A wave of women in their 40s and beyond abandoning their traditional security trappings for a nomadic, adventure-ready lifestyle? Do I see the beginnings of an awakening?
Yes, I think warily of the adage: “We all see what we want to see.” As many of you know, I took a month in Vietnam earlier this year, specifically with a group of digital nomads. But in a group of mostly people in their 20s and 30s, with a splash of early 40s for added flavor, in my late 50s I was definitely an elder outlier. So what makes me think there’s something changing in the air today?
Women adopting the nomadic lifestyle:
Eight months later, my conversations with women – in person and via social media – are inflamed by the over-50 crowd embracing this nomadic lifestyle. This feels like a movement, a quiet revolution, and I’m all ears.
Within our Kuel Life Thought Leader community, I have witnessed this first hand. Amy Palmer, our intrepid BluePrint Breaker, writes his wisdom wherever the wind takes him. No permanent address, just lots of perspective. And as I write these words, I virtually bid farewell to our thought leader of gratitude, Lori Saitzwhich exchanges the familiar for the unfamiliar.
But the intrigue doesn’t end there. This morning I heard from a few other women I know who are embarking on their own nomadic journey. It’s as if the universe is whispering in their ear, urging them to explore, to break free from the limits of routine. What is behind this surge? Is this the new zeitgeist for us women in our second act?
Ready for our tour:
We’ve done the heavy lifting. We raised our children (if we chose to have them), maintained relationships, and for some, even untangled ourselves from marriages that no longer served us. We discovered the truth: we are not here to act as caretakers to adult partners. It’s a revelation that becomes crystal clear once the last chick has left the nest. And in our spare time, we built empires, dabbled in side hustles, and embraced entrepreneurship. The pandemic may have caused upheaval, but it has also shown us that our impact transcends borders. We can create, inspire and lead from anywhere on this glorious planet. And I mean anywhere.
As someone who has prioritized travel her whole life, I struggle with my urge. The romantic allure of floating through the world, untethered from those coveted attributes of childhood; the house, the car, the children, the piles of Tupperware tug at my soul. Why do we need so much Tupperware?
Can we have it all?
Yet here I am, caught in my self-imposed conundrum. I chose partnership, a conscious decision to share this crazy adventure with someone by my side. And my partner chosen for various reasons does not always accompany me on my adventures. The question that comes to mind is one that many of us ponder: how do we find that harmonious balance? Can I have the stability of a grounded relationship and the untamed spirit of a wanderer?
I think one of the greatest gifts women have been given at this point in history is to make them aware of the idea that we don’t need to fit a particular societal mold. Many of us, myself included, began our journey with a checklist, physical or otherwise, of what we needed to accomplish and/or need to consider ourselves successful women. We feel like we are now in a position to make a new decision and, if we are lucky, we have the health and financial means to make those decisions.
And then there’s the question of Tupperware. Why, oh why, do we amass mountains of them? It’s like a silent army in our closets, a testament to our practicality and our tendency to overprepare. Perhaps amid this newfound freedom, it’s time to reevaluate my Tupperware collection. A symbolic abandonment of the old for the promise of the unknown.
This article was originally published on Kuellife.com and was syndicated by MediaFeed.org