The Surprising Gift Remote Year Gives You
You learn a lot while on Remote Year. About yourself, the world, languages, what countries do and do not sell Magnum ice cream bars, how to explain what a mimosa is, the international sign for “Check, please”, and about your Remote Year crew.
I started off Remote Year thinking this group of 75 people, who would one day be family to me, was the greatest gift Remote Year would give me. Not the beautiful places I’d go and see or the people I’d meet along the way, but the fellow weirdos who decided to bail on their lives and travel the world while working.
As much as I love them and as much as we are a family, we’ve recently finished our year together, and I’ve got a new theory on the greatest gift Remote Year gives you.
Confidence.
There is something incredibly liberating about landing in a new city every 4 weeks (sometimes 5) and remembering, “No one knows me here.” If you want to dance your heart out at the club, go for it. You’re never going to see any of those people again, why not throw up the thizz face, even if no one understands what you’re doing.
I remember in Month 1 a fellow Cousteau confided that he LOVED to dance, but wouldn’t because he was too self-conscious about it. By Month 2’s farewell party, he tore up the dance floor to create my favorite video I captured while on Remote Year.
Remote Year is the perfect environment to try something new; take a leap and see where you land. If it doesn’t go well, you’re gone in a few weeks anyway.
I’m not saying you should run through each city, completely disregarding if your actions or words negatively affect those around you. I’m pointing out that a lot of people hold back on doing things because of what other people think, even if they’re not willing to admit it. But when you don’t know any of the people you’re surrounded by (except your RY crew who loves and accepts you for you) then there’s nothing, logically, holding you back from doing what you want.
There are downsides to only being in each place for one month, but to me, the confidence boost is a much bigger pro than any con.
