I came across a common post on Facebook a few moments ago.
An admin of a travel-themed Page published an update resonant with many Fans.
The update basically stated a truth among many travelers who work full time jobs: The individuals feel happiest while either planning a trip or traveling.
The general consensus: Travelers feel happiest planning a holiday or while on holiday.
But I have a better idea for you.
Build your life around traveling long term. Treat your life like a holiday then squeeze in the:
- survival mode stuff like jobs and income
- relationships stuff like making sure your body and the bodies of family and friends exist in relatively close ZIP codes, at least for a few days or weeks each year
- comfort zone stuff like following mindless routines like shopping at the same stores for years on end, getting comfortable with changing shopping locations here and there
as afterthoughts.
Wow.
Do you need me to run that by you again?
Treat life as a holiday, a vacation, a joy, your freedom, your happiness, for you to be predominantly happy.
Squeeze in after thoughts like generating money, maintaining special relationships and following automatic shopping routines.
Choose happiness. Add the day to day stuff as being high inconsequential.
My Experience as a Full Time Digital Nomad
I clearly practice what I preach and have done so since 2011.
Being a full time digital nomad feels challenging because fear arises in the mind for us long term travelers.
But what seems worse?
Facing fear to be free, at peace, happy and sometimes uncomfortable?
Not facing fear to be bound, mentally chaotic, unhappy……and comfortable?
Would you rather be temporarily afraid or live afraid?
Now….this post does not intentionally want to kick homebodies in the balls.
Happy homebodies experience a deep sense of peace, joy and love being at home because the location sings to them, speaks to them and is where they genuinely desire to be. Carry on, happy people.
I write this post for unhappy homebodies (i.e., the hundreds of people agreeing with the Facebook post that they are only truly happy planning for trips and traveling on holiday) to discover the idea that fear in your mind attaches you to one geographic spot which you erroneously believe is the source of your:
- freedom
- peace
- safety
- security
- income/money
- health
- stability
- liberation
Since most people never face this fear in their mind….most unconsciously, automatically speak words like:
- “I could never leave my job.”
- “I could never leave my family.”
- “I have responsibilities here.”
But your peace, freedom, stability and support flow from within your mind not from externals like a job, money or being in close proximity to bodies of friends and family.
However, when you do not face fear in the mind fueling these attachments and erroneous beliefs, you make the cardinal sin of this world: you think upside down.
Thinking upside down scares you into living from survival mode predominantly; then you squeeze in a vacation for 7 out of 365 days to be happy for 7 out of 365 days before sprinting back into stressful survival mode for almost all of the following year.
Cats like me who decided to think right side up build our lives around:
- being happy
- being free
- having fun
- circling the globe long term
and then, as after thoughts, fulfill the worldly, survival mode stuff like receiving a means of exchange called “money” via online businesses, jobs, investments or whatever.
This small crowd decides to build their life around happiness and freedom then adds the little survival mode details with some broad strokes.
The large crowd decides to build their life around sadness and survival then adds a little dash of happiness for 7 days per year.
Before you think this is untrue, direct your attention to:
- the world in general
- social media
- all manner of grievances, complaints and frustration concerning working jobs, earning money and seemingly having only a week to be happy, to be free, before the week expires and you mentally decide to return to the “real world” (which is one of the strangest concepts going)
Why would you blame the world for your choices?
Here’s why: your choices are mostly unconscious, robotic, automatic and literally mindless.
One such numb choice is choosing not to be happy and circle the globe for years or decades because survival is far more necessary, attractive and flat out popular in the world.
I love all of you guys as my own because we all belong to one another.
I share honest guidance because I love you.
If I could care less about you, I’d lie to you, victimize you, coddle you and feed you the same BS lines about the alleged real world, traveling being for lucky or rich people and the world pretty much being a pathetic collection of suffering bastards who only get 7 days of happiness per year before sprinting right back into survival mode because the alternative is…..death.
The prior sentence is true and not dramatic.
Strap ’em on, folks.
You will see.
Or maybe you have seen and experienced it.
A Better Way
If you are happiest when traveling or planning for trips and want to test out traveling long term:
- schedule a 2-4 week vacation
- pay close attention to how you feel during the experience
- get a feel for long term traveling via this test run
If the experience feels incredibly liberating, and you feel happy, and yes, if some uncomfortable fears arise in your mind concerning your:
- job
- salary
- family
- familiar home-based routines
during the trip, you, my Young Padawans, may just become a full time digital nomad. Listen to your intuitive guide; it knows your way.
Logic 101: you are happy doing something and only the fear of loss keeps you unhappy, depressed and bound.
Sane minds choose happiness and take their income with them across the globe via a remote job or by slowly building an online business.
But…..
Important Considerations
Like everyone reading this who is not an ascended master, you have buried unconscious terrors about:
- losing all of your money, starving, being homeless and dying
- being criticized, rejected, embarrassed and humiliated by your worldly family
- breaking familiar, comfortable routines and rituals worshiped as illusory sources of stability, order and safety
Since each litany of fears rests in your unconscious mind:
- build up or currently possess savings to cover your basic needs for 1-2 years
- gently, patiently and slowly migrate from employee to long term world traveler
- never take a quantum leap if your mind and the minds of those around you appear to be completely dominated by fear, poverty and scarcity
Take your time as you wade through the mental jungle known as your mind.
If you feel happiest traveling but have been living in a state of predominant fear, selling your home, quitting your job and moving on from the traditional nuclear family dripping with guilt, expectations, assigned roles and all that fear-based, NOT unconditional love-based, silliness can feel:
- terrifying
- utterly disorienting
- horrible
because your entire unconscious belief system, the way you lived life, has come into question.
Some can tolerate this experience. Most cannot handle it.
For example, let’s say that unconsciously, you base your entire worth – or most of it – on owning things like a fancy home, in-demand, respected job, fancy cars and you deeply value the acceptance of your family. You read this post, look at me, see how I own a laptop, old phone, carry-on, backpack and clothes for the week as a 13 year, full time digital nomad and attempt to take the quantum leap from your life to mine, which I carefully mentally cultivated for years as I progressively shed the world.
In most cases, the belief system shift is too radical, too fast, and it’ll be highly unpleasant for you. Perhaps your family shuns you, guilts you and blames you for their fears and problems. Your steady income disappears overnight, triggering deep poverty panics long buried in the unconscious mind. You go from feeling like a lesser Bruce Wayne to a homeless loser.
Do not quit your job and put your house on the market tonight. Do begin researching an extended trip for a few weeks and perhaps starting an online business based on your professional skill set. Think about your family and how your happiness is based on communication through unconditional love, not because your bodies appear to be close to one another. Or if you have a spouse and kids who’d travel with you long term, consider how their happiness may expand by not worshiping a GPS Pin on a map but by circling the globe to wake up their sleeping mind.
Baby steps.
Salvation is usually a slow, steady form of liberation.
Remember that before you decide to completely forgive the world and its values.
