‘My Mind was Shrieking: “What Am I Doing?”’ – When the Digital Nomad Dream Turns Sour
July 02, 2025 at 01:13AMTraveling the world with your laptop is a dream for many, and since 2019, the number of people who have chosen this lifestyle has dramatically increased. But is it a sustainable one? Is the loneliness and instability worth the highs? Emily Bratt reflects on the reality of life on the road and why she chose to come home.
Perversely, many digital nomads end up doing a global tour of Starbucks. “It was the one place with reliable wifi,” says Matt, 25, a fellow British writer and on-off nomad since 2019. “I hated that I was in there, but finding somewhere to work was always difficult.” He, too, was plagued by unsettling existential questions as he fulfilled his dream of travelling. “It started early on,” he says. “I got to my rented apartment in Kuala Lumpur, which had a rooftop pool, and I thought: ‘Wow, this is everything I’ve dreamed of!’ But the excitement wore off and I had this deep ache inside me. I thought I was just in the wrong place.”
At one point, Matt visited 12 countries in 90 days as part of a two-year trip. “At every new place I arrived at, I remember thinking: ‘What now?’ When I was young, I thought that success meant being able to travel the world. But I didn’t feel successful; I felt lonely and exhausted. I wanted to go and explore, but I just didn’t have the energy.”
from Longreads https://longreads.com/2025/07/01/my-mind-was-shrieking-what-am-i-doing-when-the-digital-nomad-dream-turns-sour/
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