Professionals who gave up being digital nomads – 06/25/2023 – Market

Digital nomads have become characteristic characters in the modern era of remote work.

The expression often makes one imagine a writer or technology professional with his computer, wandering the streets of a picturesque foreign city or piloting his keyboard in a beachfront cafe. They observe the world, meet new people and work their own hours.

But digital nomads can be many different types of workers.

Some are freelancers or outsourced; others are entrepreneurs who are building their own businesses; and still others work in full-time remote positions for companies around the world.

Some are salaried, others earn by piecework. And experts say that, in general, many of these professionals are from the administrative area and have good levels of educational training.

Data from experts and isolated stories demonstrate that the number of digital nomads has been growing in recent years, with a huge spike with the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic.

It is difficult to indicate the exact number of these professionals, but a 2022 report by the US consultancy MBO Partners estimates that the number of digital nomads in the United States has increased dramatically, by 131%, since 2019. The self-styled nomads now number in the millions of professionals.

And, in countries where less data is available, there are numerous resources to help remote professionals make their way around the world.

But a growing number of professionals who have tried to follow the nomadic lifestyle report that, behind the idyllic travel blogs and inspiring Instagram posts, the reality of this practice is not always so glamorous.

There are many advantages for professionals who have tried this lifestyle, but many of them also claim that the lack of ties has consequences for mental and physical health, even harming their job satisfaction.

The result is that some nomads have abandoned this lifestyle and their views of the sea.

From dreaming to panic attacks

In 2011, Lauren Juliff quit her job at a UK supermarket to see the world. She launched a travel website to fund her adventures. And, to her surprise, within a year she started earning enough to become a digital nomad.

“As for me, I loved to travel. My dream has always been to see as much of the world as possible, and when I made that dream a reality, I decided I would never give up on it,” she says. “Exploring new countries made me feel alive and I learned a lot – about new cultures and myself – every day.”

But after five years, enthusiasm for the nomadic lifestyle around the world began to wane. Now 34, Juliff says her journey – initially idyllic, seemingly like a dream – turned into a grueling chore that she desperately wanted to give up.

Living and working in constant change had unexpected repercussions on her physical and mental health. “I started having panic attacks every day that wouldn’t stop until I imagined I had a house,” she says.

The lack of a stable community resulted in the loss of old friendships, generating feelings of loneliness and depression. Juliff’s health suffered from frequent infections and food poisoning.

Without access to a kitchen or a gym, she says her lifestyle was unhealthy. Juliff relied on restaurant meals three times a day, every day, for years. And her personal life was also affected.

“I didn’t have any hobbies because it was so hard to keep them alive with a backpack on,” she says.

And maintaining productivity on the road proved to be a challenge as well. Trying to manage work, explore new places and deal with often unreliable internet connections was daunting.

“I struggled to run my business efficiently,” she says. “I worked lying in bed because I rarely had access to a desk.”

The break came when panic attacks – which she attributes to her nomadic lifestyle – prompted her to find a home to base herself in.

After settling in Portugal and renting an apartment, Juliff saw his income triple in one year. She believes the improvement is due to the consistency of being in one place and not constantly traveling.

Her panic attacks disappeared, she joined the gym, started cooking healthy meals, and established a solid community of friends.

Breaking away from the nomadic lifestyle was a difficult decision for Juliff, as she needed to build her identity around the life of a full-time digital nomad. Everything she did was focused on travel: she kept a travel blog, planned future trips in her spare time, and all her friends were travelers.

“Making the decision to stop was difficult,” she says. “I had a little trouble learning who I was as a person without traveling all the time.”

‘You need to have a powerful passport’

Sociologist Beverly Thompson, from Siena College, in the United States, researches the activity of digital nomads. She explains that people who chose the digital nomadic lifestyle were not prepared for the disadvantages, in part, because their community tends to present an idealized image on blogs and digital networks, hiding negative aspects such as loneliness, health problems mental and financial difficulties.

Some professionals consider that this is still a sustainable scenario, especially, according to Thompson, those who monetize their lifestyle on social networks. But being a nomad does not work for everyone who ventures into this activity.

“You are completely restricted by your passport,” says Thompson. “You need to have a powerful passport.” She indicates that more restrictive passports limit the number of countries that can be visited without a tourist visa.

Bureaucracy was a problem for Darius Foroux. His first few months after adopting the digital nomad lifestyle were happy ones. He liked the sunny weather and the palm trees by the beach, but he soon realized that in order to have a proper remote setting, he needed to have a home as a base.

When Foroux started looking for a permanent apartment, he realized that the process was not as easy as he had hoped. There were complicated legal procedures and a deadline of several months that he couldn’t manage.

He also faced the inflated real estate market in the Malaga and Marbella regions of Spain. Increased demand raised the price of rents, and there were no regulations limiting what real estate agents could charge. Foroux was taken aback by the deposit requirements and high fees from real estate agents.

“I didn’t expect that,” he says. “I moved to Spain thinking the cost of living would be lower, but it turned out to be just as expensive as in the Netherlands. Essentially, I was paying extra for the nice weather.”

After less than six months in Spain, Foroux returned to the Netherlands, planning a life of stability and the time to focus he needed as a writer and micro-entrepreneur.

Of course, many people are still making the digital nomad style work. But, as professionals have revealed, even the successful ones struggle to maintain productivity, health, and personal relationships during constant change.

And although the number of digital nomads has increased greatly in recent years, according to available data, they are still a small percentage of professionals worldwide and tend to be concentrated in a few countries with advantageous passports.

The trend “is not going to stop,” according to Thompson. “Young people may spend a few years trying to be digital nomads. But more and more people are finally seeing the reality of this lifestyle.”

“At the same time, companies want workers back in the office, so the trend will continue to grow, but perhaps less quickly,” concludes Thompson.

This text was published here. Read the original version of this report (in English) on the BBC Worklife website.