Being a Digital Nomad: 3 Hardest Lessons I've Learned

Is it worth being a digital nomad?

There is no way you can get a sense of purpose while living with your parents. I’m sure you’ve been treated well enough, but you need to get away from that and find your own cause, right?

Some people do that by moving, some go backpacking, and some become digital nomads.

In my case, from a very young age I understood that if I wanted to live my life freely, making my own decisions, I would have to leave my family.

I love my mom, my aunts and my grandma, but I would never have achieved even half of what I have achieved if I had not left home young and started a nomadic lifestyle.

I threw myself at the bears like a Scandinavian warrior would have done to prove himself, and the result is that I am financially independent at 27 years old and have a better salary than my mother, even though she has received 5 raises in the last 8 years.

I do not regret having thrown myself headfirst into the world. Still, along the way I have learned that not everything is what it seems.

Being a digital nomad has pros, but also disadvantages. These are the three hardest lessons I have learned.

1. The world is never as good as you think, but not as bad as people want to make you think

The world is not as good as you thought before you left home, but it is not a hostile place full of dangers as perhaps your family wanted to make you think so that you would stay.

I have suffered many disappointments and have not had my family to help me. I was in Chile for 8 months with almost no money in my savings account, and although I never fell into despair, I also missed the relief of being able to take a taxi and go home.

This is the best and worst part of being by your own: you will be forced to trust only yourself and learn to find solutions in unknown scenarios.

It will not be easy, you will be afraid, cold, and you may even have bad experiences where people will want to take advantage of you because you are alone.

In the end, you may conclude that the world is crap, or you may become an unstoppable hurricane eager to devour new experiences. It will depend on you.

2. Mama was right: your friends are not your friends

It will be difficult for you to accept it at first, but it will soon be inevitable: the friends you thought you had are not your friends, they are parasites that will seek a way to steal the most important nutrients from your body and your spirit.

The same people who encouraged you to take responsibility for your life and leave home will wash their hands. Suddenly, they will be very busy and focused people, without interest or options to give you a hand.

Not all of them will turn out to be a sham, but some of them will. That’s going to teach you that life is not about quantity, but quality.

You will probably find yourself with little money to eat, and it will be sad to realize that there is no one around to help you. Don’t worry, this too will pass, and you will grow a lot in the process.

3. Money will become useless someday

When you’ve overcome every conceivable hardship and finally manage to make money on your own, and can afford a decent place to live for yourself, then the hardest hit of all will come:

Money is not the solution to all your problems.

I don’t want to lecture you, I’m just telling you the truth. You will have money to party, buy clothes and travel, and I swear that at some point none of that will make you feel whole.

One part of you will not understand what is happening, but the other will see the picture clearly:

You are a social animal, you need selfless company, love, understanding, sweet words. You need people who love you with or without money, and who take care of you while you’re sleeping. That’s nice, and you deserve it.

So, when the Scandinavian warrior within you realizes this, he will prepare the bear that he just defeated and put it on a chariot.

Then he will ride swiftly hundreds of miles, without resting day and night until he sees the lights in the hall of the place he will always call home, and the people he calls family waiting.

I’m a big fan of the idea that everyone should travel as much as possible. This will oblige to have a new perspective on the life and the world around us. It will help achieve the life satisfaction that one is looking for.

Ironically, sometimes that satisfaction is not only in discovering new places or being a digital nomad. As T. S. Elliot said:

We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.