What keeps you motivated when things go wrong?

[beepete]

We have been living full time on the road for over 3 years now (making our living protecting rare and endangered birds and animals in New Zealand). We love the life, but some times it can be tough. What challenges have you met along the way andhow have you overcome them? This is our home.

 

[SWharton]

Optimism is primary. Tomorrow will be better. Roll with the punches. All t his make good stories to tell. May not be the greatest when the disasters happen, but after you recover it is another story to tell.

[budeneighe]

Sometimes it is not about motivation but about acceptance of a new starting point.

[nana25k]

Our theory is that the gs can go wrong in any lifestyle and so being in our RV is no different. There have been a few "oh no what's happening" moments but once we get a handle on the situation its all OK again

[Barbaraok]

Beepete

 

I'm an ovarian cancer survivor and DH had a stroke and recovered. My standard starting point is "is someone going to die". If the answer is no, then these are just things to work through, not things to go crazy about.

 

Barb

[Kirk W]

Welcome to the Escapee forums! It is great having you with us here and we will help in any way possible.

 

We lived on the road for 12 years and had pretty much the same life experiences that one would have when living in a stick house. Keep in mind that you don't leave any of life's difficulties behind, you simply change your lifestyle. As an example, we began our fulltime experience by traveling to the home area of my sister & mother where we had to move mother into long term care (she had dementia) against her preferences. Along the way we also had a daughter-in-law struck by a car, leaving our son with 4 small children and his wife in a hospital 3 hours away and on the critical list. Our home was an advantage in that case since we picked up and spent the next 4 months near him to help out. We also had to deal with the death of my mother, my favorite uncle, & brother-in-law. We had to have our motorhome towed from a host site on a lake which was rising dangerously when the motorhome failed to start! On two occasions my wife had major surgery as well as one broken ankle. There were other minor bumps in the road, but not one of those experiences would have been avoided by our not living in a motorhome, except the engine failure and possibly the broken ankle. Life has both good and bad things. Due to the health issues that come with increasing age, we had to go back to a home-base again 5 years ago and are now back to seasonal RV travel, but we both agree that our time on the road was 12 of the best years in our 54 years of married life.

[Bill w/bus]

Right now we are parked in the service yard at a repair facility waiting on a replacement transmission going on 4 weeks. Not easy but NWITPT is my dear wife's mantra. We got married when I was serving on submarines, shared three boats with me. Therefore she adopted the mantra, when things don't go well, of "No Water In The People Tank". Keeps you smiling when adversity strikes.

 

Bill

[Mike and Claudia]

We travel and Volunteer. A LOT. In National Parks, State Parks, church camps, and other places. Knowing that no matter HOW we feel, there are that are depending on us to do the job we are supposed to. Not only the visitors, but the park crews, the supervisors, the other "support people" for the parks. We need to do what we are supposed to, because we said we would.

 

Sometimes the parks have problems with one thing, or person or another. It is up to us to do what we are supposed to and not tke sides, spread gossip or whatever. We are there, primarily to assist the public and that's what we enjoy best!

 

If there are problems, or things that we don't like, we keep a smile on our face because we KNOW when we will be moving on.

[DJW]

I keep waking up next to this drop dead gorgeous woman even after 48 years.

 

Dennis

[DuneElliot]

Lament that it's been a rough (really rough) year this year, and how much more can go wrong...then figure out how to fix it and make it work because I have to.

[rpsinc]

The Serenity Prayer works for me. Today is wrought with challenges and tomorrow is not promised, so enjoy the moment you have. Certainly easier said than done, but a bit of reflection will often go a long way.

[jjwicklund]

What me worry! Not much fazes me except tax time always have trouble with the forms and instructions.

[ronmon]

Gotta keep your chin up, keep smiling & never give up. In 11 years of full/timing I was hospitalized 8 times for 5 to 10 days each. Hydroplaned & rolled the fiver, then blew an engine on the way to Alaska.

A positive attitude, trust in God & lots of prayer helped get us through it all.

Three years ago I was diagnosed as having idieopathic pulmonary fibrosis with a life expectancy of about 2 years. I'm still up & about, on high oxygen, but refuse to give up.The Dx changed somewhat to interstitial lung disease caused by rheumatoid arthritis - can't be cured but meds have slowed/stopped the progression.

 

You really have to maintain a good attitude & outlook. It's not always easy to do but believe me, it is possible. Problems are potholes in the road of life - dodge em if you can, otherwise hit em head on.

Ron

[MadeItToFT]

Attitude Is Latitude = keep yours at all costs is our motto. Hubby is floored as I've got older how I just say "Tis Wot Tis", let's just deal with it. All the shouting, fuming, crying, bitching, moaning, complaining, stressing out in the world won't alter it. Tis Wot Tis. Do what you can with what life deals you for as long as you can.

[NH2]

First, I place my problems into one of two categories by asking this simple question:
"Can this issue be resolved with money?"
I find the problems in life that involve money are much easier to handle (emotionally) than those that don't involve money.

Sure, I get ticked off when I know I'll have to spend hundred$ or even thousand$ of dollars correcting a problem but those problems pale by comparison to the onset of an illness, end of a relationship or the death of a loved one.

I also ask myself, "Is this the most difficult problem you've ever had to face?"

Just about always, the answer is "No."

Perspective is an important factor in life.

[RangeMaggotBob]

You just can't give up!

[ncrowley]

I sympathize with getting discouraged sometimes. There is always something to update, fix, etc, when we come home from a trip. We have thought about getting rid of the coach, but we realized that without the coach, we would just stay at home. We would not have experienced all the things we have using the RV. When you have an RV, you want to use it. And when you use it, you have such good times. We are not ready to sit at home. So we decided that it was worth the maintenance for the wonderful experiences we have when using the coach.

[markandkim]

The lord.

[scouserl41]

I keep waking up next to this drop dead gorgeous woman even after 48 years.

 

Dennis

 

That would do it for me too. Just as long as the wife didn't find out about it!!

 

Life has it's ups and downs. If life was always great you'd get bored with it.

Plus some of the best moments in my life have occurred as a result of what seemed the worst things at the time.

 

BnB

[Kirk W]

While this is an interesting subject, and one that every potential fulltimer should think about as they prepare, it is interesting to note that the profile of beepete shows that he has not been back to the forums since he made is first post on Sept. 11.

[Pat & Pete]

While this is an interesting subject, and one that every potential fulltimer should think about as they prepare, it is interesting to note that the profile of beepete shows that he has not been back to the forums since he made is first post on Sept. 11.

 

Happens a lot , Kirk . Maybe the OP wasn't motivated enough ? Maybe on an extended back country stay ...

 

Some OPs can be like seeds . You may see them , at first . But , once 'growing' starts , they are no more .

 

As Wannabe says : 'Tis Wot Tis' .

[HamRad]

I keep waking up next to this drop dead gorgeous woman even after 48 years.

 

Dennis

Just wait until your wife finds out!

[SWharton]

Several OP post a question, get the answers they want(or don't) and never participate again. I consider these people takers. I feel if you get information from a forum you should pay back the forum for helping you.

[Darryl&Rita]

In this case, the original poster was trying to drive traffic to their YouTube channel. The worst kind of taker, in my opinion.

[Yarome]

In this case, the original poster was trying to drive traffic to their YouTube channel.

 

X2. Not the first folks to have done that in the past while. Post a very vague thread with links to their youtube channel... "Passive spam"... but it works! Look at all the posts that have been made on this thread.. increasing search engine counts.