The Challenges of Living a Nomadic Life

It’s currently 3:30 AM and I am sitting on the ground at a bus station with a steamy and delicious cup of coffee in my hands, from a vending machine of all places, to keep me warm. I am happy, really happy. I am excited for my next destination of South Korea, and I am eager to see more new things and meet more new people. As I sit here though, happy as Larry, there is this hovering cloud of reality above my head. After all, does anything about the above scenario scream reality? Ha! No way Jose and although I am looking forward to going home to my loved ones there is a part of me that wishes I could live the nomadic life forever… The dream life, well part of it!

When the next trip will be? Will I finally have someone to share it with? Will I find a way to have both worlds at once?

Wouldn’t it be easier if we could have the best of both worlds? I fantasize about a world where I can constantly hop around the globe yet I can return home to work for days, weeks or months at any time I need a few bucks, see my family and friends whenever I want and never miss an important day, event or moment in anyone’s life… I want all of this plus the bonus of it not inconveniencing anyone or any business. Ah the dream! The blissful sweet dream of where the two halves of me collide peacefully!

Sadly, in these moments of happiness, I am reminded that this will never be reality. I cannot have the solo nomadic life and the stable life with a career, friends, family and a knight in shining armor all at once. I guess I know this is a good thing (and I hope like hell that I return home and become 90% reality and only 10% nomad to ease the pain) but as this trip comes to an end my heart worries.

When the next trip will be? Will I finally have someone to share it with? Will I find a way to have both worlds at once? The perfect balance that keeps me sane? Stability with love and a sprinkle of the nomadic lifestyle on top without having to uproot myself completely all of the time? I worry that the chance of this perfect ending is like wishing to win the lottery when you don’t even have a ticket.

I cannot have the solo nomadic life and the stable life with a career, friends, family and a knight in shining armor all at once.

In fact, I love my nomadic life! I love not having a routine, always being in unknown places, meeting new people, learning of the good and bad in this world. But I also love my home life–my incredible friends and family, stability and routine, my little car, wine with the girls and delicious cheese platters, the ocean only minutes away and the countryside always near by.

It might not sound like an issue to some but it’s not always easy to love both worlds and both lives. It’s a constant struggle between striving for a house that is a home, a never-ending love, success at work, working long hours and being more motivated than ever AND wanting to book a holiday and flee the country with no plan or return date…. All at once. The impossible. The unrealistic. The daily struggle of life with a nomadic heart.

The Challenges of Living a Nomadic Life.

It’s now 4am and I am on a bus to the airport, my coffee is all gone, my eyes are heavy and I miss my own bed. Did I mention the struggle between these two worlds is emotionally draining? Ha! But as my eyes start to droop, my excitement subsides and I can only hope that the dream will come true–that I will return home after this trip to the life I love, be content, find stability and then perhaps a love that I can share moments of the nomadic life at realistic times along the way. That is the dream. That is the compromise. Both sides. One life. Happiness!

Photo credit for The Challenges of Living a Nomadic Life by Unsplash.