Being a Nomad
Recently someone asked for advice on how to be a nomad. They want to “live a stress-free life of adventure with no responsibilities.” Their words, not mine. My first instinct was to tell them that it is not always easy, stress-free or adventurous. And that is true. Often it is far from easy and there can be stress. And sometimes adventure simply looks like navigating another new grocery store or realizing you got on the wrong bus and now you might miss your flight. Just like any life, being a nomad has its ups and downs. It definitely is not always what you see on social media.
And yet, it can be amazing and adventurous. Nomad life has a different kind of stress that is often kind of fun and exciting, instead of the normal grinding everyday stress – in my opinion anyways. In terms of “no responsibilities,” that has little to do with being a nomad and more to do with a person’s stage of life, family and financial situation. Being a nomad can be wonderful and it can be challenging. It can be adventurous and it can be lonely. Nomad life can also feel liberating and really, really scary. But I think the most striking thing about nomad life is the uncertainty. If you want to get really comfortable with uncertainty, then being a nomad might be for you.
There are 2 aspects to address, I think, to being a nomad. The practical side involves all the logistics, including the fact that everyone must actually “live” somewhere because you need to have a bank and health care and pay taxes. And you either need to be wealthy (sadly, I am not) or you need to figure out how to work remotely. And to be perfectly honest, working remotely sounds much more glamorous than it is. There’s also a great deal of “work” involved with being a nomad in terms of finding affordable accommodations, booking transportation and dealing with time zones. That last bit is a huge bit that most people do not understand.
The other aspect to being a nomad is more social-emotional. It can foster an inner strength, a sense of independence and an openness to risk that you didn’t know you possessed. Being a nomad can expose you to different perspectives and cultures. It will lead to a profound appreciation towards all the wonderful and diverse ways that people live. For me, it has made me both more critical of life in North America, specifically our obsession with convenience and material things. But it has also made me deeply appreciate so many things about Canada and the openness and kindness of most Canadians.
The negative social-emotional part about being a nomad involves the loss of community, and missing your people. It is possible to find different kinds of communities online – I belong to a wonderful group called Wanderwell Club and we meet virtually once or twice a month. And one of my favorite things about technology is the ability to video chat with my family and friends from “home.” Both are wonderful substitutes but they are substitutes. At the same time, I feel that being a nomad has made me much more appreciative of time with family and friends. When I am with people I love, I am fully present.
I love being a nomad and I am often filled with awe and wonder at my wild little nomad life. I have been to some amazing places, met some wonderful people and had some really cool, bad-ass adventures. And there have also been many moments of feeling adrift and lonely. Moments when you are in a tiny room in a shared AirBnb, trying to work from a dresser and you’re sharing a bathroom with strangers and it’s raining outside. You’re tired, you feel a little claustrophobic and a lot lonely and you think “What the hell am I doing?!? This is so hard and weird.”
Or you have your next 2 months perfectly planned but then a pet sit cancels and you have to find other accommodations which completely messes up your budget and then you have to work many, many more hours than you normally would and you wonder why you are doing this crazy nomad thing. And most of the time, I absolutely love doing things by myself. But every once in a while, you see something beautiful or inspiring and you wish you had someone to share it with.
But life is often hard and no matter how great your community, everyone feels lonely sometimes. And honestly, if you are a parent and your kids are grown, you never get as much time with them as you’d like. So in many ways being a nomad is not that different. I think the thing that might be the most challenging for many people about being a nomad is the uncertainty. It seems to me that most people like to know what is going to happen next, most people like a sense of control and ownership. If you are a nomad you learn to be okay with letting go of ownership and you have to embrace a loss of control. You learn that you can only control how you react to things that are outside of your control. And you have to be really, really comfortable with discomfort and uncertainty.
I’m going to be honest and say that being a nomad is not for everyone. It’s really hard to go back and forth between having no routine and then making a new routine in a new place and then having no routine again. Living out of a suitcase is hard. Adapting to new grocery stores, customs and languages is hard and exhausting. And it’s really, really hard to feel adrift and lonely in a place where no one knows your name. (Points for you if you know what show I’m thinking of right now.)
And I am going to be super, super honest and say that if you are thinking “I just want to escape my problems, go away and live an easy breezy nomad life,” please please please do not make the nomad leap. You will not escape your problems – they will follow you wherever you go. Then you will just have to deal with them in a different country where they may not have your favorite comfort food. (And you end up crying in a Hong Kong grocery store because they don’t stock tomato soup or sour cream and onion chips. Now you’re triple sad.) And being a nomad is not easy or breezy. It’s a lot of work, a lot of risks and a lot of uncertainty.
Having said that, for some people it will be totally worth it. People often tell me that I’m lucky. Some of them think I’m lucky to get a cool pet sitting gig in Australia or Scotland. Or I’m lucky to visit a friend in Spain between pet sits or live in Peru for 3 months. I’m not lucky because of those things – they all involved a lot of work and risk and planning.
I am extraordinarily lucky to have a Canadian passport. I am also lucky to have a job that allows me to work anywhere I can find good Wi-Fi. Lucky that I am able-bodied. Lucky I can walk, carry my own suitcases, climb stairs and navigate public transportation. I’m grateful for all of these lucky things. But I’m not lucky to be a nomad – weirdly, it’s just as much work to not have a home as it is to have one. It’s just different kinds of work.
But for me, at this moment, the work is totally worth it. I am writing this from Australia. Never would I have imagined that I would spend 3 months in Australia. I have run a race in Hong Kong, hiked a volcano in Guatemala, made friends in Peru, taught children in Tanzania and wandered the coast of Ireland. That is just freaking wild!!! I have also cried in all of those countries. That is just freaking life 😉
For those that are still interested in the nomad life, send me any questions you have about any specific logistical aspects. I can only speak from my experience and as a Canadian. And truthfully I am still figuring things out and I have made many huge mistakes. But I am happy to offer any guidance or support. Also, check out the link to Wanderwell Club – it is a great investment if you are already a nomad or want more serious coaching about how to live a house free lifestyle. Thanks for reading and please share with anyone that might be interested.
