stuck

[wildwerden]

I was at the rainbow gathering in tn earlier this year and hitch hiked my way back home. It was fun + now I am stuck here. I wanted to get back to travelling but the boy i'm with doesn't want to be on the road during the winter. we are both jobless and living off my father, something that seriously bothers me. then of course my father offers me a position at his auto body shop (which is a two story, full blown shop) and said I can take over it one day if I stay put and train under him for a few years. it's a very tempting situation where i can be financially set. i have absolutely no fucking idea what to do. the wanderlust travelling thing has been sucked dry at this point (and staying put for the winter isn't going to make it any better).
the whole business thing isn't appealing, because of reasons. one, yr stuck in one place. two, i don't like money. is there anyway to run a business as a traveller? yeah, i didn't think so. my passion / happy kind of thing is photography and that's a tough field to break into. though i could make an autobody shop / photo studio sort of thing. it's a huge building that has a lot of potential.
but it's money and money deserves to be burned.
but i can make some kind of awesome thing out of it (think: midnight coffee shop, darkroom, studio, artsy center).
i'm more of an art gal than a car chick (but i do like my trucks / jeeps / vw buses).

i suppose i'm just looking for input from others. guidance almost. i don't fucking know.

 

[bryanpaul]

ugh..... tough choices......... man having something like that to fall back on (assuming the world doesnt end) would be good.......... tough tough decisions, i hate 'em.....maybe ask him to give you one more year to see if you can find your own passion/place in the world and give you some time to think about it.....travelin is the best...but when you start getting up there in age your gonna want things like health insurance and a "home" and maybe a family.......there are people who live on the road successfully in older years but most of the folks you meet in their 40's/50's still travellin aren't doin too good.......my 2 cents....i'd ask him to give you some more time to explore the world and your options before makin a decision

 

[Matt Derrick]

ugh..... tough choices......... man having something like that to fall back on (assuming the world doesnt end) would be good.......... tough tough decisions, i hate 'em.....maybe ask him to give you one more year to see if you can find your own passion/place in the world and give you some time to think about it.....travelin is the best...but when you start getting up there in age your gonna want things like health insurance and a "home" and maybe a family.......there are people who live on the road successfully in older years but most of the folks you meet in their 40's/50's still travellin aren't doin too good.......my 2 cents....i'd ask him to give you some more time to explore the world and your options before makin a decision

that's a really good suggestion. i dunno how old you are, but you probably have a LOT of time ahead of you. that being said, i wish i had some more easily marketable skills now that im getting older (32), and it's getting rougher working min wage jobs between travels.

if you can buy yourself some time like bryanpaul said, id try that and see how you feel. do you already feel like you've exhausted everything traveling can give you? that was kinda the feeling i got from your post...

 

[wildwerden]

bryanpaul - thank you! that's a great idea. i'm pretty lucky to even have this option in the first place, i just need some time to figure out stuff.

matt pist - i'm eighteen and i only have a month of travelling under my belt. i'm not not even close to being experienced / exhausted by travelling, rather i'm exhausted from babylon sucking me dry. when i got back to babylon after a month of utter bliss, i was planning out getting a bus and hitting the road within 3 months. but then things happened, you end up staying longer and suddenly you need a job to survive.

barbuchon - i don't hate money because of the moochin' (though that's a valid reason), i hate it because of how corrupt it makes the world. yes, reality is that in society, you need money. and yes, it is possible to live without money - i'm just trying to choose which life path to follow. plus i'm not going to commit myself to my father's business then skip out a year later because i felt like it - he deserves better than that. i want to be sure. and i wasn't even serious about burning money.

but yeah, thank you so much for yr input guys. sometimes after too much overthinking my common sense goes numb. appreciate it.

 

[Bl3wbyyou]

Meh im 26 and have only been traveling for about 6 months on and off.It has made me the happiest i have been in years doing anything else.Which is interesting to me lol.

But at some point i wanna find a job of some sort BUT being able to still take off for a month whenever i want to is gonna be a pain in the ass.Oh well i sell used auto parts here and their to make $$ for gear and what not.What im saying is get a skill set you got to fall back on that way if need be you can make some $$ at doing whatever it is that makes you happy.

No doubt traveling will always be apart of me.I crave freedom and the strangness of the open road/world keeps me going.Anything that goes wrong or is put infront of me i look at it as another challenge to overcome is all.

You being young you should get out and see the country!I know i should have done this all at a younger age so i wouldn't be in such rough shape being 26 i already got knee problems lol.But i just keep pushing myself i average 10 miles a day or so of just walking when im out and about.

If you would like to meet up at some point lmk ill be heading west after thanksgiving comes and goes.If im going solo ill be hitching it i am not a fan of hitting the rails solo though.Just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me imo.

But yeah get out their and explore the country!Don't be like the rest of the population that stays in their hometown being a homebum haha.

Also watch around for who you keep around for company don't hang around with the scumfucks haha.

Anyone can get a job and settle down but it takes a rare breed of a person who can throw shit in a pack and say off i go leaving everything behind just to go on an adventure.

Hell after im done with the west coast im going to Chernobyl in Ukraine haha.I'll get a job to fund that trip though you bet your ass haha.

 

[wildwerden]

Anyone can get a job and settle down but it takes a rare breed of a person who can throw shit in a pack and say off i go leaving everything behind just to go on an adventure.

A-fucking-men. And yeah, balancing the whole job thing with travelling is pretty tough so far. I bet it doesn't get any easier with age. I was looking into the whole blogging thing - there's a lot of travelling bloggers who literally travel off the money they make from their blogs. Seems pretty cool, just gotta get a big fan base. Anybody have luck with this?

Thank you so much for helping me with my sanity. You folks are lovely.

 

[ByronMc]

my dad, http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-...chnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=4167785.PN.&OS=&RS= and I walked away,but only after I worked there for a while,go to learn a few things ! I became a carpenter,even went to tech school at night to learn it. It was because of my dad,that I realized,I needed a trade.

 

[Johnny P]

I wish my dad had an auto shop that I could go work at...that would be awesome. I almost feel as though I'm "stuck" being a traveler. I have a huge gap in my "work history" having only worked temporary, under the table jobs for the last 3 years. I would love to reintergrate back into "normal" society a bit to earn some real cash as opposed to just working a day or three to get my train food and keep moving. I guess I'm just gettin old.