No-Anxiety Stories. Chapter 20: The Weightless Home
Ida was calling from a retreat in the Carpathians. “I’m on my boundaries,” she laughed. “Mentally, energetically - all of them.”
We weren’t supposed to talk long, but her voice held a clarity I wanted to catch.
She’d left homeland nearly 20 years ago, lived in the U.S., Latin America, and – for the last seven years – everywhere and nowhere. “Digital nomad, always,” she shrugged. “I don’t have a permanent place, just a set of coordinates that rotate.”
But freedom isn’t the same as calm.
“The stress wasn’t about language or documents – it was the thousand micro-decisions that living on the move demands: where’s your coffee shop, who’s your emergency contact, which number do you even use today?”
The Mental Burn of Relocation
Nomadic life isn’t chaos – it’s choreography without a floor. Ida named what many feel but don’t articulate:
Constant recalibration costs energy.
Connections fray when no location becomes “home.”
Messages pile up. Guilt for not answering builds.
“You feel like everyone’s waiting for you – on three continents. The ‘When are you back?’ question becomes a kind of echo that makes it hard to land anywhere.”
🌀 Reflect: When does movement become avoidance? What’s the cost of belonging nowhere?
She tried to build three bases – a triangle of sun and familiarity. “Not for the aesthetics,” she clarified. “I just crash without sunlight.” Winter was more than a season; it was a shutdown signal.
Logistics vs. Longing
The overwhelm wasn’t just about shampoo or sim cards – it was the psychic noise of constant transition:
You have to rebuild every system: groceries, gym, friends, paperwork.
And that leaves little room for deeper questions:
“When you’re stuck on ‘Where do I eat?’ it’s hard to ask, ‘What do I want to create?’”
🌀 Reflect: Are your executive functions eaten by survival tasks? Would routine free you up for meaning?
The Emotional Tax of Not-Choosing
Behind the freedom came its shadow:
“If I stay too long, I disappoint one group. If I keep moving, I lose them all.”
There was a constant trade-off between presence and absence, stability and regret. And the oldest fear beneath it?“Rejection. That I won’t belong. That my people won’t wait.”
But she’s learning to let go of the need to respond to every ping. “If they’re my people, they’ll still be there.”
The Science of Fear
We ended up talking evolution.
“We’re built to scan for threats,” she said. “Not to bask in what’s working. So fear sticks. And algorithms love fear – they monetize it. But growth? That’s up to us.”
She’s working on this:
Rewiring default worry loops.
Practicing presence in one location at a time.
Honoring her energy instead of stretching it to every timezone.
Her No-Anxiety Practice
Plan, then Play – “If I have dates and anchors, I relax.”
Release the Echo Chamber – Not everyone needs an update.
Return to the Body – Retreats, movement, sunshine – her nervous system’s actual friends.
Mental Health Literacy – Fear isn’t a flaw; it’s a function. “Now I ask: is this evolutionary wiring or actual danger?”
ACTION ITEM
Map your "logistical anxieties" vs. "existential fears." How many of them need action, and how many need naming?
🌀 Reflect: When your external systems are unstable, what becomes your home inside?
Belonging, Rewritten
“The scariest thing I ever did was leave home at 19,” Ida said. “But the real courage? It was staying with myself when nothing else stayed put.”
💡 What You Might Take from Ida’s Story
Having no permanent address doesn’t mean you lack orientation. Internal clarity can anchor you anywhere.
Overwhelm isn’t weakness – it’s often unacknowledged labor.
Guilt is not a compass. Distance doesn’t equal neglect.
You don’t need to be everywhere to matter to the people who matter.
“I used to think I had to answer every message to prove I cared,” Ida admitted. “Now I know presence isn’t proven by replies. It’s felt through alignment.”
Thanks for reading.
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