Is it really that crazy to want to leave everything behind? (US -> World)

I don’t know if this is the right place to post this. Maybe I just need to let it out, or maybe someone out there has been where I am. the idea of selling *everything-* My house, my vehicles, all my stuff, and taking off to circle the globe in an overland ready vehicle has gone from a fantasy to something that feels almost… necessary. This past spring, I spent a few months back in Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, and China. It was the first time I left the county in nearly 9 years. And something in me cracked open again. I didn’t care about ”purpose”, or grind, or the next goal. I just existed. I felt human again. Curious, emotional, connected. I hadn’t felt that way in years. In the US, I live in a small town in Wisconsin. It’s the opposite here. I have tried everything to make a life here feel meaningful. Projects, careers, connections… For my entire life. Nothing sticks. It either falls apart, or I get talked out of it. It feels like I’m not *allowed* to thrive here unless I follow the script. And I’ve never fit into that mold, no matter how hard I have tried. Worse, I feel completely alone. My family cut me off when I left the family business (My upbringing with them is an entirely different drawn out story). My wife and I are civil, but we’re emotionally distant. No intimacy, no connection. Our marriage has been on life support for a long time, and we both know it. We have no kids. It feels like bringing a kid into the world under the ideal of “The American Dream” is about as fake as you can get. The people in this area are mostly MAGA types I can’t relate to in the slightest. I don’t have a community here. I don’t have a support system. And I’m exhausted from trying to find one. And it’s not just this town. I have been to MANY places, all throughout the US. The entire country feels angry, performative, and hollow. Rage-bait headlines, forced small talk, polarizing politics, economic anxiety, grind culture disguised as ambition. Even something as basic as running errands feels like a fight against noise and friction. Not to mention the daily fear our ways of life here may change massively, based on one idiots temper tantrums. I’m just tired. So I keep looking at this vehicle - fully built for global travel, and I’m wondering, “what if I just *did it?”* What if I sold my house, let go of everything, and left? Yeah, I’d be giving up a beautiful home. Yes, I would be letting go of a marriage that was once incredible, but is now just lifeless. Yeah, I would lose my dog (my wife would 100% keep him), and that would break my heart. But I would survive. And maybe finally I would live again. I’m not running away from responsibility. I‘d be running *toward* a life. Toward creativity, toward feeling something again. I feel like I’ve put my passions and needs on the side-line for most of my life. And I’ve spent decades trying to make this American life work. It just doesn’t (At least not for me) So… Has anyone else been here? Has anyone left it all behind? (comfort, debt, dysfunction, numbness - And started over on the road? Is it really that crazy? --- **Post Details:** - **Subreddit:** r/solotravel - **Author:** u/Lost-in-a-Loop - **Score:** 140 upvotes - **Upvote Ratio:** 80.0% - **Comments:** 109 - **Posted:** 6/29/2025 - **URL:** https://reddit.com/r/solotravel/comments/1lnhg2r/is_it_really_that_crazy_to_want_to_leave/