Van Life DIY fitouts- Story

Daniel Johnson // Co-Founder

Most of my fondest and earliest memories as a child are of time spent at beaches, parks and bush reserves. I was fortunate that my incredible Mum always placed a high value on connecting with, and spending a good amount of time in nature. From Spring to Autumn every year at the beach, and with Mum having spent time living and working in Austria at a mountain ski resort, she would always do her best to expose me to as many opportunities as possible.

From the time I was 9 years-old, mum would work hard all year to save the bones, so that we could spend 5 days each winter skiing and snowboarding. This has lead to be a huge passion of mine and is still to this day, one of the top few things that allow me to access prolonged states of flow.

My Mum’s work ethic set a great early standard for me, and was a perfect example of how consistently applied work can afford you some of the most meaningful and connected experiences. Learning from that same work ethic afforded me some early success in sports and other areas of life, from my teens through to my early twenties. But like all good stories, there’s always a plot-twist, and throughout my mid-twenties I lost my way. I made some poor life choices, got in trouble with the law, and in pursuit of surface level fulfilment, I managed to successfully turn my whole life upside down until I nearly lost everything.

My young son that was the first major catalyst for me in turning my life around and beginning the journey back to my true self. Being a single father has (as parenthood inherently does) afforded me so many opportunities to look at situations from the outside in, rather than to simply react without first allowing myself the consideration, and the introspection, to actively adjust my course. It was during this period that I began to understand a very simple but important concept that has under-pinned my general world-view ever since - that life happens for you, not to you. 

The deeper level of ownership was one the first, and perhaps most profound lessons on my road back to my true self.

Connection was the next to follow. It wasn’t until I met my fiancé, Teigan, that I began to understand what deep love and connection truly meant. Teigan has always given me the space to do what I needed and has always been a kind of lighthouse beacon for me whenever I start to stray off course from my best self.

Like most good stories of character, it’s a typical storyline with some typically wholesome plot points. And like most good stories, many of us have lived out seemingly similar scripts. But as underwhelming “typical” might seem, I reflect each day on how truly significant these two divergent points of my life would be in changing its course.

Fast-forward a short time, and for the last few years now, I have applied myself to a very practiced path of reconnection - to source, to self, and to nature. I’ve been fortunate enough to have some amazing mentors in my life, who have assisted me along the way in helping guide me back toward my true purpose. 

It’s been along this path that I’ve re-launched my holistic coaching business - a decision that has seen me immerse myself in active pursuit of both a deeper knowledge of “self” and experience. Naturally, along this wild pursuit, I met my business partner Geoff Rupp, and together we launched my dream venture, Ascending Minds, a corporate peak-performance and mindfulness project designed to switch people on in all elements of life. 

Ascending Minds became the formalisation of the same holistic framework through which I live the entirety of my life - from diet, to exercise, mindset, productivity, fulfillment, relationships, and spirituality. 

Through my own patterns and experience, and through developing Ascending Minds and working with clients in this space; I’ve realised that unless we are approaching life from a holistic viewpoint, we run the risk of living a life that’s out of balance, that’s unfulfilling and one separated from our inner purpose. 

Although from the outside, many of us may appear to have achieved a level of success, we often feel on the inside like we’re on an endless pursuit. A never-ending, zero-sum game that no matter how much we gain, we’re still left feeling empty. 

I found that for many, the remedy is often simply to disconnect in order to reconnect. For me, that meant turning every element of my life into practice, reconnecting to nature, focusing on my breath, and pursuing a “flow-like” awareness and mental acuity. 

Like Ascending Minds before it, VanLife DIY Fitouts was born of the same flow, with the same committed intention.