Digital nomad
It seems like digital nomad is the new buzzword everybody likes to throw around. Thanks to COVID-19, thousands of people have discovered what it means to work remotely. Some of you loved it so much, you even want to take it one step further and not only work remotely but also become location independent and go fully digital nomad. In this blog post, I will tell you a bit more about what it means to be a digital nomad.
What is a digital nomad?
Being a digital nomad is a fancy way of saying you work online and travel a lot. You can usually spot a digital nomad from miles away if you know what to look for: a laptop, noise-canceling headphones, and either a coconut or a fancy latte right next to them.
Yes, I know, I’m enforcing a horrible cliché here. Of course, you don’t have to work in coffee shops or sip coconuts on the beach all day. (Seriously, how do these kinds of people get any work done on the beach? Laptop + sunlight + sand = terrible.)
The only “requirement” of being a digital nomad is that you work fully online and are not location-dependent. That’s it. Really, nobody cares how or where you work, except maybe when you want to become a famous YouTuber or Instagrammer. But it sure is nice to take a dip in the pool or the ocean during your lunch break.
Sounds awesome, why am I only now hearing about this?
The concept of digital nomadism has skyrocketed in popularity these last two years, COVID-19 being the obvious reason. However, digital nomadism is not new. Hundreds if not thousands of people had been doing it before it became popular. You know, the OG crowd. You might have heard about Tim Ferriss, Sorelle Amore, Christian Leblanc, or Jess and Steven from Flying the Nest, but there are so many more people living the digital nomad lifestyle under the radar.
While the concept of digital nomads has been around since 1997, digital nomadism only became recognised as a mainstream phenomenon around 2014 - 2015. This happened thanks to dedicated online communities like Nomad list and the opening of coworking spaces. In the early 2000s, the emergence of internet cafés launched the first generation of digital nomads. In 2007, Tim Ferriss published The 4-Hour Work Week, the bible for many entrepreneurs and digital nomads. I too worship at the feet of Tim Ferriss as I aim to Join the New Rich. In 2010, Instagram entered the game. With it came the visual cliché of working with your laptop on some tropical island and travel influencers saw a real opportunity to make money online doing what they love. From there on, digital nomadism slowly began to emerge from the shadows and into the social media spotlight. Popular destinations nowadays are Bali, Thailand, Lisbon, Mexico, and Brazil.
So how do I become a digital nomad?
You can become a digital nomad as a freelancer or as a remote worker. As a freelancer, you have more freedom in choosing your location and managing your work/life balance. As a remote working, you have a more stable income that could mean fancier locations or more travel. It doesn’t really matter how you do it, as long as you can do it fully remote and online. Working online has gotten a lot easier these past two years. Employers now recognize that remote work has advantages both for them and the employee, and the world of online freelancers could always use one more. You don’t have to be in IT or coding to work online either, there are many more options out there. I’m an ecologist by education, but now I do translation work, copywriting, and blog posts both in English and in Dutch. You can always adjust, no matter where you come from, so if you want it, just do it.
Traveling a lot is also open for interpretation. Some digital nomads like to change location every week or every month. Most nomads prefer slow travel to prevent travel burn-out. Being constantly on the move takes a lot out of you, especially if you are also working. As long as you are location independent you can go wherever, whenever you want.
Things to consider
I know, you are already dreaming of working on that than on a tropical beach somewhere far away, but there are a few things to consider before you book your ticket.
You need to get rid of your materialistic mindset.
Unless you are swimming in cash and have an army of lackeys to help you with your suitcases, you are severely limited in what you can bring with you. When you are constantly on the move, you do not want to carry around multiple heavy suitcases. This also means you’ll have to pass on all those cute souvenir shops. It will be tempting - I speak from personal experience, I love buying souvenirs for friends and family - but it is just not worth the extra weight. Minimalism is now your new favorite word.
The good thing is that you will save a lot of money. Like seriously, you have no idea how much money you are spending on materialistic things like shoes you never wear or that millionth scented candle. You will be rich in no time. (It is also one of the secrets that make full-time travel a lot more affordable than you’d think.) Bonus: not buying stuff is also good for the planet!
Modern-day society has made us care about stuff, a lot. Caring about stuff is so important that companies pay people to get you to care about their stuff. It’s called copywriting. Ironically, a lot of digital nomads are copywriters. Maybe that’s why they are better equipped to not fall into the buy-buy-buy trap?
You will get lonely
This one depends a lot on whether you are traveling solo or with a friend/significant other. The beauty of traveling around the world is that you meet a lot of interesting people and get to know all kinds of new cultures. As a result, you will have friends all over the world with all kinds of backgrounds. The downside is that either you or your friends are always leaving.
It is not a question of if you get lonely, but when you get lonely. Chris McCandless discovered this deep in the Alaskan wilderness: “Happiness only real when shared.” And sharing on social media doesn’t count. It is a very human thing to want to share real experiences with real people.
Your friends at home do not care
It’s a harsh truth, but your friends will not care about your awesome adventures abroad. Yes, they will listen to your stories, but they will just as easily fall back to their own day-to-day lives and small-town gossip. You have to accept you are not part of their day-to-day lives and small-town gossip anymore. You have a completely different life now, a not-so-normal life in the eyes of society and a lot of people don’t know how to deal with that. So the easiest thing for them to do is listen, nod happily along, and quickly start talking about something they do understand.
And who can blame them? Those amazing adventures you did, they weren’t there. They weren’t part of the experience. Just like you aren’t part of their adventures anymore. It will take a lot more work to maintain your friendships from the other side of the world, so put in the effort.
