It’s 8 AM midweek in January, and you’ve just woken up to see the sun shining bright outside your room. The temperature is 26 degrees, and there are no clouds in sight. You hit the pool before having breakfast in one of the cute island cafes. You flip out your laptop to get in a few hours of work under the shade of a palm tree.
Digital Nomads are people who travel freely, essentially living a nomad lifestyle, often with no permanent home or base while working remotely.
It might actually be the biggest trend for millennials when it comes to careers, particularly for many of us who were taught to aspire to climb a corporate ladder, but decided we’d rather climb trees and mountains while making a living online instead.
By no doubt, the increase in remote work since COVID and our increasingly digital lives have also contributed to making digital nomading both a viable and attractive career path. It’s adventurous, exciting, and seemingly provides a beautiful balance where prioritising the lifestyle you want doesn’t get in the way of finding work to support yourself financially. But as always, nothing is perfect, and while social media certainly makes digital nomading look like a dream, that dream can certainly become one’s nightmare if heading into it unprepared.
I left the crowded streets of London at the end of 2022, with the idea of becoming a yoga teacher and travelling. I had a one-way ticket and a travel budget, and I thought that that budget would dictate when I’d be coming back. But as it happens with travellers, I ended up meeting digital nomads everywhere, and thanks to my background in digital marketing, I was fortunate to be approached with freelance work, way before my travel budget ran out. So, in the spirit of a true backpacker and inspired by the digital nomad community surrounding me, I thought: ‘Why not?’
And just like that, I was now a digital nomad.
It often truly felt like a dream. The scene I painted when starting this article is indeed part of the lifestyle, but as is often the case, the reality is more complex.
There are endless bus rides and crowded train journeys, packing and unpacking backpacks, and waking up not knowing where you are because you’ve been on the go for so long. You end up feeling out of place. There are sick days where you can only rely on the kindness of other strangers and locals to support you because you’re alone and you have no idea where the nearest hospital or pharmacy is, or if they’d have the same drugs and remedies you’d usually take at home. You start feeling like you don’t have a home and while freeing, it can also be terrifying.
You spend hours or even days understanding taxes, visas, and insurance, and how not to mess things up so it comes back to bite you. You spend even more time on research and booking transport and accommodation, often while on the edge of tears because you’re so exhausted from all the decision-making that you've forgotten to eat all day.
Of course, as you become more experienced, you also become better at dealing with this uncertainty. You become more prepared and in general, have a good structure for your planning, but a lot of these feelings never fully go away. I have to say, I’ve never met a digital nomad or solo traveller who has never experienced these feelings. And depending on your comfort zone and how you deal with such situations, this lifestyle can indeed become difficult.
In my experience, to understand if this is a career path that will work for you, it's good to ask yourself the following questions.
Can I be comfortable dealing with:
Uncertainty and Instability
Many people thrive in uncertainty. There’s a certain thrill to it when it comes to nomading. Not knowing what’s next can mean wonderful new experiences and an escape from boring routines. But as with anything, the novelty can wear off. When literally every day is a new adventure, exciting can become exhausting.
Many nomads choose to slow travel, staying in one place for weeks and months, skipping the usual excursions and instead, seeking to get immersed in the everyday living of a local. Personally, I've found this to be a great way to learn what healthy routines mean for me. What aspects of day-to-day living I was missing, and what kind of stability did I need to be comfortable, which brings me to my next point.
Security & Comfort
Be that financial-, social-, or psychological security, uncertainty puts all these at risk. Whether you are a freelancer or a remotely employed digital nomad, your security and comfort will depend on the safety nets you’ve built around you to fall back on.
Traditionally we are more used to building these within our physical proximity, so while it is absolutely possible to feel secure and comfortable while nomading, it does have different implications and requires planning (i.e., having an emergency budget, or at least enough to get you a flight back to wherever you feel is home) and being mentally prepared that things go wrong sometimes and that you’ll have to find new ways of dealing with that. Having a supportive community, whether that’s friends or family checking in on you via messages or joining local communities, it’s important to make sure you’re not isolated.
Lacking a sense of belonging
Social media is often the easiest way for us nomads to stay connected with our loved ones, but being reliant on such things can be a double-edged sword. It’s important not to give into the pressure of ‘filtering’ your experience through these outlets and be able to open up to those who might not physically be around you, but who always have your back.
Community, belonging, and relationships are essential to all human beings. We want to feel accepted, loved, and treated with respect. When you feel like you don’t belong, that can be hard on your mental health. And let’s be honest, as a digital nomad you are mainly in places where you’re neither a local nor a tourist. Oftentimes, you’ll connect with other nomads, and they are a wonderful global community, but considering the lifestyle, you’ll likely be on different schedules and crossing paths will become a wonderful coincidence. Make sure to acknowledge the challenges that can come with isolation and reach out to people who can support you.
Digital nomading can be a wonderful experience, one that many people pursue for several years or even into retirement. It’s not for everyone but it certainly is for some, and trying out if it works for you can be a great learning experience. I have certainly enjoyed mine. So, are you ready to pack your bags?