Around 340 hours. That’s as long as I spent in traffic at my last salaried job. The job I super enjoyed, but also made me realize that the way I had to do my job didn’t suit me. In fact, that it was very much against me. Traffic jam in the morning, then sitting under the fluorescent tubes for 8 hours to carry out my creative profession as a marketer at set times and then returning home in another traffic jam in the evening. Surely this couldn’t be the intention until my 67 e?
First seed planted for remote working
Under the fluorescent lights, I wandered off to Google, where a world opened up to me when I found blogs by the then first, true digital nomads. Working from your laptop with a coconut in your left hand and your mouse in your right? That was what I wanted! And if others could do it, surely I could too? The seed was planted, the implementation took some time, but I am now writing this blog from my digital nomad destination Morocco. I did it! How? I’m happy to tell you!
From corporate dreams to depression
A little background: I am Daniëlle, 37 years old and SEO Marketer. I have been marketing for 15 years; first 9 years as an employee and now 6 years as an independent entrepreneur. A choice I never thought I would make in my twenties, but I made it anyway. Because where I started my corporate career full of enthusiasm after my Communications education, that enthusiasm diminished very quickly as the years passed.
So hard that I ended up in burnout AND depression. “I think you have both,” said my psychologist in 2019. The cause? The burnout came about because I kept going rock hard and refused to believe that I was overtired and exhausted. The depression came about because I became so deeply unhappy at the thought that this was supposed to be my life. That with the traffic jams, fluorescent tubes and zero comma zero freedom and so on. That simply wasn’t meant to be. I had to change course.
The very worst way to become a Digital Nomad
“But wait, 2019 is 6 years ago? You just said you’ve been self-employed for 6 years?” That’s right. I started out self-employed while in the midst of burnout, depression AND therapy. And on top of that I had just enough financial resources to last 3 months. Do I recommend starting up for yourself in such a situation? Hell no, the paragraph is headed “the very worst way to become a Digital Nomad” for a reason.
It took me a day to prepare an offer and 3 working days to write 1 SEO text. So why am I sharing it with you? Simply because I succeeded from that situation and if it can be done from such a situation, it can be done from many other difficult situations! Because no matter how unhappy I was, I felt that flame deep inside. To become a (part-time) digital nomad. That desire was so strong that it eventually only fanned out further and overcame everything else. And man, has it been worth it!
Back on track: from depression to dream life
What have I experienced since then? I woke up to views of the Duomo in Florence and the sound of the ocean during my workation to surfing haven Peniche in Portugal. I lived in South Africa for two months where I climbed Lions Head after my workday and traveled the Western Cape by myself. I spent three months in Valencia where I ended every day with the sun setting on the beach I lived 10 minutes away from. I also discovered the amazing concept of colivings there and met one of my now best friends.
I chased (fellow digital nomad) love to Thailand and got to know a country I normally would not have visited so soon. Love perished, but my broken heart brought me back to Europe and a month in Albania, where the sweetest people live and the nature and coastline are not yet buried by mass tourism. I wintered in Greece in beautiful Thessaloniki, spent just under a month in tropical Cape Verde, and so now visit Morocco.
You could say I’m living my best remote life. My tips for you:
- Do jump into the deep end. Take the first steps and don’t wait for the ideal situation to arise, spoiler: it doesn’t exist.
- Start reading online blogs of other digital nomads and freelancers who work remotely and following them on Instagram for inspiration. Tip: @workingremotelynl
- Are you going to work remotely for the first time? Then choose a destination within Europe, which is not too far away and most countries generally have good facilities for remote working.
Stories and memories for life
Thanks to my digital nomad life, I have met people I would otherwise never meet, eaten dishes I would otherwise never taste, experienced loves that would otherwise never come my way and experienced adventures that would never have happened to me in my safe Dutch bubble. It has given me stories and memories that I will still recall when I am 93 and bivouacked in my senior housing in Spain. Were they all peaks? Of course not! But fanning that flame I once felt to choose this life has been 100% worth it.
Take the first step toward greater freedom
I was once inspired by blogs and for me it took years before I dared to take the step. A shame, really, because even if things turn out differently than you expect, it is still an experience from which you learn and grow. I hope this blog might be the final push for you to take that step as well. Don’t let it take years, your digital nomad life is out there, go get it!
Do you want just a little extra help to create a remote life for yourself? Then follow the online course of Working Remotely. In which Alieke takes you step by step in preparation for your dream life. With more freedom, a remote job and being able to work wherever you want.
More experiences from other remote workers:
365 dagen remote werken: van kantoor naar een tropisch strand
