuff about living with another person that takes up space. We have our relationship stresses and it turns out, when you put heretofore managed relationship stress into an RV full of boxes in Houston heat, completely out of my element, with a mini shower that only has 7 minutes of hot water, and cats confused and pooping on the floor, it acts exactly like an actual pressure cooker.

So, day 2, I lost my shit.

I went to stay on my bff's couch for a few days. When telling a very old friend that I was having some trouble adjusting and panicked he just laughed and said, "now there's the Tyler I know." I guess no one was very surprised at my freak out. During my time away, I actually googled things like, "RV + panic attacks", "RV full-time living + stress", "Full-time RV living realistic?". Validate me, Internet!! Certainly, I'm not the first person to panic from moving into an RV, right? Right?!?! Being inside the RV for any more than about 6 minutes sent me into full blown panic attacks. Rachel did not love this. We were on the trigger-reaction merry-go-round for a minute. It was not fun. I can write this today without sobbing uncontrollably because of my amazing support system...who all have the very specific talent of listening to me process ad naseum.

That, and Rachel is my own personal RV-living superhero. She cleaned, and organized, and decorated, and bought teal patio furniture (it's my favorite color). She played my meditation cds, did some fancy aromatherapy in the air conditioning system, and made the bed (tidy beds soothe me - what?). And was otherwise a trooper who made the best of it and gave me space and time to spaz out.

So, now I'm trying sleeping there. It's been 2 nights in a row. I even unpacked my escape bag. This morning we got up and had coffee in the hot tub before getting ready for work. The hot tub was overflowing with bubbles, btw. It was like a giant bubble bath!

So, I'll keep you updated. In the meantime, if there is anyone else out there trying to figure out if living in an RV full-time is for them, I will say this: get more organized than you ever thought humanly possible, then get rid of more stuff. Love being outside if you can. Aromatherapy is legit. Expect an adjustment period and have a contingency freak-out plan just in case. Become retired - getting ready for work in an RV is a pain in the ass. Oh, and learn to BBQ.

Next time: RV fancifying. Or, strategies for not losing my shit.