Bodei Brouwer: Happiness in Seizing Unforeseen Opportunities
Bodei Brouwer, 29, Amsterdam, knows how to make any moment sparkle. She’s mastered the art of comedic timing, as well as being the perfect party guest. A welcome wild card to any gathering!
Travelling to Thailand when you’re 8 years old is never not going to be a bit of a culture shock. Wide-eyed and hopeful, it’s certainly a unique way to be introduced to the world of travel, as Bodei was, but like many others, she soon got used to it and promptly fell in love with travel.
Bodei growing up was one of the children who had a long list of all the places she wanted to live. In fact, she pretty much had her entire life mapped out, with no idea how it would happen. Just a feeling deep down that was what she wanted her life to be. Funny how these things come to be.
The Ways of the Nomads
After high school, Bodei took the commonly recognised gap year to go on her first solo trip but afterwards she then didn’t travel for six years. She got busy with the thing we call life, until the moment she met a Digital Nomad for the first time and was reminded of her love of travel. Utilising a new type of travel service, where your trip is planned for you and is aptly named ‘Surprise Me’, Bodei found herself heading on a one week trip to Lisbon, Portugal. A trip she enjoyed immensely and fired her up for more travel.
Next came the “Nomad Cruise”, a way Bodei felt she could experience this thing called ‘nomadism’ but without being dropped in the deep end. The transatlantic cruise lasted two weeks, held 250 nomads, and dropped them all in South America at the end. Full of workshops, talks, parties and meetups, Bodei became experienced in all things Nomadic and completely exhausted at the same time.
New Opportunities in the Right Place
Finding a new home in Colombia, Bodei decided to stay for longer than planned — 5 months longer in fact, where she relied on her savings. Initially, she’d planned to continue working within her business back home but sadly it didn’t mesh well with life on the road. When that failed, she instead focused on a few jobs here and there, mostly just enjoying life in the Southern Hemisphere.
Eventually, Bodei headed back to Europe to look for more permanent remote work, knowing now this was the key to the lifestyle she wanted to be living. Through a contact she made on the Nomad cruise, Bodei secured a contract for a few hours per week, which grew over time. This job ended up lasting two years. 30 hours a week in a content role, all whilst she continues to travel the world. It provided around $2000 per month, which was more than enough to live well.
Adjusting to COVID Times
Bodei began to travel with more intention, in particular following her love of Improv. The practice was something she’d been doing for over 7 years and it became something she focused her travel destinations around. Attending workshops, and Improv festivals across the globe.
When COVID hit, Bodei had already been transitioning as her remote role was coming to an end. Having returned to Amsterdam to settle for the immediate future, whilst the world adapted to the pandemic, Bodei began thinking about her next steps.
Bodei’s Next Steps
Knowing she liked working in tech, especially in a solo type of role with a team behind her, Bodei decided to become a developer. In truth, it was something she’d already been thinking about it for a while, but as it was a big time commitment and money investment, she’d been hesitant to take the plunge but the time was now, and she went for it.
Now she is almost nearing the end of her developer Bootcamp. Bodei isn’t 100% sure what is coming next. Her sights set on joining a digital agency but she’s also been happy to enjoy the space she’s created in her new home. Learning to just be, a valuable lesson in itself.
“Bodei’s Top Lessons: The things that made me the happiest, were the opportunities I never could have planned. When things happen, why not go for it. Choose your life every single day, because you don’t know what is coming and that’s the magic of it.”
The Details
- Linkedin — https://www.linkedin.com/in/bodei-brouwer
- Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/bodeibrouwer
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