Intro! (I should have written a year ago) | Squat the Planet

Intro! (I should have written a year ago)

mysicksadartworld

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Hey everyone!
I created an account here almost a year ago and have mostly just popped in periodically. I never wrote an intro because I tend to overthink everything I write/say so apologies if I ramble. I’m a 23-year-old queer artist and an enjoyer of nature and punk music. As for pronouns, I’m cool with any but have a preference towards they/them. I mostly identify as non-binary, but I believe the concepts of gender and gender identity are rooted in gender norms and should just be abolished entirely. I would loosely describe myself as a green anarchist. I’m passionate about protecting nature (what’s left of it) and the rights of the human and animal inhabitants of the land, so I’m always down to help with mutual aid and direct action. As for hobbies, I enjoy working with clay, sewing, swimming, urban exploration and playing video games. I’ve also been interested in train hopping for a while but have yet to experience that since I’d rather go with someone who knows their shit, or not at all.

I’ve been researching living in a car extensively for years and grew up living semi-nomadically. I had originally planned on getting a van and travelling in 2020 but you can probably guess how that panned out. I finally got my driver’s license and the funds to make it happen and then… I met someone and fell in love. I am currently insanely conflicted between staying and compromising on my plan to leave in order to stay with this person I love or ending the short 3-month-long relationship and doing what I planned for years alone. I feel that I’ve essentially strung them along for 3 months just to say, “bye! you don’t fit into the way I want to live!” And I just wish I had had the insight 3 months ago to know this would keep coming up as an issue.

I grew up moving quite often to different towns across upstate NY with my mom so never had a lot of belongings, and when I stayed with my dad he lived without heat/electricity/hot water/functioning plumbing so those are probably factors to why this is a way of living I’m drawn to. I’m also highly independent to a fault, but I’m working on that. It’s tough being stuck in one place, seeing the same old shit every day. It has definitely taken a toll on me over the years. Feeling trapped has been an on-again-off-again trend in my life for years. That persistent feeling led me to understand I’m not meant to live the way everyone around me lives. And this is why this relationship issue is exceptionally hard. My partner wants to travel but will never be able to live this way full time. I genuinely want to compromise for them, but I don’t know if I actually can. Any advice you can throw my way with that is appreciated.

As of right now I have been working at a really chill vegan restaurant part-time. It’s nice working with people who have the same respect for animals as I do since I’m vegan myself. I’ve had about 7 different jobs in my 7 years of working and hated all of them, except for my current gig. The existential dread of feeling as though you’ll have to work for the rest of your life just to live slightly more comfortably is not something I enjoy nor want to participate in. I have a lot of anxiety surrounding money. I’ve contemplated completely abandoning the use of money, but I just don’t think I have the skills or willpower to do that, at least not at this point in my life and not in the current state of things. There’s just something so unnerving about waking up to do something many of us would never voluntarily do in a society without capitalism. I can complain about this all day, so I’ll end this here before it turns into a rant. Anyways, thanks for reading my brain vomit, feel free to message me.
 

mellowedout

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Mar 13, 2022
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Birmingham, AL
Just wanted to drop by and agree with you on the sentiment of money and the capitalistic culture we live in.

I actually do appreciate a good deal of what capitalism offers, so I'm not trying to play my cards as your typical anti-establishmentariat, but I do believe, deep down, the human spirit is better off without it.

Why aren't we all waking up to hunt and the likes, still? Why aren't we just farming for our food? Why do we have to taste so many different things in our diets?

Desire and temptation rules the animal kingdom. We're just some of the only species that have the ability to fully demonstrate that.

Just wanted to come bitch about it with you, or something close to it.
 

Matt Derrick

Retired Wanderer
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Just a random thought but yeah, my desire to travel has definitely cost me a few relationships, but it's opened me up to even more out in the road so don't be afraid to follow your heart it will all work out in the end.
 
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