Temporarily nomadic
'I think nomadism would do me good by challenging me to let go of control and become more flexible towards myself', writes Laís Martins
"My life entered a state of exception”. That's how a friend described his three weeks working at his company's office in Israel. "I felt like there was a 'but' in every area of my life''.
Another friend, who would live abroad for two months, complained: "Unlike you, who has almost nothing, I need to sort out many things to spend time away".
These two examples grabbed my attention. When I talked to my colleague Laís Martins, who told me she would have 'a nomadic experience' for a few weeks in Europe, I immediately invited her to write for No Direction Home. I'm thrilled she agreed.
Here it is, the chaos (and learnings) in Laís Martins' life.
From a very early age, I wanted to be a journalist. More specifically, an international reporter. One of my biggest inspirations was Glória Maria, an amazing Brazilian journalist who passed away recently, and her TV stories from all over the globe.
Fast forward some 20 years and I think it's safe to say I'm kind of living the dream of working as a journalist internationally. But differently than Glória Maria, who worked for one of Brazil's most prestigious TV channels, I'm a text reporter and I'm a freelancer, which changes the game completely.
My work, luckily, has taken me to amazing places, some of which I'd never even dreamt of visiting. However, because I'm a freelancer, I'm rarely working on only one assignment or project at a time, which means I'm always working on the move. Airports, buses, trains and cars have all been my office. These are the moments where I get glimpses of what my life would look like as a nomad, remote worker.
I want to tell a little story of the most chaotic experience I had working on-the-go. It happened in June this year. I was in Bonn, Germany, for a conference. The conference was super nice and getting to know the colleagues in person was always a treat -- a rare one for me, I often work for a long time with people I'll never see in person. I would attend the conference during the day, have dinner with the group afterwards and then back to my hotel to work on assignments I had with my other job -- a fellowship I'd just recently begun. All good, except for the all-nighters I was having to pull to meet all my deadlines.
After the last day of the conference, there was a closing party on a cruise boat, with a live band, open bar and open food. It was the best. I was leaving the next day, so I decided to enjoy the party with my colleagues and I'd finish my work on the train the next day. After the conference, I headed to the Netherlands to attend my sister's Master's graduation. This is what I love about Europe and I wish we could replicate in Brazil: it's so easy to travel around countries by train and they often have wifi, which means you can watch Netflix or work, like I was doing.
Except around summer, it gets chaotic. Tickets become super expensive and canceled trains are unfortunately super common. Traveling on a budget, I bought the cheapest connection between Bonn and my sister's city in the Netherlands. It involved changing trains four times. By now you can imagine what happened, right? My second train was delayed and, like a domino, I missed the two following. It was 36ºC that day and I was now stranded in the middle of nowhere on the border between Germany and the Netherlands with my big suitcase, heavy backpack, all sweaty and having to work. The station had no wifi and I had a Zoom meeting in thirty minutes. My perfect plans to work in the train and be done by the time I arrived in the Netherlands were doomed.
I'm an anxious person, so letting go of control is kind of hard for me. That day I had no other option, though. I apologized and said I was going to miss the meeting, sent my agenda points over email and called it a day. Eventually I arrived in my sister's city and, instead of trying to make up for the work I couldn't finish earlier, I went out for dinner with her and slept early. The next day was a new day. It all worked out in the end. I had to put in some extra hours but I managed to finish all my assignments in time.
I don't think I'd be good at nomadism. I cherish my home office space, my things and my set schedule. It puts me in the best mind state to crack down on my work. But I think nomadism would do me good by challenging me to let go of control and become more flexible towards myself. I'm a perfectionist and excessively rigid, which is not good. These travel moments where I'm temporarily nomadic or working remotely are good learning opportunities and often make for funny stories.
Sometimes I want to cry out of pure exhaustion, working in weird time-zones and having to deliver stories around the clock from the most bizarre locations, but sometimes I'm grateful for the opportunity to work on projects that don't require me being geographically present. For example, when I get to visit a museum in Amsterdam in the morning, taking my time looking at the exhibits, and then logging in to work from a café I love in the afternoon. It's true that while I'm hard at work, the dutchies are already popping in for their afternoon drinks, what they call borrel, but hey, one can't have everything, right?
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