After leaving home, family, and friends, many full-time travel bloggers begin to feel lonely and isolated.
Lauren Juliff, after quitting her part-time job at a supermarket in England in 2011, started to pursue her dream of traveling around the world and becoming a digital nomad.
The term digital nomad first gained widespread recognition in 1997 when two authors, Makimoto and Manners, wrote a book discussing how life would change thanks to the internet. Today, this term refers to people who frequently move around without a permanent residence and earn money by working online. Full-time travel bloggers are among these digital nomads.
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Lauren Juliff working while traveling in Belize. Photo: Instagram
Initially, Juliff's path was successful. She had a travel blog and made money by sharing her adventurous experiences. Exploring new lands made the British traveler feel vibrant and learn many things every day. During one trip, Lauren met her boyfriend, who is also a digital nomad, and they began to explore the world together. In 5 years, the two visited 75 countries, staying in some places for a few months while leaving quickly from others.
However, after those 5 years, Lauren began to suffer from severe mental crises that repeated many times. Despite changing her diet and practicing meditation, Lauren realized the only way to prevent her mental crises was to "think about home," where her parents and friends are.
Whenever Lauren experienced a crisis, she immediately thought about "finding home," and her anxiety quickly faded. The traveler suspected that the instability in her emotions stemmed from the lack of stability due to constantly moving. Every few weeks, she changed locations to a new country, met new people, changed her daily meals, and had to adjust to a new language. These constant changes made Lauren waver.
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Lauren on a trip to Cambodia. Photo: Instagram
Staying in different homes also forced Lauren to adjust to various types of kitchen equipment. She frequently had to eat out, and her body became weaker.
After the psychological changes, Lauren decided to move to Lisbon, Portugal, to stabilize her life. She noticed a significant improvement in her mental and physical health.
By living fixed in one place, Lauren had time to settle in, make friends, learn to cook, and develop hobbies unrelated to travel. Sitting in one place to work also allowed Lauren to spend more time on her work, resulting in her income tripling.
The trend of becoming a digital nomad has been booming around the world in recent years. In 2023, more than 17 million Americans identified themselves as digital nomads, double the number from 2019.
Beverly Thompson, a sociologist at Siena College in New York, USA, wrote that digital nomads often struggle to communicate with people of the opposite sex (not working the same job). Digital nomads usually don't know the culture or language of the countries they continuously visit, so they have to seek out like-minded people to befriend. Beverly noted that family and friends often feel "shocked and confused" when they learn she chose this lifestyle.
Lauren also acknowledges the limitations in building relationships. She has friends around the world and often meets them when they visit the same city. But after a few years, she realized that most of these relationships were "shallow to a certain extent."
Most digital nomads Lauren met and knew retired after 5 years because they wanted to stabilize their lives and build long-lasting relationships. Lauren revealed that these darker sides are little known because digital nomads rarely share openly.
Lauren speaks out to warn others about the life and pitfalls of being a full-time travel blogger, hoping to help others avoid the mental crises she faced.
"Part of it is because followers love your nomadic lifestyle. When I announced that I would end my full-time travel life, many expressed anger," Lauren said.
Lauren currently lives in Melbourne, Australia, with her husband but still wants to travel three months each year.
Source: https://vnexpress.net/mat-toi-giau-kin-cua-cac-blogger-du-lich-4667820.html
Lauren Juliff, after quitting her part-time job at a supermarket in England in 2011, started to pursue her dream of traveling around the world and becoming a digital nomad.
The term digital nomad first gained widespread recognition in 1997 when two authors, Makimoto and Manners, wrote a book discussing how life would change thanks to the internet. Today, this term refers to people who frequently move around without a permanent residence and earn money by working online. Full-time travel bloggers are among these digital nomads.
View attachment 633
Lauren Juliff working while traveling in Belize. Photo: Instagram
Initially, Juliff's path was successful. She had a travel blog and made money by sharing her adventurous experiences. Exploring new lands made the British traveler feel vibrant and learn many things every day. During one trip, Lauren met her boyfriend, who is also a digital nomad, and they began to explore the world together. In 5 years, the two visited 75 countries, staying in some places for a few months while leaving quickly from others.
However, after those 5 years, Lauren began to suffer from severe mental crises that repeated many times. Despite changing her diet and practicing meditation, Lauren realized the only way to prevent her mental crises was to "think about home," where her parents and friends are.
Whenever Lauren experienced a crisis, she immediately thought about "finding home," and her anxiety quickly faded. The traveler suspected that the instability in her emotions stemmed from the lack of stability due to constantly moving. Every few weeks, she changed locations to a new country, met new people, changed her daily meals, and had to adjust to a new language. These constant changes made Lauren waver.
View attachment 634
Lauren on a trip to Cambodia. Photo: Instagram
Staying in different homes also forced Lauren to adjust to various types of kitchen equipment. She frequently had to eat out, and her body became weaker.
After the psychological changes, Lauren decided to move to Lisbon, Portugal, to stabilize her life. She noticed a significant improvement in her mental and physical health.
By living fixed in one place, Lauren had time to settle in, make friends, learn to cook, and develop hobbies unrelated to travel. Sitting in one place to work also allowed Lauren to spend more time on her work, resulting in her income tripling.
The trend of becoming a digital nomad has been booming around the world in recent years. In 2023, more than 17 million Americans identified themselves as digital nomads, double the number from 2019.
Beverly Thompson, a sociologist at Siena College in New York, USA, wrote that digital nomads often struggle to communicate with people of the opposite sex (not working the same job). Digital nomads usually don't know the culture or language of the countries they continuously visit, so they have to seek out like-minded people to befriend. Beverly noted that family and friends often feel "shocked and confused" when they learn she chose this lifestyle.
Lauren also acknowledges the limitations in building relationships. She has friends around the world and often meets them when they visit the same city. But after a few years, she realized that most of these relationships were "shallow to a certain extent."
Most digital nomads Lauren met and knew retired after 5 years because they wanted to stabilize their lives and build long-lasting relationships. Lauren revealed that these darker sides are little known because digital nomads rarely share openly.
Lauren speaks out to warn others about the life and pitfalls of being a full-time travel blogger, hoping to help others avoid the mental crises she faced.
"Part of it is because followers love your nomadic lifestyle. When I announced that I would end my full-time travel life, many expressed anger," Lauren said.
Lauren currently lives in Melbourne, Australia, with her husband but still wants to travel three months each year.
Source: https://vnexpress.net/mat-toi-giau-kin-cua-cac-blogger-du-lich-4667820.html