“If you need to take a vacation, never come back.” - Joel Salatin
In 2020, 2 billion people traveled to islands, deserts, jungles, glaciers, and volcanoes at the far corners of our planet.
It feels odd to acknowledge it, but we can build a life except using a laptop and an internet connection. But what does that life represent in the nutshell? Perhaps it’s a choice for those who are only born being an adventurous entrepreneur, alas Into the Wild novel coming alive. Is this a new dream or another layer of escapism? There must be a middle ground to this story.
Our earth is still a wanderer, all the more so now that the clock ticks on its preservation. But the way for us, nomads born of a peripatetic generation, to journey upon is ever-evolving. The digital age, globalization, immigration, technology advancement has exalted the borders of our wanderlust, elevating us farther, increasing hunger for novelty and solitude of wilder remotes.
Why the shift?
Now, with much of the world’s reachable, gentrifying, brag-snapped, and posted reality we are finally at the curve point of turning our journey inward to grace into being meaningful explorers, finding profound connection with our planet. It might be an exaggerated statement, nevertheless – we are literally standing on the brink of a new era of dynamic travel, propelled by the conscious, change-driven millennial attitude, it is not about a week drop-out vacation anymore, but rather a full acute tune into a new authentic livelihood.
Becoming a nomad is about becoming an assertive decision-maker in a modern scenario, standing up & making a point for a spectrum of diverse generations. Many are choosing a path of freelancing as their first destination into new habitual existence.
What about attachments?
Well, let’s begin with the bottom-line fact that all of us feel a nagging sensation of loneliness sporadically & at times consistently. It might seem that being an outsider the whole time can be even more exhausting in that
regard. But that simply comes down to the need for individual comfort & our relationship with that term.
If on the path of merging with abandoning the norms, such a change must come with a realization of what attachments mean and stand for.
The café we used to work from, the friendly front door neighbor, surroundings, favorite restaurants, mingles, chatter, etc. In one or another, it’s a concluded statement: “city life is temporary”. Everything within it is temporary & choosing the way of a new beginning – you got to deal with that fact.
‘Lands and cities may grow distant, but our faults will follow us wherever we reach.
Adapting to a whole new place gifts us with a pretty strong feeling of missing out. Time goes fast. You open your eyes & it’s time to leave again. Being a nomad asks for acceptance of ‘time space’ & how to accommodate it accordingly. Not to think about tomorrow’s opportunity, but accept the reality of the day as is. It’s about manipulating what’s foreign & what’s new to discover. It’s about feeling the essence of home anywhere one might go to. Yet, the first steps will rather feel grandiose & mistakenly scary. Besides the point, it’s about surrounding judgments which we have to melt by an insurmountable sense of freedom. Literally, it’s a clash in its clearest form.
The Comfort zone for nomads is a scarce boundary. With time long becomes short & places we come in to call home become a state of mind, rather than a physical representation of one. Dealing with multicultural bureaucracy, language barrier, culture shock becomes an expansion rather than the devastation of harsh reality.
To become a nomad, we have to learn how to live holding hands with the uncomfortable. Fall in love with constant change and not let angst guide us.
Every nomad grows to know a simple truth – don’t allow anyone to tell you what your lifestyle is supposed to mean. It is what you need it to be. Not out of disrespect of their expertise, but out of respect for yours.
Taking into consideration recent events, more people are starting to work remotely and it’s obvious that with time corporations will take notice & realize the no need for offices guideline with the upcoming future ahead.
How to become proactive in the lifestyle of vast opportunity & equal land of potential financial instability?
Prioritize. Critic your own abilities in an honest way. Think about it as an emotional kaleidoscope, that will offer you all the colors of the rainbow, for you to choose the one you like working with the most. It can be overwhelming to be exposed to numerous options, and if you can’t hold your eyes steady & sharp – it certainly will be. Be selective, yet open, however counter-intuitive it might sound. Seek beauty in what you are already good at, evaluate the environment & see the benefit of your inner process. How the two complement each other. Are you hiding in denial of financial insecurity, covering it up by ticking bomb of temporary spiritual freedom? Be real. Even if you keep your standards high, don’t become a slug, you can’t, you chose the reality of explorer & opportunity seeker, monger your excitement for potential shots coming your way & become sharp, yet soft in executing your natural abilities. Meanwhile. Grow. Little by little. Submit to the fear of damage, by quiet ascend to the hill of occasion & break-free stereotypes. Do it for yourself, not out of a need to prove. Those who aspire will follow you along, not by force, only by example. We are devastated for new beginnings like never before.
Back to the previous point – we can confidently rebut & say – a new wave of nomads is choosing their journey not to escape, but to find, engage, relate, unite. We begin to measure our carbon footprints and follow the roads mapped out by our DNA, testing our mettle against natural elements. Our luxury becomes barefoot immersion in nature, foraging for and rewilding of our spirits. We are curious, low-impact seekers of new skills and authenticity, taking delight in the local, bespoke, diverse, and idiosyncratic.
Journeying to places beyond, we travel for a weekend on impulse, six months, three years; with our children, like-minded communities, and solo.
Environmental and medical advances have prompted a new horizon on planetary and personal health, the two magically connected by a renewed sense of ancient mindfulness.
Positive transformation – individual and global is a slogan, motto, mantra of New Nomads.