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Why do you want to become a “digital nomad”?

I’m not asking why you should want to become a nomad, but why you specifically want to do it. There are any number of reasons to make the change, but be sure there isn’t something else that could fulfill your desire that is less of a commitment. This was my case.

I actually recently realized I just want to escape my room because I sleep and work in the same room every single day. In fact, during tough coding crunches I’ve been known to only leave my room to go to the kitchen since my bathroom is connected to my room. Such a situation can start to feel like literal prison really quickly without a change. I remember walking outside after a week at least never going outside and being blown away by the smells and fresh air just outside my apartment door. I decided to start doing a good portion of my work from the patio out back. It was glorious. Then I moved to a local coffee shop just down the road, even more freedom. And now I’m realizing that with my Jackery and solar panels I can go to one or more spots on Lake Norman that make YouTube outdoor ASMR videos look silly in comparison. Sometimes I just can’t believe the scene before me is real, but it is. I’ve never had to put a cozy Patagonia jacket on while working from my stuffy apartment room, but I regularly do coding in the wild. What the hell was I thinking not doing this all these years?

For me getting outside is really what I want. I realized that is it. I’m perfectly fine with this crappy apartment knowing it is just a place to sleep, take a bath, and resupply before headed out to whatever destination has great hotspot signal the next day. I take my bike along with me and launch a nice ride from wherever that location is, sometimes exploring new terrain, sometimes hitting my same tried and try routes that I don’t have to think about. The short ride back to the apartment is nothing compared to nomadic requires to find a safe place to sleep, shit, and shower. I understand why others might like that, but I just don’t need it.

When and if I want to go on a longer trip, I can still sleep in my Subaru and pay the minimal fees to do it in a state park or KOA where I can still live the same daily routine. That’s not as nomadic as most, but it is sustainable for someone who had become accustom to showering after a hard workout and simply resting with the time off rather than futzing with gear and worrying about how to protect everything in the car. While I do find rigging and getting the perfect setup for anything, I’d rather expend that energy relaxing in front of a fire, nice and clean, with a cold beer, and some good conversation with my wife about our days adventures.

In short, I just want to escape my room. That’s the main reason I’m attracted to nomadic living, and that reason isn’t really nomadic at all.