Digital Nomading Part 5 of 5: The DN Community

By now Digital Nomading might be sounding pretty good.  Freedom?  Check.  Being your own boss?  Check.  Nice hut on the beach in some far away place?  Check Check.  It all sounds quite nice until you realize that you have literally lost your community.

Most people make and keep friendships with those they work with.  Social activities are planned around work and school schedules.  Everyone you know pretty much has the same Monday thru Friday, 9 to 5 schedule.  And lives carry on day after day, year after year in the same fashion.

But when you are a digital nomad, the fabric of your life changes drastically.  You don't have neighbors that you have known for years, friends are far away and keeping in touch with them slowly loses its importance, and you have no boss telling you to be at work at zero dark thirty, take a lunch break at noon, and leave at 1700.  You can sleep until noon, work on Sundays, and pretty much do what you want, when you want.  You have a lot of freedom and sometimes that can be a scary thing.

Besides creating and keeping up with a daily schedule of sorts (exercise upon waking, working during the hours you are most productive, etc), many digital nomads want to become a part of a community.  Fortunately, there is such a thing as a digital nomad communities.  While many connections take place online, there are also meet ups, and instead of heading over to the neighborhood bar to gather with friends who have a similar lifestyle, people may come from all over the world to a designated spot in Chang Mai or Barcelona to hang out, talk shop, and discuss their interesting and unique lifestyle.

Here is where you can hook up with the digital nomad community:

• Digital Nomad Sub-Reddit
• Make Use of List of Digital Nomad Communities
• Nomad Forum
• Facebook Digital Nomad Community Page
• Facebook Nomad List
• Digital Nomad Meet Ups
• Hashtag Nomads
• Digital Nomad Girls Meet Up
• Couchsurfing Digital Nomad Meet Up
• No Desk List of Communities

Of course this is only one part of settling in to a community when you are new in the area.  Although you may live by yourself and work by yourself and otherwise be fairly isolated, make a point to become a regular at a local coffee shop, participate in local community events, and make local friends who can make you feel grounded in a new community, show you around, and, in all probability, become lifelong friends.