Image Courtesy of http://www.parents.tcu.edu/images/stress-main_Full.jpg
As a follow-up to the reasons of being a nomad, I would like to share with you the wisdom that I have gathered from other blogs about tips of making this experience enjoyable and feasible. Before I begin, I would reiterate the points that I have failed to mention in previous posts on strategically taking advantage of this lifestyle in terms of personal growth and opportunities:
- “You can’t have roots and wings” – script from the film Sweet Home Alabama: I completely agree with this quote. A person can’t have both roots and wings at the same time. This choice can be made by identifying the method of higher income stability and also personal lifestyle preference. If you’re happy with settling down, having a family and consistent group of friends while being able to compromise in stable employment option (but often mediocre and stagnant position), go for it. If you feel that being able to travel around would help stabilize your income by taking advantage of opportunities available globally, and not wanting more responsibilities than you already have, you’re reading the appropriate article.
- Being nomadic does not just mean moving from place to place based on a random decision. Every one of those moves would involve a fair degree of physical, emotional, mental, and financial stress no matter how well you follow this guide (this post is intended to reduce those stress). In order to take full advantage of this lifestyle, you should always have an idea (even a rough one, as it can change) of when you’ll be moving on so that you’re ready to move on in a relatively short time when the need arises. The need for the move should always be justified personally. For example, being frustrated enough with sufficient number of deficiencies of a metro area, loneliness due to perhaps a village’s isolation from the rest of excitement in the cities, employment opportunities dried up, etc.
I would keep it to the following points to keep my post succinct, mainly as an acronym COMMET for all my points in this post:
- Conversation: To keep up with conversation with all your family and friends across different time zones along the journey, smart thinking on telephone subscription plan. For the cell phone plans, being a nomad does not make signing up for 2 or 3 year contracts smart decisions, unless you’re willing to stay in different regions of the same country for this amount of length. Either attempt to subscribe to a cell phone plan without a contract, or inherit an expiring contract from someone (Craigslist and Cell Clients are perfect examples). To converse with other family and friends across different time zones can be compensated with either Skype (or similar clients with more voice clarity), or using the cell phone during evening hours (usually unlimited calling minutes) with a calling card. I can personally pool my long distance calling charges with my family home’s subscriber, with myself calling its different available access numbers.
- Opportunities: In order to be a lifelong traveler without an unlimited bank account, employment opportunities need to be integrated with the lifestyle. Opportunities would have to be hunted down through personal networks, and I have personally taken steps to proactively ask informational questions among my targeted personal networks. I have also taken steps to maintain my networks by being more proactive in some of my extracurricular activities (especially with Toastmasters as it is external to my professional social circle, even though there floats around a lot of misleading assumptions about me). Growing my networks by conversing with other bloggers around the world through blog posts and comments, and asking and answering questions on Brazen Careerist network. The network growth process also yielded some answers in the self-discovery process.
- Minimalism: This is crucial to maintain the feasibility. When being settled with family (either with parents or with spouse and children), unnecessary accumulation of stuff happens for a long time. This causes problem when moving to a different place. While this problem can be solved or mitigated by garage sales, donations to the Salvation Army, giving away items to family and friends, it could have been avoided in the first place by not buying unnecessary items in the first place. Thinking through purchases not only saves headaches getting rid of excess items, it is also responsible for the wallet. If there are common household items that are too costly to be moved to a new place, giving them away or selling them on Craigslist usually is the best way to go, as reacquiring them in a new place is just as easy. Otherwise, if there are some important items that should not be sold or given away, inquiring storage options, or leaving certain items in family home would be the best facilitation. The catch is not accumulating such a quantity making the storage option expensive.
- Mobile: As a life-long nomad, it is crucial to ensure electronics and computers, especially those involving crucial data, are mobile. There is a wealth of cloud computing and data management resources available in the cyberspace. If the power of a desktop computer tower are needed, be prepared to move it around when situation changes. On another note, if you can afford it, I’d strongly recommend noise-cancelling headphones for your ear protection (although listening to music day and night isn’t highly recommended on any pair of headphones) and pleasure when travelling.
- Exploration: Tourists/nomads/non-locals usually aren’t familiar with surroundings unless being previously acquainted from previous visits. This unfamiliarity results in the opportunities for exploration as life-long travelers. If you’re uncomfortable about the unfamiliarity before heading to a certain place, particularly with safe and affordable accommodations, interesting places to explore, fun socializing and recreation activities, and career path feasibilities, there are exploration steps that can be done beforehand. This can be done by conversing with personal family, friends, and networks as pointed out in the second point.
- Target: While I have a long list of target destination places, fiercely checking opportunities in all of them can be quite daunting in terms of time, effort, and organization. I have a personal goal to be in London for a short stint, while being there in the 2012 Olympic Summer Games as a half-tourist half-local (similar to how I felt during the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada). Between now (when I graduate from college and being free from my summer contract) and then, I have no strict goals in terms of where I want to locate myself other than being in an exciting area. I find knowing the criteria for my target place in the short-term very helpful (in my case, not being in a dead-town, having a great night scene to explore the skylines and socialize with people, being accessible to high-tech infrastructure, being able to witness competitive spectator sports teams on a regular basis, and being accessible to fulfilling career opportunities). Based on those criteria, I focus on certain industry hotbeds, or destination locations for the short-term before working out opportunities for me to fulfill my next goals. I also keep my options open by filing my CV/resume on professional communities/guilds/web sites and stating my availabilities in all my destination places.
As this process rolls on, I’m certain that there will be new discoveries waiting to be uncovered. I’m sure there are a fair number of people with similar lifestyles, and I am looking forward to exchange wisdoms among this society/guild.
What are your thoughts? Please feel free to send me an email at blog@sysil.com or leave a line in the comments below.
