digital nomad difficulties

Is it Hard to be a Digital Nomad?

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Digital Nomad Difficulties? 

When some people hear about being a digital nomad for the first time they are almost instantly drawn to the idea. They believe that there are no downsides to speak of and that life will just being blissful and wonderful from the moment that they decide to shift over to being a digital nomad. This is far from accurate, and those who walk in with such a “pie in the sky” attitude about everything may be setting themselves up for some major disappointments in the not so distant future. The problem is that there are some downsides to being a digital nomad that don’t necessarily get all of the attention that they should. 

No Guide

There is an old joke that goes “you don’t get an owner’s manual when you have a baby”. The same is true about taking on the digital nomad lifestyle. It is a fact that you have to teach yourself everything along the way when it comes to being a digital nomad and doing so successfully. There is no one out there to guide you, and you may discover that it is a lot harder when you don’t have a guide of any kind to help you out.

Isolation

Digital nomads have an interesting existence and profession because they do something that is very outside of the mainstream. That being said, being so different from everyone else also means that they may be more prone to experience feelings of isolation as a result. They have set everything up very nicely for themselves to be successful, but they aren’t guaranteed any particular type of result. They may begin to feel like they are so different from everyone else that they simply cannot relate to people in the ways that they used to. The feelings of isolation can be overwhelming at times, and many mark this down as one of the biggest downsides of the digital nomad lifestyle.   

Homesickness

There is no question that some people who get involved with the digital nomad lifestyle also have to contend with the fact that they may experience feelings of homesickness. Being away from home is challenging, and it is particularly difficult when one is away from the place that they call home for a very long time. Digital nomads frequently live this way, and it is always a challenge for them to not feel drawn back to their homes all the time. 

All of this said, there are still reasons to consider being a digital nomad. Yes, you may have many of the struggles described above, but there are struggles that come with every type of job that one might have. This alone is not a good enough reason not to do something. Instead, one simply needs to weigh the pros and cons of living a digital nomadic life and see if they feel that it is something that they can do. 

Getting started simply means finding a job or creating a job that you can do exclusively from a computer. These types of jobs are more and more bountiful these days, so it might not be as much of a challenge as you may have thought it would be. You just need to be persistent until you are able to lock down the kind of work that you need. After that, make sure you have the resources to either access a free Internet connection somewhere or paying for a Wi-Fi hotspot yourself. That plus whatever computer you are going to use is mostly all that you need.