I met Emily through South Coast Makers Market events. Em's living the solo van life dream, foraging nature's coastal treasures to make driftwood art.
El: What does mindfulness mean to you?
E: Living in the moment innit. Living for today.
Sit and BE alone. Meditation. Reading. The ocean. And everything it has to offer.
Enjoying the food I eat whilst I eat it. Listening to the crunch of a nut bar and the runny ness of a good old poachy. Not standing up eating at work trying to serve other people and racing through each thing.
Enjoying a day of nothing rather than spending an entire day sad that you can?t afford a holiday or waiting an entire year to go on one. Life can be a holiday. It's up to you.
Gratitude for the now. For the beauty of everything. Even a cloud. How cool are clouds though!
El: Why's van life living so important?
E: Van life - it's not important? it's a necessity
I can't afford to live in a flat let alone a beautiful house with a garden. But I appreciate my time and memories more than I do material things and you can wash just about anywhere man!
I chose to be a vanlifer so that I wasn't permanently on a hamster wheel of go to work pay bills and die. Sorry. Why do we wait to retire before we live?
El: What would you tell your 18 year old self?
E: If I could tell my crazy 18 year old self anything it would be.. This is gonna be interesting!? Or, you won't believe me if I tell you what you'll be doing at 37 or what you will have seen before you actually die?
I have no regrets. This is a journey full of lessons and if I had told my 18 year old self not to go diving in The Red Sea with a broken gauge and run out of air or to avoid the man o war jellies in Antigua they can sting your face or well if I'd changed anything by advising me then I wouldn't be in this moment now! Butterfly effect.
El: What's new for The Secret Scavenger this year?
E: The Secret Scavenger is on it this year! She's quit her full time job waitressing and is taking slow mindful mornings, hitting the gym HARD and surfing then searching and creating when she feels like it in the afternoons.
Live for today people. Show people you give a fuck. Throw away that five year plan. Do it now.
There might not be a tomorrow.
Emily's handcrafted pieces are available at events and online. Em will be at VDUB at the Pub, and is offering Driftwood Craft Parties. You can follow The Secret Scavenger on Instagram, and find out about upcoming events, parties and more by signing up the the newsletter over at: https://thesecretscavenger.co.uk
Thank you Emily - @thesecretscavenger
I hope you're enjoying the blog, Co. It's a great place for insights, philosophies and stories from those challenging the expected and accepted, and I'm so grateful to get to ask these great minds questions. Read all the drops so far here.