Auteur: Kees Brinkmans Pagina 1 van 2

I’ve been a nomad for about three years now.
The first two of those were lonely.

Just working online by myself. I didn’t meet anyone doing anything similar to me, and I didn’t have colleagues.

I didn’t get the benefits of being a nomad and having so much freedom, I mostly got the downsides.

But the last year, this has changed drastically.

I’ve had an awesome community, and a fantastic group of friends.

Lived in a mountain cabin in Japan with them, visited each other in Europe, and lived the US suburban life together for a while.

This last year of being a nomad has been simply amazing. And I wanted to share what made this year different from the previous 2 lonely years.

So here we go:

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1. I moved to a place where there are other nomads.

This was a big one for me.

And it’s the reason why I first moved to Bali.

It’s the place where so many digital nomads hang out.
And after just living two months there, I met so many different people doing similar stuff as me.
Built a great friend group.

And with that friend group, I’ve gone on to travel the world.

So yeah, the first important thing for me was to put myself in a place where I am around other nomads.

Even when I did not expect to like the place itself so much.

I initially wasn’t super excited about Bali because I knew it was very touristic and stuff.

But just because of the community and the people I met, it was very worth it.

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2. Choose wisely where you work from and hang around.

I noticed that for me, there are two different options here.

Co-working spaces

I’ve been to more than 20 different co-working spaces by now, and I found out what sets the good ones apart from the bad ones.

The best co-working spaces have both these two specific things:

• It needs to have a dedicated focus area where it’s quiet, where people actually get work done.
• It needs a dedicated chill space — like a café or lounge — where people are just hanging out.

Because if a co-working space doesn’t have both, you never know who to talk to.
There’s very little place to really get work done.
And there’s way less of a community feel without a hangout spot.

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If co-working is out of budget, cafés can work too.

This is what I did when moving to New York City, where good co-workings are crazy expensive.

I just chose a café with nice working spaces, and committed to it. Work from the same place every day.

And every time I meet somebody at an event or something, I just invited them to come co-work at this café with me one day.

This compounds over time to create my little community at that café.

Because I kept going back, I built relationships with the people that worked there.

They got to know me. And they loved that I bring new people in.

Everyone that came to co-work had a good experience and often came back.

All-in-all, a fantastic way to create my own little coworking-like community.

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3. Actually spend time making sure you have a community.

Simple and obvious, but this is something that I found easy to skip on.

Arriving in a new place, getting into my routine — workout, work, maybe go out a bit — and just see who I meet.

But this never works. When moving to a new place, you have to take initiative.

Actively decide: how are you gonna build a social life?

What I always do is super simple.
Every Sunday, I take half an hour to reflect:

• How was my social life this past week?
• What can I do this upcoming week?

Then I just text some friends, text people I’ve met, and make some plans.

And that’s it.

It’s done, no effort during the rest of the week, and you’ve got a few nice social activities lined up.

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And as a bonus tip:

(One that I still want to improve on)

Be the one that organizes events.

If I know three different people in a city and they haven’t met yet, just try and plan something.

Like renting a car, doing a little road trip, or grabbing dinner and inviting them all.

I’ve noticed that when doing this, slowly a friend group starts forming.

Especially because building a friend group is quite hard, and it’s more common to meet people 1-on-1 all the time. I want to do more organizing and bringing people together in the future.

It’s a fantastic way to build a friend group, and meet cool people.

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To summarize:

1. Move to a place where there are like-minded people
2. Create a great work environment, through coworkings or cafés
3. Take initiative to build a social life
4. Be the one to organize events

That’s what’s worked for me.
Do with it what you will.

Even if this helps just 1 person avoid their first nomad years feeling lonely, like I did. Then that’s a win.

I’ve spent the past month intensively travelling through Japan. Spending 2-3 days in each place, then moving again.

I explore and go on adventures every single day. Yes. Every single day. From following a Ramen class, to visiting a nuclear bomb memorial, to a day trip to the mountains.

Every day something new, but every day I’m back at home at 17:00 to start working. I then work for 8 hours straight and go to bed at 1:00 A.M.

Then I wake up at 9:00 and I do it all over again.

It’s been an absolutely crazy schedule, it feels like there are 2 days in every day.

And it has been incredibly fun. Unforgettable experiences, and I actually got some work in as well.

But after having done this for 1 month, I must say I am completely done with it.

I’m just not in the mood to travel and go on adventures anymore. Even though the experienced are amazing, it is getting less enjoyable every day.

Not because it’s not fun, but because of a simple reason:

I am not doing the things that are important to me. I am not working out, I am not writing, I am not putting enough effort towards my main goal.

It just feels like I’m lagging behind and not living to the fullest. And I’m at a point that no matter how beautiful the temple or the park I visit, I can’t fully enjoy it.

When I’m there, I just feel like I’m not taking care of myself enough, and there are other basic needs of mine that I’d rather do. Like working out or writing.

Having this crazy lifestyle now, one that many people dream of, I realize that I don’t need much to be happy.

I’m a pretty simple creature to be honest. I just need to work out, see friends regularly, get work done, and spend some time alone to write.

And I’m realizing more and more that these are the absolute core things that I should always prioritize.

Now it’s about finding the right balance between those things.

And I know now, that balance is definitely not my current schedule.

I’m done with travelling so intensively for now. I just want to move somewhere for a couple of months, get a routine, and make big steps towards achieving my goals.

So that’s the plan for January.

Big plans and a big move coming up….

In Kees you want to follow what that move will be, subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of this page.

Thanks for reading.

Kees Closed.

I have spent almost 3 months in Japan now, and never in my life have I felt so healthy.

This has numerous reasons, which I’ll sum up and break down in this article.

Before I do, first a brief bit of context:

I have taken my health seriously for 5+ years now, by working out and choosing a diet consciously.

My view was health to build muscle and become fit. Working out 4 times per week, and eating any protein I can get my hands on. All whilst eating 3000+ calories every day to make sure I gain muscle and weight.

Big heavy meals, full of protein and carbohydrates.

And I felt good. I thought I was doing amazing.

Then I came to Japan.

And for people that move to new countries often, you’ll that it’s hard to maintain your diet the same as it is back home.

My diet automatically adapted to the Japanese one.

And wow. To say it is good is an understatement.

After 2 weeks I already felt it. I had more energy, I felt healthier, and I had ZERO after-dinner dips.

I believe this is because of 2 main reasons:

1. No heavy meals. There is a principle here to only eat until you are 80% full. No more than that.
2. But most importantly: no processed carbs. The difference it makes for me is CRAZY.

Only now I noticed how many processed carbohydrates I ate. Pasta, bread, everything. Every carbohydrate that is not purely natural and is produced by the food industry.

They barely eat those here. And cutting those completely from my diet here, made me realize that it’s exactly what always makes me feel so heavy and slow after eating.

It seems to take energy instead of giving energy.

Instead, the Japanese eat healthy protein rich natural foods. And when they eat carbs, it’s rice. Which is unprocessed.

I’m no diet expert, but I definitely feel a difference in how good and healthy I feel. And I also see it, my muscles have never looked so toned, and I have lost excess fat.

But their diet is not the only thing making me feel so healthy. It’s also their customs.

Not only because they stay active until an old age (working in restaurants at 80+), but also the way they take care of the mind.

Their religion places great emphasis on this. 50% Buddhism, and 50% Shinto, which is an ancient Japanese religion.

I don’t know close to enough about it yet to explain, all I can tell you is that the Japanese seem to live very purposefully. When I see them at local temples, and when visiting local Onsens (spa), I notice they seem to take the time to actually relax, more than in other countries I have visited.

Onsens are a great example. They are spa’s located all over Japan, and cost about €3-€4 to enter. It is common here to go to a spa daily.

Ice baths, sauna, and mountain water rich in minerals, which they believe have healing properties.

I don’t know if it is because of their religion, but the Japanese seem to know a lot about health and place great emphasis on it. They seem to know what every ingredient does to the body, and they seem to know how to take care of their mind.

A kind of deep knowledge that seems common here, but is unheard of in the west.

No wonder this is the country where people live longest, with women reaching an AVERAGE age of 87. That is a ridiculously high average.

I even saw it in the Onsen (spa). Every man there, even the ones 80+ years old, had toned muscles and seemed fit. Absolutely no one here is buffed with huge muscles, but almost everyone seems fit.

There are undoubtedly way more reasons for that, and this is just my experience after spending 3 months here.

And even though I have put great effort in learning about Japanese culture, I still feel I have only scratched the surface, and I doubt that this is a very accurate representation of Japan.

It’s just the honest experience of an uninformed Dutch guy, and I hope you enjoyed reading it.

Kees closed.