Recently, I’ve been feeling incredibly overwhelmed–for some reason, even more stressed than I was during the college application debacle. So, in the art of anxiety, I’ve been putting off all my meaningful work until the last minute (if even doing it then) and wasting away my day mindlessly on my phone. While I wouldn’t really recommend this habit to anyone, I’m not an advice blog, I doubt my words of caution would really stop you at this point anyway, and I don’t feel like being a hypocrite today, so I’ll let it be.
A few days back, I was scrolling through my YouTube recommended and saw a video pop up that intrigued me: How YouTuber Jennelle Eliana Spends Her Money Living in a 2.5k Van. I understood this video had no relevance to my life and would likely be a total waste of my time, but I didn’t have anything better to do (read: I didn’t have anything better that I was going to do), so I clicked play. As the title suggests, Jennelle lives in her van (yes, a literal car) full-time. And she does it by choice. She remodeled the van so it likely costs $10k-15k in total and it’s absolutely gorgeous, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s still a van. I absolutely could not wrap my mind around what happens in someone’s life to make them choose this lifestyle over, you know, anything else, so I dove deep and binged watched every video her channel.
Jennelle has lived in her van for a little over 2 years, regularly travels all around California for fun, has a pet snake named Alfredo, and is honestly just a little hippie girl, living her best life. Most of her videos center around her van and what it’s like to live in one, but my favorites are the ones in which she chronicles her daily life and what it’s like to live freely on her own time; they range from casual chats about her past life while she cleans her space to joyous, tearful confessions about how far she’s come and how happy she is now. So far she’s amassed 2 million subscribers in the four months that she’s had her channel–1 million of those came in the very first month–and it’s clear that I’m not the only one enamored by her lifestyle. Her unique brand of chaotic tranquility has a special way of putting everything into perspective and making it feel like everything is going to be alright.
Fairly obviously, I don’t know her personally, but even I can tell how unequivocally happy this girl is. She wasn’t happy with her life, so she put aside the pressure of the world’s expectations, silenced the cacophony of voices telling her “no,” abandoned everything in her life that does not bring her joy, and set out to live her every day in the most meaningful ways possible to her. While I’m not sure I’d ever be able to live in a van, I just can’t help but admire that too. Everything she does is purely for herself–not in a selfish way but with an importance which gives new meaning to self-love beyond mere indulgence.
Jennelle, for as little that I really know of her life, is an incredibly pure human being who deserves all the love and adoration which has come her way so far. She’s happy in such a way that I rarely see people nowadays and brings a certain positivity/outlook to everything that is truly to be commended. In life, you have the autonomy to do literally anything you choose at any given moment in time, you just have to try. Want to change up your style? Go for it! Want to shave your head? Rock that look, Britney! Want to live in a freaking van? Do it–you never know what opportunities it might bring.
It’s so easy to believe that the path we are going down is the best or the only one possible, but that will remain true so long as you let it. In a world with so many possibilities, it would be such a shame if you wasted them away without trying to put yourself first some of the time. Let Jennelle be a model for all that you can become if you listen to your heart’s desires occasionally instead of always relying on your head’s logic. As high school students, there’s only so much we can do of our own volition before being stalled by the restraints of age, but you should never let that stop you from chasing your happy.
This topic is so interesting to me! I also have a guilty pleasure of watching videos just like this, so I’m so glad someone else shares this interest. I just get so interested by watching people defy what is societally “normal” and following their own paths, just like you said. That being said, I really enjoyed your perspective on her life and your support of her following her dreams. I could really tell that you supported this girl. That support really helped your voice shine through this post, keeping the piece very interesting to read. It really felt like I was having a conversation with you rather than reading something online. Overall, great job keeping the voice clear throughout.
I really enjoyed your closing thoughts as well. To me, the transition from talking about the YouTube video to your final call to action about living life as you wish to was seamless and logical. The conclusion tied in perfectly to the story you wove through the rest of the piece, and I thought you did a very nice job with finishing the piece out. Great work!
Yay, I’m so glad you liked it! I know this is a super late response, but you were my very first comment ever so I really still wanted to respond once the stress of first semester was over. I was really worried that the ending seemed a bit phoned in, but I’m glad the heart of what I was trying to say shone through. Though maybe not with tiny houses specifically, I really do think it would be amazing to destroy social conventions and just follow my heart; I’m not at the point where I could do that yet, but I’m always going to have people like Jennelle in mind and say “someday” …
I honestly love the way you start this blog off because unfortunately, I have never related to anything more. Doing every tiny task is a seems to be 10x harder than it was even last month! It really roped me in to want to finish seeing what you had to say.
I absolutely love the voice that you incorporate in your writing. When I was reading it, it was super interesting to learn all that information about Jennelle but I also felt like you were showing the reader something about who you are as a person too (whether you meant to or not I think it’s great!)
I also love the message that you were able to bring forth through her youtube channel, something that might not be seen by just looking at what she’s doing wiht her life, which is evidently just living in a van. But reading how she pushed aside world expectations and such for a bit to make sure that she is as herself as she can be and as happy as she can be is so inspiring to me. Going off what you said in the beginning, I think this time in our lives, as senior year progresses but we start to make decisions about our future and about who we want to become, is so important to our mental health. We are given decisions and opportunities that give us the chance to represent who we really are but also go searching for who are true selves are.
I think this post is time perfectly, at least in my life! I will definitely be checking out this Youtube channel as well!
Thank you so much! Incorporating voice into my writing has always been incredibly difficult for me since I’m so used to writing clinically for a grade, so I’m really happy this experimental style seemed to work out. And like you said, I know she’s just living in a van and I really didn’t need 800 words to say that, but this action and her entire lifestyle is so much more than that that it felt cheap to not give it the reverence/praise it deserves (even if I would NEVER). I didn’t want to self-insert too much meaning onto the actions of someone I didn’t know, but knowing that you were able to take something away for it really means the world to me. I hope you liked her channel!
I’ve seen similar videos on tiny living before and the concept initially baffled me as well. It seems crazy to think that someone is able to live happily in such a crowded, seemingly claustrophobic space, right? However, after reading your post, the way that you describe the source of Jennelle’s happiness does make a lot of sense. In my opinion, it takes a lot of courage to do what Jennelle did and separate what you truly enjoy and what society tells you to enjoy. It’s much easier to put on a fake happiness while following others, instead of taking the time to truly find your own self. I loved that you emphasized how there are those who have “everything” from cars to houses to money yet appear to be so miserable. On the other hand, this minimalist approach to living can bring an unparalleled pure happiness. I guess it goes to show how wrong our priorities can be at times. Overall, I really enjoyed your post!
Sidenote: I wonder if there’s a certain personality type that is best suitable for tiny living (kind of like the Myer Briggs tests we did earlier this semester)
I think Jennelle, and people who participate in the Tiny House trend are equal parts crazy and fearless. It takes a lot of dedication to make a tiny house work but I think if they are pursuing what they love then it’s worth it. I’ve seen a bunch of Tiny House videos on Youtube and there have been a few funny ones where the wife is absolutely in love with their tiny house while the husband is just like “as long as she likes it its fine…”. I agree with Allen that there’s a certain personality type that really suits the Tiny House community. You say it really well: “chaotic tranquility”. Sometime’s I’ll imagine myself living in a tiny house, but looking at the state of my room right now, it would be more like “chaotic chaos”.
I still love Jenelle’s van concept though, how she outfitted it into an RV. It’s crazy what some people can do with their cars. Yesterday I saw a video of someone who attached tank tracks to a Bentley and another person who turned a tesla into a pickup.
Anyways, fascinating post!