Getting back to reality after being away for 5 years can be tough! Leading a life as a digital nomad for five years was really fun. You get to see amazing things, get to explore places that you've never dreamed of, and most importantly you get to know yourself better. Doing this was the best decision that I made in my life. But even in the beginning, I knew that this kind of lifestyle comes with an expiration date.
I spent the better part of my last five years constantly moving. That is what being a digital nomad actually is. I am lucky to have made a good client base working as a freelancer so I was good for cash and could have worked almost anywhere as long as I had a Wi-Fi connection (which becomes challenging in some countries with bad internet services). This also enabled me to enjoy a nomadic type of lifestyle which took me all over the world and allowed me to experience many new things that I couldn't have ever dreamed of in my country.
But all good things must come to an end and so did I have to get a reality check.
I have to confess, there are a lot of things that I miss already and getting back to a standard way of life is hard. Especially if the point in the first place for you was to relinquish all the troubles that this way of living brings. Becoming a part of society again was tough on me. But one needs to do it slowly. You don't jump head-on into the pull, you douse yourself with some water first in order to get acclimated.
That was what I needed to do and slowly but surely I made it back. But there were a lot of hurdles that I needed to pass and a lot of things that I learned from my travels. Ultimately, making me a better person, as I hoped I would become.
Finding a Home and Possessions
Before I left, the first thing that I have done was to sell my old place and gave away (or sold) all my worldly possessions. Having a burden like that isn't something for a nomadic way of life. It weighs you down and you need more money because you still have to pay bills on your place, even though you are not there, let alone the expenses that you have on your trip.
So the first thing that I needed to do was to find a place to stay. Homestays were out of the question, I was not going to rent a place in my own country, I've done that plenty during my travels. So I decided to buy a place using my savings.
Buying an apartment was actually easy, the hard part was getting used to it. Being completely devoid from being anchored to one place was really strange at first. I spent almost a month without proper appliances and furniture after I decided that I needed some.
Step by step, you realize that there are many things that you need for a proper way of living. Getting your possessions back takes some time but it is eventually something that you need to do.
You do Have to Take Care of the Place Where You Live
Getting used to your own apartment took some time. First of all, you have to realize that bills need to be payed. Skipping them is not a good idea and there are actually a lot of them. Secondly, you have to clean your apartment regularly and keep a tidy place.
While going from one place to the next you forget that you need to do some maintenance on the place. You don't care about because somebody else is supposed to clean it for you. You just go from one place to the next and after a while, you forget about the necessities that one needs to do when owning your own home.
One day I invited some friends and they invited their friends and we had a big party at my apartment. But what I forgot was that all of those people would leave after it was done and I was the one left with the cleanup. It is safe to say that we trashed the place and I needed to fix all of it. But being not used to cleaning it became a struggle for me. In the end, I conceded and luckily I was able to get a hold of Dødsbo Hjælpen, a cleaning agency from Copenhagen, which helped me take care of the problem.
Now I am much more used to it and take care of my place better.
Finding a Job
One of the biggest and most horrifying realizations that I came to know was how hard it is to find a job. I was working as a freelancer for five years now and hadn't really concerned myself with looking for a proper job. But when I got back I said to myself that this kind of lifestyle comes with certain responsibilities and those involve a job.
But it became much harder than I thought. It is really hard to explain to your future employer that you have been traveling the world for the last 5 years, spending your time in all kinds of exotic locations and earning money from your laptop.
However, after uncountable failed attempts I managed to get one. Luckily, my client base from my freelance work kept me going and I was able to get by, but a steady job was what I needed to obtain.
If you get in this sort of a situation, the advice that I can give is to never get discouraged and just keep looking.
At Least You Have Your Own Bed
Probably the thing I enjoyed most was having my own bed and finally some peace and quiet. Being a digital nomad does not mean that you always have a nice place to sleep. You sleep where you can and sometimes having a bed for yourself is a luxury. There are all kinds of hostels and stays where I needed to spend the night with a bunch of shady characters that I didn't know. But it all comes with the experience.
Having your own bed is a luxury that I wasn't able to afford and it often meant that I needed to sacrifice myself to find one. It is something that I probably won't miss and will keep on enjoying my new bed now with a soft cushion.
Cooking is Fun
Another thing that you realize when you get back in a normal kind of a living situation is that you need to cook for yourself. I really didn't have time to cook while being on my travels. The reason for that is that you don't really have the time nor the place to do it. So ordering food, eating at restaurants or fast food joints was what I did for the past five years. Oh, how I missed homemade food.
Now when I'm back and when I have the opportunity I can cook whatever I want and how I want. Don't get me wrong, trying all those new types of food and different recipes were really nice but sometimes you yearn for some old fashioned cooking that your mum used to make.
All in all, this was an experience that I will cherish 'till the rest of my life and will never regret doing it. If you happened to become a digital nomad for a long period of time, keep in mind that getting back to reality is a hard thing but something that can be passed with time.