I woke up early one morning thinking about what my husband had shared with me the day before. He had met someone who had worked on meaningful projects throughout his life and had given away most of what he had. This led me to ask myself: what is worth living for and giving for? And what has brought me true fulfillment in my life?
Then I started thinking about my experiences, especially those with my husband after we had married. Early that morning, I realized that in a way, we’ve had both kinds of experiences that are glamorized on social media as the “dream life”: homesteading and digital nomading. However, neither having a home, nor travelling around the world brought us lasting joy and fulfillment.
Digital Nomading or Homesteading?
A Millennial’s Experience to a Fulfilled Life.
I’ve travelled quite a bit in the last 12 years or so—more than half of this time together with my husband. We’ve definitely moved more often than we had wanted or planned, yet our initial intention was to stay in one place for years, and one of the places where we tried to settle was Sweden.
We lived in the middle of nature, and both of us liked the peace, quiet and privacy we had. We also enjoyed being involved in renovations, taking care of our property, and making our place cozy. Yet at first, there were the challenges of not speaking the language, trying to make ends meet, and loneliness.We left our home for a while to get jobs, and when we came back, though some of the challenges were still there, we now had online jobs and studies, which helped us with meeting our expenses and keeping our minds busy.Over the course of a year, our home was transformed, but deep inside, we didn’t feel fulfilled. Winters were heavy for our mental health, and travelling away for a longer period of time was not that simple. We could hear our neighbours say: “You’ve accomplished a lot in a short time, but you will see that the work on your property will never end.” And we could not agree more.
In the warm months, we were in constant war with nature, which was steadily trying to overtake every square meter of our property that we had cleaned up. Also, keeping those houses up north warm in the cold months requires lots of energy, and leaving them unheated for winter would often lead to damage, even when one takes all the necessary precautions. Eventually, realizing the burden of the ongoing costs for our property, we decided to sell it. We shared our plans with close friends of ours, who did not believe in God at that time, and, to our surprise, they said they wished they could do the same, hoping that a different lifestyle could make the difference for them. It turned out that deep inside, after years of having what seemed to be a dream life, they were not satisfied. Maintaining and improving their property kept them busy and seemed to have given them the illusion of a purpose, but not the real thing, and definitely not the satisfaction they had expected.We left Sweden with only what we could fit into our car, crossed Europe, dropped off our few bulkier possessions with family, and went to Asia. Soon, we ended up being digital nomads. It was not what we had initially planned—we actually wanted to rent an apartment and live in one place for years to come, yet because of closed or not fully open doors of opportunity, digital nomading is what we ended up with.For two years, we were on the move every few weeks to a few months while being involved in mostly online studies and jobs. This allowed us to experience both the joys and challenges of digital nomading. While it was fun to move, meet new and old friends, and see places, we were so busy with our online activities that there was little time to make the most of the places where we were. Besides, being constantly on the move was making us physically and emotionally tired.
One day, I was looking online at a country we were considering moving to. I came across a vlogger who was sharing the depressive feelings he experienced after visiting an exceptionally beautiful site. He said that though he had expected to enjoy that day, he couldn’t. He had just seen too many good places, which, he believed, eventually had made him numb to enjoying travel at that time. He said he felt an emptiness which he thought could be resolved by being settled in a more boring place where he could have a routine again.I could relate to that vlogger so much. I’ll always be thankful for the experiences I have had, yet some of them didn’t satisfy me as much as expected. As a firm believer in God, I’ve never really experienced a deep sense of meaninglessness, but I have often caught myself thinking: “If there was no God, if I had no hope for eternity and no purpose bigger than myself, life would eventually feel so empty, pointless and depressing.” Those thoughts have also been expressed in the Bible:
“Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless.”What do people gain from all their laborsat which they toil under the sun?”Ecclesiastes 1:2,3, NIV
These words were penned by a man regarded in the Bible as the wisest man on earth. He concluded that while getting what we want could feel fulfilling for a while, it does not truly satisfy us in the long run. One can build a family, settle and fill their home with good things, or be on the move and experience all the excitement they possibly could, yet sooner or later they will ask themselves: “What’s the purpose of what I am doing? And is this all there is?”
Thank God, there is more—we were created for knowing God, which according to the Bible is what eternal life is all about (John 17:3). We were created to live forever, in an eternal loving relationship with the one who Created the universe; we’ve been created for a purpose bigger than ourselves and whenever we get caught up in chasing after things smaller than that purpose, we can expect that sooner or later we will face the meaninglessness of “chasing after the wind”; we will end up having some of those good experiences that will leave us unexpectedly unsatisfied. Why is that? Here’s how the Bible puts it:“For my people [God speaking] have done two evil things: They have abandoned me—the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!”
Jeremiah 2:13, NLTWhenever we put our greatest hopes and expectations for fulfillment on anything other than God, we’re exchanging him, the Lifesource—“the fountain of living water”—for cisterns that “cannot hold water”. When we find ourselves living for ourselves and God is out of the picture, we’re on a mission of trying to gain something we can never keep; we’re paying a high cost for an investment that will not yield adequate returns:
What I learned in the few short years of trying to find purpose and fulfillment—whether in chasing after security and possessions, or new, exciting experiences—was that none of these bring lasting fulfillment. In fact, both of these lifestyles have at times been a snare for me—an all-consuming obsession which has taken my attention from what really matters in my life and for eternity. I also learned that the choices I am making daily will have eternal consequences not only for me, but also on those I love and come in contact with.
The joy I have found building a relationship with God as a real person, just like with my husband, has no equal. It’s nothing in comparison to the short-lived pleasure of anything I have experienced in my life, and I can only encourage you to get closer to the God of the Bible yourself and discover what He has in store for you personally.
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