There may be a genetic reason for my fascination with the Digital Nomad life. Allow me to elaborate here…
And it all begins with the research on our genealogy, started by my aunt in recent times.
Thanks to this research, I finally connected the dots. I realised why I’m never at ease settling in and always thrive on travel. Even just to quickly move from one place to another, whatever the term “place” may mean.
It's not only down to ADHD and the dopamine released by immersing in something novel every time.
Culturally Rich
I always knew I had a few different European genes in my blood. I am the son of French and Italian parents and have a Polish and a German among my grandparents.
But this doesn’t stop here. I now know that previous generations came from other countries, specifically Russia, Romania, and Moldova. And this research only looks at the last five generations (so far)!
And right now, I live in the UK, and my cousins are also on the move. This means our generation is now adding even more countries into the mix, should we have babies where we live.
Everything Has An Impact
I never thought about my difficulties in settling in as something related to my heritage. And who doesn’t like to travel and see the world?. But it makes perfect sense now that I know the first results of the research.
There was a long period in my life when I didn’t want to move from Florence at all. Being born in the heart of it, in the Quartiere narrated by Vasco Pratolini, I felt I had strong roots and unbreakable bonds.
But after I relocated to London to develop my Design career, it was like I had cut all roots, and nothing could stop me anymore.
So I started travelling at any given chance. Whether for conferences or holidays or short weekend breaks, I started taking every opportunity to jump on a train or an aeroplane and go somewhere. And as I recently noticed, most of the time I happen to be chasing the sun… But I guess that’s what grey London does to people.
A Nomadic Life
Since reading the first articles about it years ago, the Digital Nomad life has always fascinated me. And I have since thought it could fit me like a glove.
Though my wife and I have completely different jobs that wouldn’t easily allow us to live such life in full together, one can still find ways to make this happen and travel/work abroad temporarily. Most likely, doing short-ish stints (maybe a month?) before returning to the base.
Of course, this won’t be the location-independent status that’s become the trademark of a Digital Nomad. But I’d still be on the road, experiencing places and cultures, working abroad, etc.
As you might have read in previous posts, I'm going to do just that in September/October. First travelling for a month through East Asia and North America. Then going to Israel for a design conference, and then leave for a break in Morocco. A few more stops and then it will be Christmas holidays time…
I’m also interested in embarking on this Nomad Cruise everybody is talking about… It seems to be the best of both worlds, being a “moving” conference on a ship :)
We'll see.
Right now, it's too early for me to make any plans, but I feel like this is where I'm headed.
Coz it's in my genes: I'm a Digital Nomad.
