Hopes For The Future: What Really Is A Nomad?
Hopes For The Future: What Really Is A Nomad?
So I googled the word 'nomad' and it said this:
"a member of a people that travels from place to place to find fresh pasture for its animals and has no permanent home."
So we use the term in a way that matches this a bit, although we don't have any animals to move around, as much as little pug companion would be a brilliant addition to our travel group.
But we do intend to be people with no permanent home. We will have a place to go when we come back to England but not our own place, just our parent's houses.
Nomad-ifying your life doesn't mean you have to become homeless...
A lot of what we chat about here on Nomad'erHowFar can be applied to many life situations. Our advice isn't specifically for those who match the nomad definition, or any other words associated with the term: gypsy, wayfarer, migrant.
You can be someone who lives in a nice house, drives a nice car and is still lacking something in their life, and is in search of inspiration.
Maybe you have found yourself dissatisfied with the western culture of materialism and consumerism.
You might have had an epiphany of late where you've realized how deeply embroiled you've become in this overwhelming culture of excess.
You want to escape from it all but don't know how...
Whenever things are going bad for me, or if I'm particularly stressed, my instinct is to run away.
I want to drive away in my car and sit on the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea. Not because I think I can out-run my problems or forget about them, but because I need a change of scenery, cause sometimes that helps us see things a lot differently.
You could say we want to become Nomad's because we are dissatisfied with the lifestyle on offer on our doorstep and you'd be right to a point. But then again, I'm sure we could carve out a great life here at home, as many do, yet we would be suppressing our mutual desire to run away. We'd be denying our wanderlust.
Our quest is not ignore our problems or the things we dislike about western society, but instead unlock new experiences and feelings through travel.
We want to embrace our identity as citizens of the world and take ourselves all across it, touching new ground each day, logging new sights into our little memory banks.
We also want to live a life less dependant on money, less focused on having lots of it. Having lots of money usually means lotsss of work, and we would rather have a modest income and forego the whole career obsession.
Plenty of people believe a job gives them purpose and a reason to get up each day. But if getting up each day becomes a repetitive set of ultimately pointless tasks that fill you with dread and boredom, it can be incredibly dull.
Sometimes we lose a sense of perspective, joy and zest for living when we aren't being challenged or excited by our daily routine.
We think being a nomad doesn't have to mean living a life of permanent travel, as the official definition states.
Being a nomad in this modern age can mean so much more.
It can mean venturing outside of your home-town every weekend to explore.
It can mean changing jobs regularly to experience a bit of everything.
It can mean creating a simpler financial life, downsizing your home, buying a cheap car, cutting back expenses.
It's about stepping outside of the capitalist rigmarole we get thrust into the day we become adults, and being the masters of our own lives.
Big business wants us to climb the career and property ladder, with consumerism pushing us to want bigger and better, making us feel the need to do whatever it takes to get 'things'.
But whatever it takes can turn into 'I will give whatever I have in energy until I drop', to reach a goal I don't even know will make me happy.
So we are maybe running away from this way of living as opposed to our home or our country by going travelling.
We are making our own life path and disregarding the one which has been put to us. And you can too.
You can be your own definition of 'nomad'.
You don't have to never stay in one place for long, living a constant life of moving but you can dream of something outside of the norm.
You can let your mind wander to all the different possibilities out there and then pursue those with all your efforts. Give all your energy to something which does make you happy instead of chasing things you think you should be chasing.
Re-defining the word Nomad for the modern age...
When you google images for 'nomad', a lot of them are like this: One man and his camel.
Whilst not a true representation of us as nomads, I do quite like this photo. It's simple but beautiful. This person undoubtedly lives not only outside of mainstream society but also outside of its complications and societal pressures.
He is somewhat freer than many of us could ever dream of being.
And I think that is the best way we can define our lifestyle dream and the word 'nomad'; we seek some simplicity, a lot of which has been lost in the modern age, as well as seeking a feeling of freedom and adventure through travel.
Inspiration from Christopher McCandless, the guy in the photo at the top. Google him if you don't know who he is..
He was awesome.
Thanks for reading!
Hannah and Taran here. We hail from Southern England, where we met online and are now realizing our mutual passion for travel here at Nomad'erHowFar. We discuss Nomadic Living, Simplifying your Life and Long-term Travel, to empower, motivate and inspire our readers. Get to know us here!
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