Three Lessons From Nomadic Living

In August I finally made the jump.

Cut my Bushwick lease and went full nomadic for the winter. Almost five months later and I’ve roamed across Brooklyn, Miami, Tulum, and LA.

While I’m hyped to settle down in NYC next month — for reasons I’ll dive into another day — I definitely picked up a few lessons that’ll stick around.

Hoping that these prove useful in your next adventure.

1. Lock in a morning routine.

As you know by now, I’m somewhat of a routine junkie.

Back in Brooklyn, I was pretty religious about my boot-up sequence, focused workflow state, afternoon gym session, and evening wind-down.

Habits are fairly easy to lock down in a predictable environment, but they start to get a bit dicey when your surroundings are in flux.

When you’re always on the go, jumping between new cities and new apartments, your routines fall by the wayside pretty damn fast.

So, what can you do about it?

Focus on your morning sequence. Nothing else.

It’s a quick win and gets your day flowing. If you pressure yourself into more routines than you can handle, you’ll drive yourself crazy and feel guilty.

Don’t do that. Instead, just optimize the boot-up sequence.

For me that means a quick shower, hopping out for a walk, calling a friend, journaling, reading a chapter or two, and hitting a 10-minute meditation.

I’ve stuck to this exact stack for the past five months. If I also get in an afternoon workout or perfect evening wind down, great. If not, no stress.

When life is in flux, cling to your morning even tighter. It matters.

2. Don’t travel alone.

Your chosen family and tribe are everything.

Those that you proactively decide to surround yourself with.

Traveling with your friends serves a range of outcomes — endless adventures, great banter, incredible memories. But, two factors really stand out to me.

First, friends help you navigate the highs and lows.

If you’re on the road for extended periods of time, you’re going to experience a range of highs and lows. Valleys and troughs. It’s just part of life.

When life is flowing and wins keep stacking up, friends are there to celebrate with you. That’s all well and good. But your tribe really starts to matter when you’re down. They help you dust yourself off and remind you to keep moving.

I’ve had my fair share of lows of the past five months, and I can tell you from firsthand experience that this matters more than I could’ve ever imagined.

Second, friends allow you to experience life in a new light.

With the right person, you have the freedom to move through the world with an entirely new lens on life. Seeing the world through another’s eyes is rare.

Critically, this is different than just living with roommates or having tight friends in a city. They’re great, don’t get me wrong. But spending long periods of time with a close tribe changes everything.

With the right travel companions, your lens on life can change forever.

3. Lean into stoicism.

Stoicism is all the rage, I get it. You can thank Ryan Holiday for that.

While I’m not on board with all aspects of the Stoic philosophy, there are definitely some takeaways that changed how I approach digital nomadism.

The core principle that I’ve leaned into is this: things happening to you aren’t inherently good or bad. No individual event in itself is positive or negative.

Life is actually quite neutral.

As a result, you have the power to decide how to frame events and how your mind and body reacts to them. Over time, through this lens, you’ll slowly realize that you can view almost everything as a positive.

In turn, you’ll soon realize that life is always happening for you.

Missed flight? Last-minute Airbnb cancellation? Just a year back these would’ve left me frustrated and annoyed. After spending time on the road and leaning into an abundance-fueled frame of mind, these just don’t phase me anymore.

Lost luggage? No sweat, just an opportunity to pare down my essentials. Gym closed? All good, hit a bodyweight workout. Keep moving forward.

Little mental tweaks may seem inconsequential at first. But, over time, you’ll realize that your entire approach to life has been forever altered.

Once you get into a habit of reframing, life gets pretty damn fun. And you know what’s even better? Everything starts happening for you. It’s palpable.