Too many successful people stay trapped without realising. They earn six figures, lead teams, and build businesses. But they spend their days in the same town where they went to school. They vacation two weeks a year. They grind away until they retire. The freedom to work anywhere exists, but the monster of fear keeps them chained to one place.
After living nomadically for ten years across 35 cities, I’ve met countless capable professionals who say they want to do it but don’t. Something stops them from accessing this kind of freedom. They know they can earn well, work independently, and manage remotely. Yet something stops them from taking action.
If being a digital nomad is so good, why aren’t more people doing it?
Being a digital nomad might be the route for you. It might not. The following are the main reasons people don’t do it. See which of the common excuses you want to break free from.
The invisible chains
Financial fear dominates everything. “I can’t afford to be in two places” becomes the default excuse. Yet the math of not doing it doesn’t always add up. Run the numbers. Living in London (or another major city) and holidaying on top of that costs far more than living somewhere else month to month. But when you’re nomadic, one bill replaces multiple. The freedom number sits much lower than you imagine.
Location dependency feels real until tested. When my agency first served international clients, panic hit. How would we deliver without being physically present? Turns out clients care about results, not your zip code. Work quality doesn’t drop because palm trees exist outside.
Family ties bind many. “I can’t leave my mom” translates to “I haven’t asked if mom wants to visit Japan.” One of my best friends spent 15 years giving this excuse. Her parents now join her in Portugal twice yearly. People are portable.
The gap year trap
Many founders write off nomading because “I already traveled.” They backpacked Europe at 21, lived in hostels, and rationed food money. That’s survival travel, not living abroad. Working from a beachfront apartment in Cape Town differs entirely from sleeping in a 12-bed dorm in Vietnam.
The digital nomad stereotype persists: feral twenty-somethings earning $2,000 monthly in Thailand. But the reality looks different. Established professionals work normal hours, maintain routines, join local gyms. Entrepreneurs are building huge businesses as nomads. Location changes, but everything else stays consistent.
The comfort delusion
“I need my stuff” ranks among top excuses. People convince themselves they require specific shampoo brands, certain pillows, familiar routines. I’ve traveled three years with one suitcase. Freedom expands as your number of possessions shrink.
Disruption anxiety strikes everyone initially. New cities create low-level stress. Finding where to buy your groceries, testing internet speeds, locating gyms and coworking spaces. These resolve within days. Systems eliminate uncertainty. Pack the same plane outfit. Book Airbnbs after asking hosts the same five questions. Routine travels with you.
The permission problem
Job restrictions block many paths. Yet remote work has exploded since 2020. Forty percent of US employees work remotely now. Companies had no choice, they adapted or lost talent. The barrier shifted from “they won’t let me” to the self-imposed, “I haven’t asked.”
Self-employment fears appear next. Business owners worry their company needs them present. I felt this deeply running an agency, believing my team would think I’d deserted them. In fact, teams perform better with clear boundaries. Time zone differences create focus windows. Absence builds systems and self-reliance.
Could you become a digital nomad? Questions to ask.
To escape these chains, start with questions. What if I calculated exact travel costs? Could my parents visit me at my next destination? Would clients leave if I worked from Spain? What systems would I need to work anywhere?
The digital nomad lifestyle exists despite the barriers. Every excuse holds partial truth. Moving creates friction. Change triggers anxiety. But they disappear through action.
Your hometown didn’t choose you randomly among approximately 200 countries. You simply never left. The comfort of staying masks the cost of missing out on everything else the world offers.
When the question shifts from “why not more digital nomads” to “why stay put when the world opens up?”, you’ll see there’s no reason to not consider this lifestyle. Your professional skills translate globally. Your work exists online already. The infrastructure supports you.
Everyone has reasons to stay. Digital nomads have reasons to explore. Which list grows longer depends on what you’re willing to question.
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