Digital nomad; dream life or not?

Doesn’t it sound like a dream to be able to travel/live abroad while working remotely from anywhere? It sure does to me! A few years ago, this dream became a reality for me. But is it as beautiful in practice as it looks on social media? I hope this blog gives you a realistic view of the pros and cons of remote working.

Lately, it has become common in many companies to work partially or fully remotely (thank you, Covid). At JongLeren.es, the dreams of employees, both inside and outside of work, have always been valued. My dream was always to be able to travel, and thus work remotely. I’ve been doing this for about three years now, and it has brought me so much, but still, I have chosen to move back to Malaga in just over a month.

Let’s start at the beginning. I’ve always known a lot of restlessness. I get bored easily and always have a need for new stimuli and adventures. I enjoyed my life in Malaga, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that the world had so much more to offer me. I don’t want to live in fear. The fear that I might lose my job. The fear that I could never return to my pleasant life in Malaga. The fear that I might fail. There were plenty of reasons to stay safe in my little life in Malaga because I had it good, right? But that’s not how I want to live, so I chose love. Love for travel, adventure, and following my heart. So, it was time to schedule a meeting with Joost and Joyce to share my thoughts with them. After this conversation, they offered me the chance to travel and work remotely. I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to be able to do this. My first destination was the Dominican Republic. After those six months in the Dominican Republic, I couldn’t get enough and didn’t want it any other way. After another conversation with Joost and Joyce, I was allowed to continue doing this as long as I came to Spain for two weeks every year. You don’t need to tell me twice! So, I quickly packed my things again and set off on new adventures.

What did these years ultimately bring me?
The first years brought me mostly a lot of fun moments. I was with one of my best friends, and we had the craziest experiences together. Due to the time difference, I was very flexible with work and could largely schedule my days as I pleased. I met many new people with inspiring stories. I also always chose to stay in one place for a longer period and make trips from there, so I could really be part of the daily life in that place and not just experience the typical tourist life. That doesn’t mean I wasn’t at the beach every day or enjoying cheap happy hour cocktails most evenings. Aside from all the fun, you also encounter (intense) cultural differences because you become friends with the locals. I spent a lot of time in the Dominican Republic, and some of the things I experienced there were really intense. The confrontation with the unfairness of the world can sometimes be tough because those people grow up with few opportunities, poverty, and violence, while I, as a white European, am sitting there every day pretending I’m on vacation (after working in the mornings). I also wasn’t always aware of the consequences this had on the behavior of the locals, so my ignorance or naivety sometimes landed me in difficult situations. Despite everything, I’m very grateful for those experiences because I learned so much from them, and I believe you can only really understand certain things (to the extent that’s possible) by being immersed in them for a longer period. I began to see the world differently, not necessarily in a negative way but in a more realistic way. Contributing to this was also the fact that I met my boyfriend in Mexico. The cliché happened to me too; when I moved to Mexico, I met my current boyfriend (an Argentine), and we’ve been living together for more than a year now. This, of course, wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t been able to work remotely. Besides all the personal growth, it also led to valuable work experience. You communicate with colleagues differently since you only overlap for about two hours a day, so it’s important to keep good notes so that I’m aware of what’s happening at the office, and vice versa. Since I started working abroad, communication has significantly improved between us.

But aside from all these positive experiences, there is also a downside to this story.
Especially in the beginning, I sometimes felt quite guilty towards my colleagues. They were in the office every day while I worked six hours a day and spent the rest of the day lying on the beach or by the pool. I also couldn’t do certain things, like visiting accommodations, for example. It also felt unfair that I was living this dream life, and the rest weren’t. Until I realized that this is far from everyone’s dream life. Several colleagues told me how impressive they found it that I could work from home every day. After a two-week holiday in the Netherlands, they were happy to return to the office. By now, I’m starting to understand that more and more because I also miss it now. It can be quite lonely to sit and work alone every day without having a casual chat or brainstorming about a certain situation. Despite the distance, I think I’ve managed to maintain the relationships I have with my colleagues reasonably well. We even had a new colleague, Inge. We’ve never met in person, but she already feels like a friend because of the various online meetings where we sometimes drift off and don’t only talk about work. There are also colleagues you work with less, so you don’t see them as often in meetings, and the contact naturally diminishes. I also regularly miss out on fun things like team barbecues, cozy dinners, and celebrations of holidays like Sinterklaas and Christmas (not on the actual day, of course). On a personal level, it’s sometimes pretty tough and lonely too. I had never really experienced loneliness until now. I’ve been living in Mexico for over a year, and I just can’t settle here. People come and go, so it’s hard to build deep friendships. My boyfriend works a lot because, with a salary of 2.50 euros per hour, you have to work a lot to make ends meet. So, I’m alone a lot, and because of the time difference (8 hours), I can’t always call friends or family in the Netherlands when I’m having a hard time. As a result, my physical health has also deteriorated, and my body is telling me that I need to listen to my feelings. All of this together was enough reason for my boyfriend and me to look for our next adventure in Spain. From there, we’ll see where life takes us because we still have plenty of dreams for the future, but for now, we need stability and rest.

In short, I hope this blog helps you realize that you shouldn’t compare yourself to what you see on Instagram. Everything has its downsides. Moreover, I want to encourage you to always follow your heart. Take that leap of faith because it will always take you somewhere, and that might be a place even more beautiful than you can imagine right now. I also hope you understand that all choices in life are reversible. You are allowed to change your mind and make new decisions. I’m moving back to Malaga, and maybe in the future, I’ll want to leave again, or maybe not. Don’t make your choices bigger than they are because going back on your decision is not a failure.

Written by Ilvy van Opstal, Digital Nomad, Team JongLeren.es