A Case for the Digital Nomad Life

“Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don’t need to escape from.” – Seth Godin, on the digital nomad life

 

I can’t even count the number of mornings I’ve woken up here in Bali, stepped outside, breathed the air, and been filled with an overwhelming sense of joy. It’s been 5 months since I moved to Canggu, and “I LOVE BALI!” is still something I say aloud daily.

 

It’s a feeling I think most people can relate to—but not usually in the place where they live. Picture your favorite vacation spot. Maybe it’s some coastal town, or somewhere with ancient history that moves you. Remember how your heart swells with the sights and sounds of the place? How you feel that sense of belonging, that yearning to stay and be comfortable there, to call that place your own? Has the place where you live ever given you that intense feeling of happiness?

 

Morning practice in Canggu

 

I remember as a kid, on vacation in Long Beach Island, New Jersey, seeing how happy my whole family was just to hear the crashing waves and smell the salty air, and thinking, “Why don’t we just live here? We are so happy here!” Year after year my parents would wistfully talk about buying a vacation home there. But something always stopped them.

 

Why do we stop ourselves from living in the place of our daydreams? So often it’s fear of the unknown that holds us back, but it’s exactly that (the unknown) that should be propelling us forward. There’s a huge world out there to discover.

 

Lifestyle of the Digital Nomad

The modern workplace is changing. More and more people are “working from home” — so who says “home” has to be the same place you’ve always been stuck? I’ve had friends take jobs where they can work “remotely,” and they choose to work from the kitchen table of their tiny apartment. It sounds great at first; home is cozy and familiar. But after a few months, they feel so trapped! Without an office and coworkers, they aren’t socializing enough. They start to feel claustrophobic and stuck. But they hated their 9-5 office job, so really, what’s the answer?

 

It exists, and it’s a growing movement.

 

My daily work commute when I teach at Santosha Yoga Institute teacher trainings in Nusa Lembongan, Bali. Shoes not necessary.

 

Digital nomads travel and explore the world, while working form any setting they choose — a café in Venice, a beachfront bar in Sri Lanka, or one of innumerable coworking spaces that are opening up all around the world for this exact reason. Two women  I was fortunate enough to meet here in Canggu were just featured in Forbes for their business, which teaches young women how to create this life for themselves. It’s real, and it’s attainable.

 

Something that I talk about a lot to my yoga students is happiness. We all have a baseline happiness that remains relatively stable throughout our lives. Tragic events (the death of a loved one, for example) may lower that level of happiness temporarily, just as short-term joys (buying a new car, your wedding) may temporarily elevate it, but in the end, we plateau back at our baseline. But there are a few things we can do to permanently elevate that baseline, making us overall happier. The most well-documented is helping others (a big part of yoga.) Many have found meditation to do the same. I would add to the list: travel, or moving to the place that makes your heart sing.

 

 

Yoga and the Digital Nomad

Of course, the digital nomad lifestyle isn’t always easy. You’re now navigating new cultures, languages, and experiences far from the comforts of home. When I was living in Japan, there were days when I’d walk out of the grocery store nearly in tears, frustrated by the lack of familiarity. Or the time I thought my Japanese language skills were really improving, until I accidentally bought tickets for a baseball game 10 hours away, instead of at my home team’s stadium.

 

But some of us live for these kinds of challenges. And for all the difficulties that arise, yoga and meditation are a huge factor in overcoming and enjoying them. When we meditate and connect with ourselves, it allows us to better connect with others, across cultures and language barriers. When we practice yoga, we can counteract the habitual patterns formed by our work and travel lives (squished in airports, planes, and hotel rooms, working hunched over laptops) to achieve our healthiest, happiest bodies.

 

If you agree, sign up to receive updates from Yogatrotter—we’re hard at work putting out guides to help digital nomads build and maintain their own personal yoga practice, wherever they may roam. Your yoga and meditation can and should follow you around the world—so start moving 🙂
With joy and love,

Megan