The biggest mistake someone can make is taking the term digital nomad literally. Trying to become an actual digital nomad is a guaranteed way to suffer, coming from someone who’s traveled around a tiny bit. You don’t want to spend your whole life globe-trotting. Travel is fun for a little while, but it can be very repetitive. If you’re not careful, you can find yourself having wasted a lot of time, without having learned many skills at all. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with globe-trotting when you’re young. A lot of productive, smart, kind, and excellent people have done it, and more will in the future. But I personally would warn against taking the expression “digital nomad” too literally. This life can be really beautiful, but it’s a trap.
You need community
Over time you’re going to need to know how to make friends in your area and be a part of daily life in your local area. If you’re hopping from place to place, you’ll never get the chance to get comfortable anywhere. You’ll also not have the chance to access the right people and opportunities. If you can access the right people, you can make the right friends, whatever that means for you. Odds are that accessing the right people will take time. Friendships also generally grow stronger with time. You need to put in that time if you’re starting from square one or with a small social circle. This can only be done if you take the time to be in one place at a time, and long enough that you aren’t seen as a digital nomad by the locals. This will take over a year.
Finances will likely dictate where you go first
Basically, wherever it’s easiest and most realistic to find yourself living comfortably on your income. That’s probably where you’re going to want to be. Being in a situation where your finances are low isn’t pleasant at all. You want to live somewhere where life is affordable for you. Moving around when you’re under 40 is OK for this reason.
Settling in one spot is tough
Settling down is very difficult. Everywhere on planet Earth comes with its downsides. If you want to make somewhere your home, you should do it sooner rather than later. Adjusting is hard, and it gets harder to adjust as you age. The last thing you want to be as you get older as a man is unmoored and broke, and I think I can say that comfortably even though I’m only 25. It isn’t fun being 25 and feeling unmoored. I can’t imagine being 40 or 50 and continuing to live like this, simply for the sake of partying, seeing new places, or dating new “types” of women. This strikes me as incredibly hedonistic.
Location independence is for contingencies, not daily living
The heading is self-explanatory. You want to be location independent so that a good chuck of your money-making potential is secure and immune to changes within your country. You also want to be able to travel whenever you want, whether it be for emergencies or pleasure. Sure, being able to pack your things and go wherever you want might be fun for a few years, but after a while it’s going to get lonely. I know I want to be both free and upper middle class, but I also don’t want to live an unrealistic lifestyle. Traveling is expensive and doing it safely in a consistent manner takes care and intentionality. I personally think that after becoming location independent, there are other aspects of life that are worth mastering. Those aspects of life either require or are helped by staying in one place.
Returning residents, the one excpetion to the rule
If you’re moving later in life, you’re probably going to want to move back to your homeland. This is what it means to be a returning resident. I know lots of people who’ve moved. The happiest are those who decided to leave home while they were still young, and those who found their way back after a long time. Familiarity and community become really important as you age. The two groups discussed in this paragraph have an ability to discuss community
Being a digital nomad is a blast, even though it’s hard work. Life is great overseas, especially if you work hard and set yourself up for success. A big part of setting yourself up for success is maintaining and keeping connections. You need to “know the streets” when you move overseas, as a manner of speaking. The only way to get this done, is to spend more than a year in one place, all while being bold. You need to be willing to interact with the locals. You need to be ready to handle discrimination (of all kinds) with grace and dignity. You need to be patient. This isn’t for the weak-minded, and I can imagine doing it more than three or four times in my life. Learning a culture to its full intricacies is exhausting, and most people won’t really ever get it done, especially if they were raised with American sensibilities. Try to lock in as soon as possible if you’re thinking of being a digital nomad.
Thanks for paying attention.
