Environment dictates the outcome – Greg Waite

It’s all about balance – never too much of one thing without enough of the other.

Life in the van is just a glorified extension of life on the bank. I cook on the same stove, drink from the same water butt, and wake up to similar surroundings.

It’s a way of enabling me to jump from one hobby to another, all while spending my days in surroundings I can’t live without. I’ve found myself taking a liking to hobbies that are more like individual lifestyles rather than just activities. Van life means I’m able to put as much into a hobby as I see possible. Never having to ‘go home’ means I can quickly move from one thing to the next, all while allowing myself to be fully engrossed in what I’m doing.

For instance, if my focus is drawn to mountain biking, living in a van means I can drive to a trail, hit it hard all day, jump in a warm shower and then sleep in the car park without any sacrifice for comfort. This often means I can go day after day, trail by trail, without ever feeling like I’m ‘roughing it.’ It makes it possible to revolve my entire life around bikes for that short period of time.

Then there’s surfing. Instead of just rocking up at a spot, catching a few waves and then heading home, I can push it right into the fading light, almost to the point where you start to lose your sense of perception, knowing full well I’ll be warm, dry and in my home within no longer than 10 minutes. If conditions at first light suggest I’ll get a better wave elsewhere, I can hit the road knowing I’ll still be able to get in the water and enjoy the morning before starting work.

And of course there’s fishing, the one thing that really feels like a match made in heaven with van life. Being able to prolong sessions and stay comfortable all year round is a huge advantage. You don’t mind barrowing to the furthest corner of the lake, sitting in the muddiest swim, or staying up all night watching the water, knowing you’ve got a warm shower, a comfy bed and a fridge full of food parked never too far away.
“I should’ve left here Sunday morning, it’s now Wednesday evening” is something the lads down the pond hear from me all too often.

Whether it’s chasing carp in the coolest locations or casting a fly down a chalk stream, it’s all possible with a lot less effort than it would’ve been before making the decision to live full-time in the back of a van. For that reason, I’m able to put in exactly what I want to get out of these ‘hobbies.’

“Big risks leave you with big rewards… you can’t expect big rewards from taking small risks.”

And finally, my camera, the little metal box that beautifully ties everything together. It’s a way of expressing myself and turning my lifestyle into an art form, a way of earning a living that facilitates life on the road and a way of documenting the adventures, mad locations and awesome people I meet along the way. I genuinely think I have a passion for things that look nice, whether it’s a huge sky with views that stretch for miles or a simple beam of light catching an object in a cool way. It’s often the smaller details within something that really captivates me and photography is the perfect way to share my view of this with others.

I’d just like to say that everything I’ve spoken about has been a dream, a vision for years, something I’d focus on so deeply while in that subliminal, impressionable state of mind you find yourself in just before you fall asleep and just after you wake up. With a shit-ton of hard graft and strategic thinking, I’ve somehow managed to make this lifestyle a daily reality.

All that being said, I’m far from the end goal, far from fulfilling my potential and far from any form of contentment. I feel the past couple of years have been a slow introduction to the rest of my life. I’m acutely aware that all of this is temporary and I have many more ups and downs to come, just like the journey it took to get here. Believe it or not, living in an old cow shed in the Cornish countryside through the heart of winter, with no running water or electricity has been part of this journey so far. Praise the Lord for Nashy’s Bedchairs!

I’d like to end this with the quote I live by, “Environment dictates the outcome.” Your environment doesn’t just dictate the present moment; it shapes you as a person. Being aware of your environment and the effect it’s having on you is something I seriously value. I guess it’s a way of guiding yourself into the person you want to become.

• GREG WAITE