…my year as a digital nomad

This is my year to live the life of a digital nomad, travelling the world with 37 other nomads from across the United States, Canada, UK and Norway. I’m defining my next chapter, resetting my life and feeding my curiosity about people and places around the world. It is my reward…and a step toward finding new joy.

In actual fact, my journey began long before I arrived in Split,Croatia which was where I began my life in the Remote Year program called Exupery. Once accepted into the program, a big part of this journey was to prepare my sons, family, friends and work colleagues for my departure. Add to this moving out of my heavenly Zangle Rd home, downsizing stuff, and finding a good home for Tinkerbell, our sweet cat.

One gets a taste of freedom when one lightens their load. While I downsized a lot by purging, donating and giving to friends, I know this is still only a step in my journey of letting go. Stuff does not equal happiness, nor security. Don’t get me wrong—my massive purge included more than just my stuff. Think boxes and boxes of decoration, gardening tools, sports equipment,and housewares. Endless.My sons got early training in purging. It wasn’t easy, but it did get easier and I found joy in my friends appreciating receiving my things. Letting go, after years of hanging on to things that I thought brought joy felt good. Really good. And now, as I travel the world with my life stuffed into a duffel bag and mid size backpack, I’ve learned to live with 4 pairs of shoes versus 80. No one will call me a fashion queen but it’s amazing how well I do with a bit of creativity—and how much I continue to purge as I depart each city.

This lifestyle is a mind shift. I’m a traveler - and that’s different from a tourist. As a resident in each city I do indeed visit the tourist sites but I also take time to learn about the culture, history, some of the language, what matters to the people. I have made friends everywhere—dear friends that I can return to. My joy is knowing that I can leave my mark, big or small, on these countries and leave their people with a good opinion of Americans or Canadians (depending which citizenship I present :)