Digital Nomad Life: 5 Unspoken Truths

1 Not everyone can become a digital nomad

I’ve since put a stop to my roaming existence, but when others catch wind of what I do, they typically want to “pick my brain” (shudder) on how they may make money while going to all the exotic countries on their bucket list.

Every time, I provide this often-disappointing advice: “Well, it depends.”

Save the follow-your-dreams nonsense for a Disney film script. Because the question “how do I become a digital nomad?” isn’t the proper one.

The right question is: Do my current personal circumstances coincide with everything necessary to be a digital nomad?

To put it another way, are you…

• Are you a single individual with no dependents or family responsibilities? (Alternatively, do you have a family arrangement in which you can all live this lifestyle together?)
• Are you free of financial responsibilities like credit card debt, a mortgage, student loans, and so on?
• Are you capable of creating a stable income that allows you to establish a life wherever you go?
• Are you at ease with insecurity (mental, emotional, environmental, and stomach)?
• Are you in it for the long haul (since anybody can travel long-term on a budget for a while)?
• Are you okay with being alone and a permanent foreigner (unless you’re lucky enough to be traveling with a companion/friends)?

I’m in a unique situation because, regardless of what a Facebook ad or a course claims, not everyone can accomplish this.

The transition to a professional life on the road was not something I did on the spur of the moment. It wasn’t some audacious act of defiance. It had been meticulously plotted as if I were planning the first 15 moves of a chess game. However, the decision was made significantly simpler because my professional and personal circumstances were ideal.

Professionally, I’d been writing for almost a decade, teaching people how to accomplish what I do through guest posting and honing my business skills. I had worked hard to establish the correct contacts and reputation, which gave me opportunities for consistent income. At home, I didn’t have a family of my own to look after, had paid off all of my debts, and accumulated enough savings to keep me comfortable in the short term. I also made sure I didn’t hurt anyone’s feelings by breaking up with them or cutting them off from each other.

I was free to go anytime I wanted without having to worry about returning to the otherwise burning ruins of a previous life that I might have ignored. I tell you this because, as you can guess, the measures I outlined are a long cry from the words of those pessimistic gunslingers who proclaim, “It’ll all work out in the end.” Simply pursue your ambitions!”

The importance of pragmatism cannot be overstated. After all, a lifestyle is something you can enjoy and maintain. Screaming #YOLO and purchasing a one-way ticket to Amsterdam to escape the reality of your current circumstance are not examples of this.

I’ve seen several young, fit digital nomads set out with high hopes, only to burn out and come home disillusioned, emotionally drained, and (in some cases) in dire financial straits. Here’s a story about someone who started strong but ended up packing it in:

These folks believe that being a digital nomad is a brave decision that will help them leave their previous life and issues. On the other hand, returning home serves as a stark reminder that wherever you go, there you are.

The stakes are significant, and you must consider this option more carefully than “eff it, it’ll work!”

2 Earning money while traveling might be dangerous

Smart, sustained digital nomadism (this is a thing now) isn’t impossible in our online age. But if you want to establish a business, surprise — being a digital nomad with a sustainable business means you still have to nail down the unsexy essentials of creating a business daily. However, when you’re continuously on the go as a nomad, starting a business becomes more complicated since your discipline and attention are continually distracted – hey, look at that lovely waterfall! Doing your taxes while relaxing on the beach is still doing your taxes.

If you don’t already operate your own internet business or have regular clients, companies like Remote.co, Upwork, and Fiverr are expressly designed to help you discover freelance work that will pay you while you’re in — anywhere.

However, there is a catch.

Many of these occupations don’t pay much for the time you put into them – not enough to sustain a luxury wandering existence. This might lead to a new, simply larger hamster cycle, with you going from unpaid gig to underpaid gig indefinitely.

But before you realize it, you’re too busy to enjoy the views and too far away to quickly create a professional network.

So, unless you become very good at what you do and get a lot of high-paying, long-term clients, random jobs here and there may not make you as much money as you want or need. Even if you’re good at budgeting and live in a low-cost location, the stress of always trying to make ends meet may wear on you psychologically and emotionally, resulting in burnout and perhaps having you trapped in situations.

3 Researching can never adequately prepare you for a life as a digital nomad

A few unsaid realities of digital nomadism exist. One of them is that humans are not supposed to be nomadic. It’s not good for you mentally.

Sure, going with the wind might feel like a cheap roller coaster delight on an eternal loop at first.

Until you realize you need to come down from the high and feel normal again.

Some of my friends used to grumble to me about the monotony of their everyday lives, and I’d nod in agreement. But, after repeatedly having to rebuild my days and weeks in each new place, I found myself envious of their routines. It’s strange how you don’t appreciate the importance of having a way until you don’t have one. Every choice and inquiry, even routine ones like where to acquire my groceries or a coffee shop had Wi-Fi, threw a knot in my day.

I missed and wanted the routine of working out at the same gym or getting coffee at the same coffee shop where everyone knew my name… and the sensation of having a fixed location where I could call home.

My never-ending cycle of erecting and demolishing my temporary house was not home. Because just as I was getting used to my surroundings, I’d have to pack up and start anew. It threw off my sense of where I was. And it was exhausting, as these other digital nomads can attest:

The fact is that being a nomad does not free you from your responsibilities. It’s still your life, except it’s now in nation X., And any difficulties or baggage you have will remain (or, in some cases, appear in new and unanticipated ways!).

4 Being a digital nomad puts a strain on relationships

Most individuals don’t grasp the concept of living off the grid. In some ways, it’s just easier to declare “yes, I’m an accountant!” while your dinner companion nods and pokes at their salad.

My adaptability enables me to travel worldwide to make new acquaintances, rekindle old ones, and reunite with long-lost family members (mainly in part due to the many essential apps that help you work from anywhere). That is extremely lovely! Until… I have to go. It was so emotionally draining to leave people over and over again, like a slow and constant eroding of your grasp on connections, but nowadays I’ve adopted the thinking of “It’s not ‘goodbye.’” “It’s’see you later,’” she says.

Going to places with a built-in community is lovely if you can pull it off. Or, even better, invite and plan with friends and have everyone meet you at a specific location. For example, over the Thanksgiving holiday, I spent time in Costa Rica with a group of friends, most of whom were entrepreneurs (but of course). It was great to see so many familiar and new faces, even short. There were more than 30 of us.

5 It’s easy to lose sight of why you began down the path of digital nomads in the first place

In some ways, becoming a digital nomad has become a capitalistic demand. Copywriters advise you to “screw the 9 to 5 life” and “follow your passion.”

The message is simple: you’re a sucker for being “trapped” in a full-time job that forces you to compete in the rat race. But here’s the catch: becoming a digital nomad turns out to be its type of rat race. To put it another way, how many of us digital nomads are capable of outdoing one another in terms of novelty?

Who has the most nations in which they may go and live?

Who can amass the most significant social media following by bragging about all the amazing stuff we’ve been up to?

Who can travel to the most isolated location (with internet access) and behave like the most untethered, I’ve-got-it-all-figured-out lone wolf?

Travel is said to be a tremendous form of personal growth. So far, most of us digital nomads have also distorted the benefits of traveling to new countries, cultures, and people and turned the lessons we’ve learned while on the road into shallow, surface-level material for YouTube and Instagram videos.

Initially, I believed I was doing this digital nomad thing for the sake of travel, worldwide exploration, and self-discovery. But as I traveled from one location to the next, I realized I had been traveling for the wrong reasons. I was no longer interested in touring for the sake of… traveling. To my surprise, I was getting high from seeking novelty. I had gone down a false path where the only way for me to feel like I was doing something important was to travel to the next place that would make people say things like, “Wow, you’re so lucky to be there!”

Yes, I was, but please tell me more to feel validated. (Of course, that may be just me.)

For me, it took a long time to figure out that the raw traveling and nomadic experience is a slow, painful process of blowing yourself apart when you first arrive at a new place and then putting yourself back together one frustrating, complex, or incredible experience at a time.

Both the highs and lows of being a digital nomad were well worth it. 

But there’s one thing I want you to know: most digital nomads don’t have life figured out any more than anyone else who pretends to have life figured out.