4 Life Lessons I Learned Working and Living as a Nomad

You should put your dream life to the test.

Image by the author.

When most people think of a “digital nomad” they picture a person sitting on a tropical beach with their laptop in hand. Or perhaps someone who travels from country to country like it’s a sport — almost as if the goal isn’t to experience those countries but to collect the experiences themselves.

My image of this lifestyle is quite different.

I’ve technically been a digital nomad my whole professional career. I started freelancing after college and about a year ago, I shifted my focus to my remote health-tech startup. I never had to go to an office — but I’ve spent significant time in offices anyway, mostly around my base in Sweden. I haven’t really felt the urge for more extravagance than semi-frequent short relocations when it suited me.

Recently though, I took the opportunity to go all-in on this weird non-committal lifestyle. I wanted to indulge my passion for skiing — to see what life would be like with constant access to this activity I love most in life. I also wanted to explore what it would be like to live closer to nature, in the mountains specifically, where I usually feel most alive.

I decided to put my romantic fantasies and longings to the test, to find what living…