After quitting and living globally for 5 years, I discovered life is not wilderness, but...

"Is life wilderness or a track?"

Five years ago, we took this question and actively chose to quit our jobs and start a global living life. At that time, we had a very simple wish: we wanted to see the world and verify whether there really are more possibilities in life.

This decision took us from an established track and threw us into life's wilderness. From Latin America to Bali, from Thailand to China, then to Nepal and Europe. Over five years, we transformed from full-time travelers to online-working digital nomads, then to full-time content creators.

But now looking back at these five years, I suddenly realized that in the seemingly free wilderness, we were actually doing two very clear things: one was visiting countries that fascinated us, trying to find a more suitable place to live; the other was working hard to decouple income from geographic location, seeking new ways to survive in the internet age.

However, in this process, we experienced huge challenges—self-doubt, excitement and joy, setbacks, and relief. What did these five-plus years teach us? Where does wilderness-like freedom ultimately lead? Maybe you're on a track longing for the wilderness sky, or you've already entered the wilderness and started exploring. I think our experience will definitely help you.

The truth of free life: no money, anxiety

Pan: For me, when I first quit, I probably didn't think too much, but now looking back at the past five-plus years, I think I've gone through quite a big change in my mindset.

After reaching the wilderness, first I experienced that the wilderness does have some wonderful aspects—freedom. We went to many countries, started with RV travel, really liked this feeling of being able to deeply live in a country, so it actually gave us motivation first—I want to continue this lifestyle, forcing ourselves to figure out how to make money ourselves, rather than depending on a company. Wanting to do this is one thing, but the process is very difficult.

Ding: After staying in the wilderness for a while, I actually started getting anxious. My anxiety was because although I had some savings, when there's no income for a long time, you still panic. And at that time we tried doing content creation, but the views weren't particularly high, and followers weren't growing very fast, which was very frustrating.

Pan: You were physically in the wilderness, but your heart was still on the track.

Ding: Yes. When we were working at a company, the company gave us money very stably every month, but when the two of us were living outside on our own, we actually had to figure out how to make money ourselves, and there was no safety net, so we were always in a very unstable situation. A lot of my thinking actually changed—I had to start learning financial thinking, like investment and financial management. When I was working, I might have only focused on my professional skills, but my financial intelligence was completely missing. Later I started reading some very basic books, including "Rich Dad Poor Dad", and later "The Almanack of Naval Ravikant". These books all helped me think about this part.

Pan: I think you could also say that in the wilderness, we were forced to learn more skills. In continuing this nomadic life, the skill of making money work for you is so important.

The beauty and advancement of wilderness: cognitive elevation, self-exploitation

Pan: Also, after experiencing the wilderness, my understanding of life forms is richer. Living in the city, I really couldn't imagine what kind of life I would live in the future. The pressure was huge, very confusing, and I was unhappy every day.

Later when we started living in some of those communities we mentioned before in Guatemala, that's when I truly realized that there might really be some very different ways to live in this world. Their way of living is really completely different from in the city—it's not a system at all. They don't work, they might have found a very cheap value depression, and it's a beautiful place, using things they love to do to support their life, and forming a tribal feeling. I was very impressed by the community we lived in in Guatemala—it was very beautiful. The key was its owner really loved yoga, writing, and music. Because I had also studied yoga before, when I went there I thought, wow, there are actually people living this kind of life. I think I also want to live this kind of life, I can also live this kind of life—it expanded my imagination of life. What might not be possible on the original track actually has other ways to achieve it, or there are other tracks.

I also know that now many social media say the first batch of people who went to the wilderness have come back to work, but as someone who's really been through it, having these five years in my life, I think it's very worthwhile, very not regrettable.

Ding: Actually, what I can't understand is why people who've experienced the wilderness would go back to work.

Pan: I can understand. Because the wilderness isn't suitable for everyone. For example, I think we two are naturally more freedom-oriented, freedom has a higher priority. But for some people, they might be more stable, need more security. Maybe they quit just because they were too tired—they just needed rest. After they recover, they can go back. I think not working doesn't mean time freedom. After reaching the wilderness, I think time management and energy management are even bigger problems.

Ding: And I think especially after starting your own business, even just doing freelancing yourself, it's easy to fall into a state of self-exploitation, working all day long, because you have to be responsible for your own results.

Pan: I think self-exploitation might already be the approach of very hardworking people. To be honest, for digital nomads, I think travel is a huge temptation. Often you want to go play, but then you also have to work, and in the end you don't play well and don't work well either. Also, when working at a company, the company has a quitting time, and there's an environment providing you with a stable work routine, but when you're free, you completely have to manage yourself.

Ding: This requires very high self-drive.

Pan: It's not just self-drive—I think this is a skill that needs to be learned. Later I also paid attention to energy management and time management. Behind this, it needs to be learned, and it also involves your psychological and emotional state. Because you don't have to go to work, at home if your emotions aren't good, you can't work.

How to find your own path in the wilderness?

Ding: When we left that track, which new path should I choose?

Pan: There are also many paths in the wilderness. I think there was a stage in the middle where we both realized that becoming digital nomads, to be honest, means entering a track. We would go to cities with many digital nomads, go to coffee shops and coworking spaces with many digital nomads.

People will eventually return to some track. What kind of person will you become? There will definitely be people similar to you in this world. You'll meet these people and form some kind of track. It's just that this track isn't the so-called traditional one that everyone knows about.

Ding: I don't know how you choose your track. I think we definitely have big differences.

For me, one possibility is that I prefer to be with people who have similar interests. I want to try to see if I can turn my interests into a new path I'll walk in the future. Second, I guide my life through some books. When reading "The Almanack of Naval Ravikant", Naval highly recommended a book called "The Sovereign Individual". It describes a group of people in the future called sovereign individuals—people who have truly taken back various sovereignties in this world. They can live very freely around the world, and they have very good financial foundations. All their money-making businesses are built online. They don't need to be trapped anywhere. In my current understanding, I think they are a relatively high-level, powerful existence among nomadic people. Maybe I've taken the people described in that book as guidance for moving forward in my career or lifestyle.

Pan: I think I'm influenced by two directions. One is the experiences during offline living—you can meet different people. For example, when we were in Bali, we interviewed our friend Yating who runs a school in Bali. She's been living this nomadic life for 10 years with her two children. Seeing her life state affects me and makes me want to become such a person too. Second is my own life state. Because we've been exploring for 5 years, it's actually something that can be reviewed. When you review these five years and compare them to when you were working before, if your life state is better, then why would I go back?

Ding: I think in the workplace, actually many people around you have very low life states because they're being exploited. But in those places with community atmosphere that we go to, actually many people we meet have really high energy. One reason is definitely that travel makes everyone happy, so they really do have high energy. Also, there are some people who are really doing well on this unconventional path.

Pan: Or who have found their true life mission. I think of Mofwoofoo, the founder of an eco-community we lived with in Ecuador. He's passed away now. When we met him, he was already over 70 years old, still full of curiosity about the world, happy every day. He really loved dancing, really loved singing, and he was still learning Spanish. I would think his life state is so enviable, and I think that would be a direction—I must do what I love, find ways to realize my dreams.

In the wilderness, you must build your own support system

Ding: When we went back to Shanghai a couple years ago, I felt that I was actually a bit disconnected from that Shanghai environment. Originally, when I was working in Shanghai or Hangzhou, I had a stable circle around me—colleagues or friends. But after entering the wilderness, gradually our life trajectories diverged. I felt like I was missing those people who could live stably.

Another point is that I think Shanghai actually doesn't really suit my current state anymore. That's why we went to check out Dali, we investigated many domestic villages, we also went to Europe to check it out, and Nepal, to see if there were places more suitable for us to live. In the process of nomadism, it's hard to stop. You always feel like there might be a better place worth exploring in the distance. This leads to both physical and mental exhaustion because we're always drifting.

Pan: And this will keep you in a state of never being satisfied.

Ding: I discovered that for nomadic people, it's also very necessary to be able to at least semi-root in one place, to have some stable circles locally as a support system in life.

Pan: For example, before why did we choose Shanghai? Because our life vision was still work-centered. Big cities have more work resources. After we went to the wilderness, then we had to choose a home for ourselves, anchor ourselves in an environment where we want to live and grow. People all need a home. What does this home represent? It's your connection to the local place—the food I eat, the weather here, what the neighbors around are like. Even though it's just one or two kilometers, its impact on your quality of life is very, very significant.

After you've been nomadic for maybe 3 years, maybe shorter or longer, you'll consider this question. Where do you want to make your base? That is, where do you want to live for longer periods each year, returning to your own life itself.

Many friends around us ask if we feel lonely when nomadic and drifting abroad. Because we two are after all a small family, we don't feel this deeply, but I think it's still very necessary. Everyone who wants to go to the wilderness should establish their own "emotional support system" as early as possible. Otherwise, it's easy to feel lonely and adrift, and you might not be able to persist, because people are after all social animals.

I think my support system mainly comes from like-minded people. For example, my original colleagues, or classmates and teachers from when I later studied yoga. When nomadic abroad, I actually also have regular video calls and phone calls with them. I think this is very important. Second is recommending that you can learn something while living abroad. Classmates are actually a relatively weaker relationship, but you still have some interaction. Third support system—we often visit friends when living abroad, gradually everyone has formed a "nomadic network."

You can consciously build your support system according to your situation. Otherwise, it's really miserable being alone in the wilderness being blown by the wind.

Is life wilderness or a track?

Ding: Actually, after all these years, my view is that life is not wilderness. Including the past year or two, I've been thinking that I need a "path" now, but this path doesn't have to be a track. It might be some life path I'm willing to dedicate myself to.

Also, it seems like when we reached the wilderness, our choices increased, but actually as we age, the freedom we can choose is actually decreasing. These past two years we've clearly felt that our parents are getting old, our grandparents are getting old. Why do I choose to stay in Thailand now? It's actually because going home is convenient.

So I think, if you really want to go to the wilderness, first be prepared that the wilderness isn't that great, and second, I think it's better to do it early—the cost of trial and error will be lower.

Pan: My own thinking is that I think life has no standard answer. I hope everyone finds their own life answer. Whether your answer is a track or wilderness, or another train track or car track, when you feel you want to try, then try. Don't take other people's answers as your standard answer.

Ding: Finally, we also want to advertise ourselves. We recently published a new handbook called "From 0 to 1: Becoming a Global Living Expert". If you're interested in global living life, welcome to purchase our handbook. Also, we've always had a nomadic community. If you're also interested in the nomadic lifestyle, welcome to join.

See you in the next content.