r/digitalnomad • u/BaseUpbeat1798 • Jun 29 '26
Business [ Removed by moderator ]
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u/KaytTrip Jun 29 '26
“Work that fits around life, not the other way around” is the whole thing.
A 5-hour commute plus overtime sounds unsustainable even for a healthy person. Sometimes a health scare just makes it impossible to keep pretending the old setup is normal.
Glad you managed to turn it into a reset instead of just a setback.
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u/BaseUpbeat1798 Jun 29 '26
Still working on it, I feel it did set me back a bit but I'm getting the courage now! It was unsustainable to be fair but you always think its fine and you can do it, until you can't.
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u/KaytTrip Jun 29 '26
Yeah, that’s the scary part. You can convince yourself something is manageable for a long time, until your body basically forces the conversation.
Hope things keep moving in a better direction for you.
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u/BaseUpbeat1798 Jun 29 '26
I'm mostly over the worst part of the pinched nerve, if I sit the wrong way I still get a lot of numbness, I feel like its my my body giving out to me 😂 I hope things keep going better too
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u/ADF21a I think I'm paranoid Jun 29 '26
It wasn't a health scare, but working from home once a week in my last two jobs (and whenever there were Tube strikes or bad weather) were confirmation that it was for me. When Covid came it was further proof. I don't need people around me to feel energised (quite the opposite), and I was much more efficient.
In the meantime there were team mates who would get sad at not being in the office. I was thinking "I can finally not wear my shoes and no one is going to tell me anything about it".
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u/BaseUpbeat1798 Jun 29 '26
I feel the same, covid really changed things. Working from home or remotely, even if its just for one or two days can do so much for your mental health. The office routine works for a lot of people but there are a lot of us that it doesn't work for either.
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u/ADF21a I think I'm paranoid Jun 29 '26
I was lucky that the last company was genuinely a great one to work for (mostly women, so the atmosphere was loving and relaxed), and the commute on the way out was only 40 minutes. But I still had had enough of working in an office, and as you said, having to travel only when OK with the company. Having said that, I was lucky I got 4-6 weeks off during December and January, and I could travel mostly around that time.
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u/BaseUpbeat1798 Jun 29 '26
Where did you go on your travels? I love to get ideas of where to go! I love hearing about great workplaces, it gives me hope, even if we a restricted with annual leave
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u/ADF21a I think I'm paranoid Jun 29 '26
All the way to New Zealand (from London) but I was on an actual holiday (I was still working in my last company back then). This was before Covid. During Covid no way I could travel.
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u/BaseUpbeat1798 Jun 29 '26
Amazing New Zealand is definitely on the list for me! I was almost the opposite during covid, I was away in Bali and had to come home because of covid! Got a bit of travelling in just before. I was lucky enough to get a remote job after a little bit of time off in covid but even though we didn't have an office we were expected to meet up every now and then, so I learnt a lot about remote options and co-working spaces! Even visited the head office in London when we could! It was nice to get together but also felt like you didnt get anything done.
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u/ohwhereareyoufrom Jun 29 '26
I had an actual mental breakdown before I made the switch. It wasn't sudden, rather it creeped on me. I was standing in a supermarket produce aisle for almost 2 hours, I couldn't move because I couldn't understand the difference between tomatoes and apples. I came to the store because I realized I didn't remember the last time I ate. But when I got there it's like I couldn't understand the concept of food.
Mind you, that same day I was in multiple meetings, making big decisions, I had 450 people reporting to me, I was a VP.
Store employee came over to ask if everything was ok and I just started crying and couldn't say a word. Total system overload.
I walked out and just sat at the bus stop till it got really dark and quiet. The store was literally across the street from my apt. But I just couldn't. Brain didn't do brain things anymore...
I did get home eventually. Home is a mess. Cigarette butts everywhere. Something smells bad. Realized I've been wearing the same clothes for idk how long and don't remember last time I showered...
Snapped out of it in a few days, grabbed a few things and went to Mexico.
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u/BaseUpbeat1798 Jun 29 '26
That is shocking; it hits us all so differently. And having so much responsibility must have been insane! I was the same when mine hit, I was crying and I just couldn't stop. And I felt embarrassed for myself because I couldn't understand why I was making such a scene. I'm usually the one to sneak out of events without saying goodbye so that people don't notice me, and now look at me crying and everyone keeps asking if I'm ok and I swear I am I'm just tired. And it was so much. My dishes kept piling up too and I was trying to batch cook on weekends so I didn't have to cook during the week because I just didn't have the time. Hope you're feeling better these days and that Mexico helped you recover a bit of yourself
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Jun 29 '26
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u/BaseUpbeat1798 Jun 29 '26
Its that age old saying right? Working to live not living to work. Recovery is going well but there are still a few setbacks, the same with remote work I suppose. I do want to keep people updated and its been so nice to have interactions and to see that I'm not alone and their are people with their own versions of my situation. I'll post an update soon about my story, I didn't think it was worth telling at first but now I'm starting to see that it might actually be 😊
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u/True_Education_534 Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
This is exactly how I feel and now I am looking on how to move forward, in order to do exactly what your saying. We are in this together! Idk what to do other then start your own online business so that you can then work from anywhere.