Why People Quit Being Digital Nomads (Three Ways To Avoid Burnout)
There’s a feeling you get when you see your bed after you’ve traveled for a few days, weeks or months.
It’s a sigh of relief, a conclusion to your travels. Without knowing, it’s the reason that you want to continue to travel again. Just like going to the gym, you worked out (traveled) and now you need to take a rest to get your stamina back up. Once you’ve rested, then you’re ready to hit the road again.
When you don’t have that rest, you become exhausted.
After four months of backpacking, I hit a wall. I was in Europe and regardless of how old and historic a castle was, I couldn’t bring myself to go on another tour or see another landmark. I was burnt out and emotionally exhausted.
This is extremely common.
It’s the reason experienced digital nomads preach the necessity of living in one city for at least three months.If you move too quickly while trying to work, you’ll fall flat on your face.
To avoid this burn out:
- Stay in one placefor 3+ months. Don’t travel like a backpacker who is living off of savings. Travel like someone who needs to prioritize a good Wifi connection.
- Find a co-living place to stay, this way you have an instant communityas soon as you land in a new country. There’s nothing more distracting than the feeling of loneliness.
- Prioritize your work whileprioritize adventure. This balance is different for everyone. I had a really hard time letting go of my work and feeling good about a day spent adventuring, for some reason I felt a lot of guilt. Now I’ve realized, that life isn’t just about business. It’s also about climbing volcanos at 2am and spending time around people who are only available to you today.
The digital nomad lifestyle isn’t for everybody, just as writing, freelancing or entrepreneurship isn’t.
But the people that can sacrifice a long term home for a series of temporary ones are promised the adventure of a lifetime.
