After I became a Digital Nomads

After I became a Digital Nomad, many things have changed. I can work on the go, in coffee shops, on the road, in hotels, and at home. Work and life are relatively integrated, but there is no work life balance. On the contrary, because there is no geography, there is no need to take the bus in the morning and take the car home in the evening, the route is erased, and there are fewer boundaries planned by the process, so work comes more naturally.

Digital nomads refer to a new lifestyle empowered by "digital information technology" that "rely on the Internet to create income, break the strong relationship between work and work location, and achieve geographic freedom and time freedom." Therefore, jobs that would have required you to go to a big city to get an interview can be done in the countryside; and jobs in local communities that require familiarity with the culture, history and life of a place can be done in your country. After peeling off the cocoons, finding the commonalities in various places, and applying skills to apply, you can get a social job in the digital world.

Basically there is no office, not necessarily in Hong Kong. I have been to Bangkok, Taiwan, and Seoul this year, and I may go to Istanbul, Vienna, and Hungary by the end of the year. Before arriving at a place, I will check to see if there are many coffee shops near the rental place. It is best to choose such an area. Working hours are in the East Eighth District. When working remotely, sometimes I have to accommodate my partners from the other side of the world. I have meetings at night and my partners are constantly on the move. Someone can go to a different time zone in an instant. I need to enter various cities on my phone to see. How many are they there? You may only speak Cantonese 10% of the time at work, and that "cross-regionality" may come from feeling different fundamentals when you open your mouth.

I once posted an old photo on social media of a trip to Europe a few years ago. My boss thought I was in Europe and asked me if I wanted to go to an event in Germany. I said, "That's an old photo." Only then did I feel that she didn't care where I was, and she didn't ask me when I would go there or when I would come back. She felt that I could participate in the so-called work wherever I went and see similar things in other places. A kind of added value to what you are doing. Moreover, perhaps the concept of “coming back” to a city is missing now. That moment was one of those moments where I felt changed.

I want to go to Chiang Mai, Bali, Spain, Estonia, and Portugal to see the settlements of nomads. How are popular gathering places designed, and how are public spaces, community mechanisms, and self-care communities established? From the past, I have been constantly understanding the local community, participating and organizing in my own city, and now I want to see various mechanisms outside. The spontaneity and creativity brought by the Uncommons community and "Cat Cat Summer" are extremely Inspiring, this kind of autonomous and self-care organizational model far summons the passion and belief I once had.

Whenever I see photos of digital nomads on the Internet, working in coffee shops in different cities, or living leisurely on islands, I always feel that this is not what I have in mind. Because this distinction is so obvious, the "distance" between "traveling around" and "working from nine to five", to me, shouldn't be interpreted like this all the time. Firstly, it’s not necessarily so leisurely. I still need to constantly build in the digital world. Secondly, whether to move or not is not entirely the focus in my mind. I still live in my city most of the time, and I’m communicating every month. Rent, pay for a unit that cannot be moved. Movement has never been my focus. The focus is a kind of identity, identifying with an open and liberating life direction.

I feel like I don’t have a specific sense of belonging (to a country or a city). I don’t necessarily think which local company should I look for when looking for a job. Instead, I return to the personal level and have a deep understanding of what I am doing and the relationships between people. The definition of relationship, to think about how this can change.

what if digital nomads all agree on the "creator economy", "self-media", "personal creativity", and "what kind of better world can digital bring"? what if in this world, people's right to speak and ownership can be regained a little bit, and everyone can have a weight? If individuals can make breakthroughs and do not work within the traditional framework and corporate model, can this group of freedom-loving people create a large community with more potential, weight and ideas, or a small but beautiful tribe? Will there be any movement or change? what if the sense of identity stems from the autonomy of a DAO rather than a traditional top-down company? When people used to gather in the central square of the city, where are they now? Are they on the Internet? Are there any countries on the Internet? Is there some change happening. what if digital currency is the common language of these communities? In the nomads communities in Dali and Chiang Mai, aren't they just doing community experiments, bringing up tribes one after another, with commonality within the group and publicity?

These are all questions, and it’s only been a matter of months since I officially began to identify as a digital nomad (despite being able to work on the move with a computer for almost two years). But I always feel that immovable personal freedom is an external thing, just buy a plane ticket; returning to the inner personal creativity and being able to operate a new framework to develop something is the more reliable freedom. This is something that needs to be thought about all the time.