Why? Because it is simply not true. It can be though, but only under certain circumstances.
When I was travelling across Central America, I simply could not miss the lake that was once named by Alexander von Humboldt “the most beautiful lake in the world”. Lago de Atitlan and the surrounding mountains, with mild and humid climate is indeed breathtaking. It was supposed to be the highlight of my journey, along with the Vulcan Baru in Panama, the only places that I promised myself to visit. When I arrived there, Iît seemed that all the expectations would be met. I took a boat to San Pedro La Laguna, the place praised by the Lonely Planet guidebook for its potential to bring you peace and happiness.
Unfortunately, many people read the same guidebook and found there not only peace, but also great business potential. Every successful venture run there was laveraging the idea of connection to mother earth — which you can only achieve drinking organic coffee, buying handmade clothing and attending yoga classes. Obviously. They offered you to admire beauty of the lake diving and the mountains paragliding. People I talked to invited me to leave the hussle of my corporate life and pursuing career and just enjoy the beauty of life drinking bio organic vegan smothies by the lake. Naturally, they were all white Europeans.
So it is true that you can be whatever you want to be…
… as long as a) you already made some money working your ass off in a meaningless office job in a rich country and b) there are still suckers who pursue this path. The business model of quiting everything to sell overpriced coffee relies on people with high disposable income looking to buy one. Not to mention that you need to have money set aside to enter the business. It is great if people who work on coffee plantations have decent salaries, but not that great that they cannot be the ones drinkng it or owning the cafés that sell it.
Most of the stories you hear start with “I left my highly paid job that was sucking up all my life energy” which seems to be an important ingredient to their dream life. It is sad that “chasing the dream” is stealing business from locals. It seems that they are doomed to be second class citizens in their own country. Most people have no interest of buying jewelry or orange juice on the street, apparently this would be too hippie even for the hippies.
I love travelling — I believe it truely is an eye-opening experience and the most effective way to fight prejudice and ignorance. I wish I didn’t have to work in an office and I hope that one day I won’t. But being sold the idea that we can all leave our jobs and live the lives we dream of is just too much bullshit to handle.
Living the dream “as a digital nomad” is facilitated by poverty, inequality and billions of people NOT being digital nomads and actually doing some badass work.
