Why I Quit Digital Nomading: 5 reasons why it's not sustainable

nowadays when people ask me about digital nomading I basically tell them I wouldn't really recommend it for more than a year and the thing is there is a better way to digital Nomad and I'll tell you at the end of this video but before that I'm going to explore all the downsides to being a digital Nomad the hidden size that people don't really tell you about because on Instagram and all the social media Pages you just see the highlight reels of all these people living the remote work lifestyle in like a new beach and New Island they look like they're having the time of their lives well the truth is there are a lot of stresses and hidden costs in the digital Nomad lifestyle and today I'm going to be exploring five reasons why I'm no longer a digital Nomad and why there is a better way because I wish somebody had told me these things before I started my journey and now I've really learned it the hard way I'm here to help you save time so that you don't have to go through all the mistakes that I did a note that I want to give at the beginning of this video is that the way that I digal Nomad is that I must solo female digital Nomad which means that I'm going to all these places on my own might be slightly different or completely different if you're traveling with a partner if those do apply to you then this video might not apply as much to you this video is specifically talking about the type of nomad that travels to a new country every single month and that means that you literally start all over again every 30 days that's the kind of digital nomading that I did so the number one downside I have to mention is that being a digital Nomad means that you are starting over over literally every single time you move to a new location that means finding new friends finding new cafes finding new gyms to work from work out at so everything is like a restart including your social life and that was the hardest part is that every time I went to a new place I had to make friends all over again and at when you're traveling you already know that you meet so many people every single day but it's even harder when you have to do that all over again the next month and you know a lot of the times the conversations are going to be the same so actually what worked well for me in spite of this is just following another friend who uh was already in a country and usually that helped me a lot more is if I had another friend that was digital nomading in that country and I could at least have one person that I already knew because going to a new place is kind of intimidating so when you're starting all over again having that one sense of familiarity really helped me I really don't recommend switching places every 30 days because it just gets really exhausting probably by the fourth or fifth month you'll already get burned out from having to restart all over again and finding new friends all over again unless you're kind of in a phase where you just want to do your own thing the second thing that's really difficult when you're a digital Nomad just the stress of figuring out your flights where you're going to go and sometimes you're forced to leave the country because Visa situations are maximum 30 days so for example when I went to Vietnam the Visa restriction was 30 days with the VISA so I had to literally leave at at the 30-day mark But the thing is I don't want to leave I kind of want to stay longer and that's where the problem lies I had to book a flight out and then I had to find accommodation in that new country I you know it's really stressful when there's these visa restrictions so having to think about the Visa Stuff Plus figuring out the flights and accommodations coupled by the fact that when you're in that new country you basically are kind of like confused for the first few days you're really getting a bearing of that new country so it's just like adds a lot of stress when you have a full-time job imagine if you have a full-time job and your Visa runs out and you have to leave the country and you have to figure everything out on top of your full-time work that just added a lot of stress for me because personally I really hate booking flights and accommodations doing Logistics but if you are that kind of person that loves Logistics and figuring things out booking things then maybe you wouldn't mind this but this was a huge con for me as a digital Nomad because I just didn't want to think about where to go next I I want to stay longer in a place because I don't want to figure out the logistics and I already have friends and people in the country I already know so leaving all of that behind and figuring it out all over again is really stressful the third point that makes it really difficult to be a digital Nomad is that not only do you have to worry about the Visas getting out of the country applying for your visas doing all of this stuff but you also have to worry about your finances because a lot of the times digital Nomads are on entrepreneurs or creators or Freelancers because they are completely location independent and that in my case I was a freelancer I was doing ux design for some small startups and I would run into situations where companies don't pay me because it's a really small startup so um they would just like cheap out and not pay me the full invoice or they wouldn't pay me for the last month and when I'm figuring everything out as a digital Nomad going to new places plus when these Financial situations come up where I'm not getting getting paid for the month finding new work on top of figuring everything out in a new country made it incredibly stressful for me because if I had a step steady source of income like a full-time job it would have been easier but I'm not the kind of person who wants to do a full-time job the the instability of the freelancing SL entrepreneurship life coupled with the constant environmental changes it just makes you feel like you're always on fight or flight mode you have to figure things out figure out your finances figure out where to go so was kind of on that mode for a while and you don't realize that until you kind of settle down into place and you realize like wow I have so much mental space now because I don't have to think about where to go next I don't have to think about booking flights and that was a huge relief for me and a Savor of mental energy and the fourth thing that I really want to mention here is that you really get numb to the new things and the Beautiful Things if you are constantly going to a new place every single month about 4 months in into my travels I remember I went to Vietnam from Bali so the first week I was in Hanoi and I went to so many tourist attractions and by the time I went to dang I was completely burned out because I was navigating two freelance gigs while trying to go to all these tourist attractions so I don't miss out because I only have 30 days in the country so that was really stressful for me as well because honestly I lost interest in all tourist attractions so when I came back to Vietnam I had the 3-month Visa and during those two months that I was there there in my last leg of my journey I didn't go to any tourist attractions I don't know what happened but I think I got got really burned out from seeing new things it's really crazy that new things used to be like the source of my interest and stimulation of mental curiosity but after I traveled for about four to 5 months I completely didn't go to any tourist attractions I remember I met a friend in Vietnam who was also traveling at the time and she was like oh I went here I went to this amusement park I went to this mountain and then I was like I've been here for a month and I haven't even gone to all those places and you've been here for a week and you've already seen everything and she was like what are you doing here and honestly I was just trying to figure out my freelancing business I was trying to figure out my content and everything I completely lost interest in seeing new things and that's why being a digital Nomad going to a new place every month is not sustainable after a few months new things just become the same it's kind of weird in that it doesn't sound like it would make sense after a certain point it's just another Mountain it's just another Museum it's just another waterfall and I basically didn't go to any tourist attractions in my last two months of my seven month digital nomading journey and if you really want to savor a place it's best to stay longterm in a place so that you can really take your time and absorb the culture the fifth thing that made it incredibly difficult as a digital Nomad was getting sick when you're getting sick sick in a new country and you're a solo digital Nomad it's the worst feeling ever when I got sick in Vietnam with Denay fever it was literally the worst illness I've ever experienced and I didn't have anybody to take care of me or like that many close friends I could call to help me go to the hospital and all those things so that really made me reevaluate the digital dad lifestyle because if I had stayed in a place like longer then I at least I would have like more familiarity with the place when you go for a long time as a digital Nomad there's bound to be at least once or twice when you get really sick so preparing for those circumstances is key to make sure that you have a smooth digital Nomad Journey plus after you get sick you just get really worned out as well as a traveler and in the past 7 months of traveling I got sick three times once food poisoning once's with coid and one once with Deni fever and after getting sick three times I think you kind of just lose that vitality and and you just need to get some rest without thinking about where to go next and sometimes as as a digital Nomad you're kind of pushed to keep on going and keep on hopping to the next location going here and there and that's one thing I really didn't like I wanted to be able to choose how long to be in a place I didn't want to be pushed to leave a place and you know I appreciated my journey for what it was because I learned a lot through being by myself and being challenged through all of these things however I wouldn't Rec recommend it long term so what I would recommend to you to those of you who are looking to start your digital Nomad journey I would actually recommend staying in a place for more than 6 months and you can use that place as your base and take trips maybe once every 3 months to closer cities around or to a closer country around but I wouldn't recommend hopping to a new place every single month and what I call this type of no matting is called slow matting and you might have heard it around from other people but this term is not that popular you'll hear about this if you've been digital nomading for a long time and so some people will say like I'm not nomading I'm slow mading and slow matting just means that you're taking your time and you're going very slow and actually I was listening to a podcast yesterday the guy who started Nomad list he says that if you look at the stats most people who are digital Nomads actually stay in a place for about 7 months or longer and most people you know most of us don't know that we think that people stay for short amount of time but I think most people who have been digital nomading for a while know that it's not sustainable and it's best to stay at least for half a year in a place to really immerse yourself in the culture but also not get burned out and still enjoy your life and be able to have a work life balance I found that work life balance was really difficult if I was moving to a new place every month cuz either I was just focusing on traveling or I was focusing on working I didn't really know how to find of balance when I was going to a new place every single month in my next video I'll be talking about how to live a balanced lifestyle as a digital Nomad and if we can get to 10K subscribers on this channel then I'm going to be launching something very exciting to help you start your digital Nomad Journey so if you like this video then please subscribe and I'll see you next time

Channel: Angel Nomad

Views: 4,336

Keywords: slowmading, hermitnomading, workandtravel, why i quit being a nomad, nomad burnout, travel recommendations, partnertravel, travellingalone, travelstress, slowmad, how to become a digital nomad, digital nomad, digital nomad lifestyle, location independent, digital nomad life, how to be a digital nomad, remote work, digital nomads, why i quit being a digital nomad, digital nomad jobs, digital nomad visa, digital nomad with real work life balance, remote work 2023, nomad lifestyle

Id: xhQVtXDHrxU

Length: 11min 20sec (680 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 10 2023