Hi Kim Walters —I’m in the #10dbc challenge with you, and I can totally relate to your fear of people thinking you’re completely insane about choosing something different than the “safe” path. And you know what? When I went “full nomad” in 2011, I actually received some hate mail from someone…and the part that really stung went something like this:

“who do you think you are, pretending that housesitting isn’t anything more than being a complete bum. You’re just mooching off other people.”

I had a good cry! And then some very good friends reminded me that his response had absolutely nothing to do with me & everything to do with him.

See, he and I had met on while we were both on a plane traveling to Europe many years earlier. Instead of sleeping on the flight, we talked the entire trip about our hopes & dreams. We both wanted the same thing — to have complete freedom to work and travel anywhere in the world. He was already lucky enough to be an airline employee & had the flight thing sorted out, but was money poor (or so he thought), and didn’t feel like he could take much more than a weekend off, here and there.

I, on the other hand, had my money sorted out, but it was super hard for me to get away because I had so many client commitments (month end, year end, tax season, etc)

Fast forward 8–10 years, and he was married with a young family, and I was apparently going out into the world and mooch off other people, and it pissed him off :)

Maybe someone told him the same thing, sometimes since our overnight talk all those years ago — I’m not sure. But, I can only hope (dream) that he’s since learned it’s just as possible for him, as it is for you and I.

Lots of love to you Kim, as you’re making your decisions.