[Closed] Anyone ever felt like just ******* dissapearing

I've a real hankering to buy a canal boat, just do part time work and leisurely cruise up and down the waterways. Been giving it serious thought for a while now. Would need to stay in U.K. for kids and family but it seems like a reasonable and fairly cheap way to drop out of the rat race plus I need to find a cheaper lifestyle as I've **** all pension coming.

We are always looking for "**** ups" in our backwater town in the mountains of Italy, to dig and ride... I was one and 12 years later I haven't moved

PM'd you.

I probably should do (not least to escape a psychotic ex) but I struggle to live in the moment, I'd just be worrying all the time about what happens when I return to 'normality' and have to get a job again etc.

A lot of these 'just hit the road' ideas are alluring but you would deffo need a quarter pound of weed to start you off

Kryton - I frequently can’t help but wonder if you might be better off in a different job. It seems to cause you great anxiety.

Having met a few people who jacked it all in and disappeared off into the wilderness to just surf and live off scraps long term I'd say the problems don't leave you they just manifest in different ways. Don't think I met one who did't seem either bitter and disatissfied or just totally delusional, verging on having mental health issues.

Small changes might make more of a difference thna you think?

Wherever you run to, you will still be there. Trite but true.

There are situations and things anyone would want to run from, but many people need to fix themselves first.

Yes.
As I type this, I'm looking at all my bikepacking kit, as I've been refining it all, and thinking I could easily take a £40k dividend out of my business, and just Foxtrot Oscar.

Not sure how long for mind, but I guess I could stokpile my meds prior...

I did.
Left NZ with a back pack & bike & a one way ticket to Oz.
Things worked out pretty well.

£40k would last a good few years if you chose the right place..

Well I might be having an enforced vacation 🙁

possible plans include spending the winter in Valencia.
got a place over there in the hills just waiting.. riding buddy would be cool!

You just need to defrag. Life builds up headclutter. We look after our PCs but not ourselves.

If you have no dependents then my advice is:

Get yr passport
Small tent/65l rucksack/sleeping bag/SAK
Pay small fee and create profile on HelpX
Plan ahead. Apply on projects around the World for a year. Give yourself a full year. Choose Southern Hemisphere in winter. You can baga gew and then plan on the hoof from there.

Take a few weeks full holiday here and there, although with your HelpX hosts you'll only typically be working 4hrs a day for yr food and accommodation. Be kind to yourself and others.

And read 'The Power Of Now' by Eckhart Tolle

I went the hard route, ie alone, depressed, 44 yrs young in winter with a tent, off-grid. No plans, no helpx/workaway itinerary, no passport. Turned out I got lucky/well-fated but in the course of my wandering I met a lot of people who had done the above and I would deffo go that route with the benefit of hindsight. I've met doctors, builders, animal behaviourists, stoners, writers, engineers, hundreds of people with different qualities and talents...and the thing with working and living among volunteers is the prevalence of positive mental attitude, and, like the fresh water, salty sea and mountain air (choose your locations well) - it's addictive and cleansing at once. And they (usually) share respect for those times when you need to be alone and just *be*. We all need this, some more than others.

Go get it. (Or not)

All the best. (msg in profile if you need links/advice)

Yup, I've had a shitty year in a few ways. A lot going on in my head, car crash, nobody injured luckily, but my fault, and cost me a bit, nearly got killed commuting, parking fine, and just been got 6 points on my driving license.

Got VERY drunk a couople of times, smashed my phone once, offended important people the others.

Just got too much going on, no head space, bouncing from one thing to the next and no real down time.

I'm trying to get rid of all the stuff I've accumulated that I can get rid of and de-clutter my head as well as my storage space.

I have family in New Hampshire, very tempting to go and spend the winter snowmobiling and hunting...

Grrredit:

You can bag a [s]g[/s]few placements and then plan on the hoof from there (check they have wifi)

Oh yes, to the point that I have a rucksack in the garage packed with a few essentials (some clothes, a sleeping back, a few toiletries) that could be grabbed and see me right for a few nights if needed. I've never used it, it's been there for 8 years or so but it's nice to know it's there. The wife has no idea of its existence and likely never well.

Take a week off work, buy a cheap phone to leave in the bottom of the bag (turned off) in case of emergency, get some bike packing kit, and just go. No facebook, no texting, just a week on your own with your bike, a tent/tarp/bivi bag and £100 to buy food etc..

It'll probably be enough for most people to reset and learn about yourself.

I plan to do it next spring, and I think leaving behind any contact with my friends/family is the key, that way I can really forget about everyday life for the week.

It may be good, may be bad, but it's only a week so wont impact anything irreversibly. If it's a good experience, than it'll be two weeks the next time. 😉

i used to work summers then travel in the winter, after 8 or so years of that i figured i should try getting a degree and a job etc (ok, there was one false start in the sequence when just before i decided to get a real job, hated it within a day, and so used to to earn enough cash to beggar off again).

anyhow the long and short is that when i started upon the path i knew that my fall back plan was to go back to what i had been doing, and 30 years later i still could.

its a cliche and a half, the grass is always greener, but i think that is true. escape is a powerful tool, looks idylicc from the other side, but once you step accross its also a very dangerous game to play. ive met many people who have and a lot of them were very lonely.

personally though having read some really good comments on this thread, if you can set yourself up so you can jack it in for 6 months with a safety net to return to, and go do something worthwhile, that helpx looks like it has some good options, and a lot of options just after slave labour, i would.

If you still want to work in London/the rat race, but are lonely... come live where I do... it's like a cross between a lunatic asylum and university halls... but for professionals but with more drugs and naked wimminz.Think being a student again, but everyone is a bit older (although a lot of the women arent) with more cash for booze, coke and hookers.

PM for details.

Felt like this on occasion too. Build a camper van and just do one at the weekend and ride somewhere new for a couple of days then return to the crap!
Of if you choose to, never come back!

I've thought about jacking it in, selling up and spening the rest of my days bumming about the US national parks doing the vanlife thing. I'd love to have a go at the long distance hiking trails over there too.

If you have a bad situation, you can escape from it.

If the problem is yourself, you can fix it.

Neither is necessarily easy, but both are possible. One step at a time gets you there.

[quote=Edukator ]So several young fathers above want to run away from the responsibilities they willingly enterered into. You made your beds... .

Well it kind of depends if you've got a wife/partner you love and who loves you - if you have that and haven't experienced the other side then I'm not sure you're in any position to pontificate. Or at least that's where a lot of the desire to run away comes from in my case - in the near future I'm not going to be living with my kids who I do love anyway, and doing a complete life reboot feels incredibly tempting.

Did the backpack-around-the-world-just-doing-it-as-I-went-along thing a good few years back but even 15months of that didn’t result in anything life changing, saw some awesome places mind...

The selective quoting on this thread/site is dreadful so I'll just requote myself to remind people of the second paragraph which it appears you' haven't read, Aracer, which is forgivable given that you may have only seen the selective quoting.

So several young fathers above want to run away from the responsibilities they willingly enterered into. You made your beds... .

If you're young free and single I don't see a problem, just send people post cards from wherever you go. If you've got kids then you're messing with their lives.

And read through this:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/if-it-aint-itll-do-till-the-mess-gets-here

Note that several posters criticise the woman for having left her child and think she would be happier going back.

Double standards.

The selective quoting on this thread/site is dreadful so I'll just requote myself to remind people of the second paragraph which it appears you' haven't read, Aracer, which is forgivable given that you may have only seen the selective quoting.