Redefining Being Busy as a Full-Time Nomad
I have replaced the Busy Body’s old bad habits with experiences
My partner and I sold our house and all of our possessions back in 2017 and have been nomadic since. During this time, we have lived in parts of Central America, the Caribbean, Africa, Eastern Europe, and Turkey. We have also spent some chunks of time back in our home country of Canada, while continuing our nomadic lifestyle there.
Having been on the road for seven years, it’s almost impossible to remember the person I was before we made this life-changing decision. But one thing I remember for sure is that I was the epitome of someone who was always busy.
My go-to answer when anybody asked me how I was doing was, “I’m good, busy but good.”
I made every effort to not only please my own busy body that lived inside me and who judged me incessantly but to please society and everyone else, making sure that the world knew how busy I was. I didn’t feel valuable unless I was busy, productive, or just doing something. People who sat around and did nothing were wasting their lives — or so I thought.
A Housesit in Costa Rica Was the Start
Our nomadic journey began on a beach in Costa Rica. We had a housesitting gig for two months, beyond that, we didn’t have any clue what we were going to do with ourselves.
The first day we arrived, and after we had been given the keys and left alone, Chris ran down to the ocean while I sat in the house. Something I had been excited to do was to just sit and read a book. I couldn't remember the last time I had read a book, and I knew I would finally have the time again in this new reality I had created for myself.
But not so fast! I damn near had a panic attack over it all. Who was I to just sit and read a book? Isn’t there something I could be doing to be productive? Is this what my life is going to look like now? I can’t possibly just read books for the rest of my life!
One month after arriving at this location, I wrote a blog post. It’s interesting to reflect on it now and recall where my mind was.
November 29, 2017
Today marks our 1 month anniversary of arriving at Playa Matapalo to do our housesitting gig. It’s hard to believe that it has gone by so quickly.
I won’t lie, the first full day we had here, I actually had a physical tightening in my chest and a panic attack with the thought of “we are in the middle of nowhere, with no car…….what the heck are we going to do all day for two whole months?” Never mind that we had finally JUST arrived in this place that we had dreamed of for many months. Never mind that it is on one of the loveliest beaches I have ever seen. Never mind that it is PARADISE!!
I had just sat down to read a book, something that I hadn’t done in literally months, if not years. Sure I had books on the go at home, but it would be one quick chapter here and there, quick glimpses in between things to do, where I would quickly try and digest some information, or some parts of a story. Half the time, by the time I got back to it, I had forgotten what I had read and had to try and quickly skim the last chapter to figure out what I was missing.
The voice in my mind on that first day was that BUSY-body alter ego that I have that always wants to be busy, always NEEDS to be busy. The one that invents things to keep her busy. The one that feels that if she isn’t ‘busy’ then what good is she? That part of me, in fact, let’s just call her that, the Busy Body, felt GUILTY for sitting down to enjoy herself.
However, I immediately caught the Busy Body at her tricks and proceeded to lecture her, “Just calm down, you are here to relax, you are here to re-focus, and you are here to heal from the crazy ‘busy’ life that you led.” I took a few deep breaths and attempted to put to rest that part of me. I decided at that moment that I wasn’t going to be that busy girl anymore, I wasn’t going to give the Busy Body what she wanted. I would spend my time re-focusing my life in a different direction. Of course, I would spend some time being productive, sure, but there was no need to seek validation from being busy anymore. There was no need to show others that I was keeping busy, and there was no need to prove to anyone that I was being busy. That was it.
Our remote situation is a blessing, and we are happy to be away from the crowds that seem to linger in nearby towns North and South of us. On various occasions that we have had to take the bus to go anywhere for supplies, we are definitely happier when we return to our quiet little nook. We aren’t suffering for anything, and I think as more and more time goes by, we realize just how little we really do NEED to go anywhere. A fruit and vegetable guy comes by every Friday with a truck full of goodies to buy, and we finally have a line on the local old guy on his bike that sells frozen prawns and fish. Finding what we need, it seems, is all about networking around here. It’s a blissful existence.
Looking back, I’m sure we will view these days at Matapalo as a wonderful time of transition. One of reflection, and inspiration. One of relaxation, and refocus.
At the end of the day, I’d say it’s pretty much exactly what the doctor ordered!
Our Remote Location Helped Us to Shed the Busyness
As I reflect now on those days, I can certainly see that some of the busyness wore off early, but certainly not all of it. Being in a remote location that we could only leave by walking two kilometers (1.2 miles) and then catching a bus forced us to mostly stay put. We had no options to jump in a car, a first for both of us in much of our adult lives, and go wherever we wanted to, at any moment. This, in itself, I believe, was a key part of helping us shed some of the need to, at least, be distracted.
In that place, we learned just to sit and stare, watch the sunset day in and day out, or just play in the ocean for a bit. I would love to say that there was no guilt attached to that. That reckless, unproductive play, daring not to have a care in the world, but I would be lying.
As noted in my blog post, it didn’t take long for me to find some way to become busy again — to feel like I was at least being productive. I think it was about two weeks of trying to relax and recover from the crazy nine months we had of selling everything, finishing renovating our house, and getting ourselves ready to head out into the world before I got restless.
Initially, I had looked at the two-month housesitting opportunity as a holiday to recover from the hecticness of life. But I couldn’t sit still that long — I had to do something. One day, after I had determined that I was rested and ready to start working again, I dove in headfirst.
I slaved away for hours each day, building my Etsy shops and pouring a lot of energy into creating something I hoped would carry us along financially. The Busy Body was not dead yet, and it would take many more months and even years to kill her off.
If there is one thing I regret, it is that I didn’t relax more in those initial days, but I will also say that my work did pay off. I managed to build a successful shop that, at least, partially kept us going initially.
Learning That Being Busy is an Addiction
Shortly after we arrived, I remember speaking to a man from Germany who lived on the same beach as us in Costa Rica. He had been there for four years and had built up a couple of accommodation rentals on the beach, which he managed. In fact, we would later take care of his cabina rentals after the current housesit, but we didn’t know that then.
One evening, he invited us over for dinner, and in our conversation, most of which I don’t remember anymore, he told us that it would take a year for us to decompress from the 9–5 hamster wheel life that we had been living. He said it was an addiction to be busy. I didn’t really understand what he meant then, but I can certainly attest that it is true now that we are more than seven years down the road.
There is something so evil and incessant built into our Western civilization that dictates that we all must be busy all of the time. The guilt over sitting and doing nothing is palpable, and I believe it is causing us unnecessary stress and mental health struggles.
Shedding the Guilt of Not Being Busy
As stated, it would take me years to shed the guilt associated with not being busy. Ultimately, I think the major transition happened during Covid and when we were living in Africa for two and a half years, but I can’t say for sure.
All I know is that now, I can happily sit on a park bench and watch birds peck around on the ground for a while, like we did just today in Skopjë, North Macedonia. I can sit and drink a nice cup of Salep while simply watching the world go by. I can watch a sunset dance across the sky or simply watch a river float downstream. I can do this for hours if I want to, and I never have a moment of guilt or a feeling like I should be doing something else.
The tightness I used to carry around in my chest is all but gone. The knot on my shoulder that constantly bothered me hasn’t said a word in a long time. I don’t feel pressure from anyone or anything to accomplish things. I simply go about my days doing what I want and doing the things I love.
Replacing Being Busy With Having Experiences
While this lifestyle certainly has its challenges, changes like this have been the most rewarding. We don’t have much stress, we don’t run on any sort of timeline, we do the things we want, and it all works out.
Before setting out on this nomadic journey, we had no idea of what to expect. We simply wanted to see what was out here in the world. We thought that the lessons to be learned would come from the places we went and the people we would meet. And, of course, there have been many of those. But the most important changes have come from within.
Without the distraction of being busy in my mind, I am able to fully appreciate life. Instead of trying to impress upon myself and others how busy I am, I spend time experiencing the places that we visit without outside pressures dictating what it is that I should be doing.
Unplugging from Western society and becoming nomadic has brought many great rewards, but this piece of the puzzle is likely the most important. In all honesty, I don’t even know how it feels to be busy anymore, and for that, I am incredibly grateful.
*This article was originally published on Medium on February 6, 2025.
If you like my writing and want to read more, follow me and subscribe to get my articles by email. If desired, we would appreciate your support on my other substack, Artistic Voyages News. There, you can upgrade to a paid membership for $5/month or $50/year. Or consider leaving me a one-time tip by using the link to Ko-Fi below:)
We have been nomadic since 2017! Join our journey by hitting these links:
Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | Ko-Fi | Unsplash | Medium
So true. I was thinking just today that doing the things I used to do for leisure but now for work was stressing me out. Surely reading a book isn’t work? Editing images isn’t work? It doesn’t sit naturally in a world where we are hyper-geared to do. Most of the time being busy fools :)
I really enjoyed your insights. I’m entering a season where my work is “slow” and always start to panic a little. This is exactly what I needed to read today. Thank you!