So you want to explore living a nomad lifestyle… you’ve come to right place!
7 years ago, I sold everything and haven’t yet looked back! People want to live the nomad lifestyle for many reasons, but I think the one thing we all have in common is our thirst for experiencing new lands and cultures and a neverending supply of wanderlust.
One thing I hear often from people who want to make the leap but haven’t yet is: “But what if I get homesick or it doesn’t go like I expected?” Well guess what… you’re free to go anywhere! Even back “home”. If you’re not quite ready to take the full plunge, find out how you can temporarily be away from your current space and try it out for a short period. Maybe that’s renting or subleasing your home, if possible, or doing some home swaps. If you find that it feels really good to be home after some travels, then maybe a semi-nomadic lifestyle is more your speed. But if you find that you’re not ready for your travels to end, or maybe just a week at home is nice, but too much, then it’s time to dive right in!
Another thing that seems to come up often is age and working status. So many people associate a traveling lifestyle with one of two things: young backpackers taking a gap year to roam the world for the first time or older retirees who have worked hard to save their money to float around for awhile. But the truth is, it doesn’t matter! If you can do you job remotely, you can be a nomad. If you have a skill or trade that you can offer in return for housing and meals, you can be a nomad! There are countless ways to find yourself living a nomad lifestyle… and there’s something for everyone out there!
Before I started living the nomadic lifestyle, I was working an office job in corporate America, and this sort of lifestyle was something most companies were not yet well-acquainted with (this was pre-covid, before nearly everyone went remote). In 2015, I wanted to test those boundaries by simply asking to spend the winter in Florida. The worst that could happen, would be my company tells me no. But much to my own surprise, they were willing to give me a test run! I went to Florida and lived with some friends there, and made sure to be as present online as I was in the office. It was wonderful! But by the end of the year, I had switched jobs to what was my dream job at the time. The only not-so-dreamy part of it was that they were not yet on-board with the remote work lifestyle (even though I traveled for them 75% of the time anyway, go figure!) And at this point, after my experiment the year before with snowbirding in Florida, I KNEW that I needed to live the nomadic lifestyle.
But rather than making excuses and saying “poor me, my job won’t let me and therefore I can’t”, I started actively looking for opportunities that were remote-only. In 2017, this was not as prevalent as it is now. And guess what, I found one! It was hard to leave my almost dream job, but this opportunity to be able to live and work anywhere was more important to me. And the only reason I found it was because I kept putting it out there. I talked to everyone and anyone I knew about my goal for working remotely and traveling full-time. Let the world know, let the universe know and keep searching for those opportunities if you feel stuck in your current situation now.
In my next post, I’ll hook you up with some key outlets to find opportunities that will get you cranking in your nomadic life!
