Evelyn Anim
The Nomadic Abstract Artist
no·mad
ˈnōˌmad/
noun
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a member of a people having no permanent abode, and who travel from place to
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place to find fresh pasture for their livestock.
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a person who does not stay long in the same place; a wanderer.
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synonyms: itinerant, traveler, migrant, wanderer, roamer, rover;
HOW DID I BECOME A NOMAD?
This is going to be a long one, so grab your beverage of choice whether it be tea, coffee or a glass of wine!
Becoming a Nomad wasn't something I planned. Even after watching YouTube videos featuring
a variety of people living alternate livestyles. Below are examples of alternatives homes and lifestyles that I find really inspiring. They definitely had an influence on my current lifestyle.
Cars, RVS, vans, trucks, camper vans, old school buses, ambulances, railway carriages and many more types of vehicles converted into mobile homes.
The tiny house movement is huge all over the world!
Many examples of the humble shipping container being given a new lease of life and
becoming beautiful unique homes for their new owners.
The ingenuity of the human mind knows no bounds and there are companies that have built homes and hotels from water pipes! Known as low cost micro housing, they are ideal for embracing the minamalist lifestyle.
The younger generation (millenials) are opting to share combined living and working spaces to save on costs and to enjoy a community style setting through coliving/cohousing/podshares and other cohousing options.
I love seeing so many people choosing to be no longer be trapped by the 9-5 paradigm, high rents and mortgages. They are choosing to live alternative lifestyles that give them incredible FLEXIBILITY and FREEDOM! Collabrative consumption and coworking/coliving/cohousing is definitely the way forward!
It´s not just how we live that is being redefined but also how we work! Many people have become digital nomads and work on the move, travelling around the same country or through
a variety of countries across the world and working wherever there is a WIFI connection. The internet has made these lifestyle options possible and much easier as people can work from
anywhere and easily connect with other nomads and like minded people..
Digital Nomads/Location Independent Workers get to enjoy travelling the world, meeting new people while working jobs they love whether it be a heart centered business, design, or
blogging.
Anway back to my story...I ended up in Costa Rica from Bournemouth completely unplanned due to what I believed to be a mid life crisis! In actuality it was spirit guiding me to Costa Rica to discover and embark on my soul purpose! It started with me seeing repeating number sequences starting with the infamous 11.11 coupled with other spiritual experiences.
Lets go back a little bit...at the end of October 2017 I found myself finishing a job that wasn't fulfilling. At the same time the weather was getting very cold, the mornings and evenings were pitch black so it was hard getting up in the dark and going home in the dark. I remembering thinking that I needed some SUN and wasn't prepared to look for another job that wasn´t fulfilling in cold depressing weather!
Now normally I am someone plans everything in advance with every aspect taken care of and
so it was a HUGE LEAP for me to come out to Costa Rica where I didn´t know anyone or speak
a word of Spanish. But I was so fed up that it led me to being spontaneous and booking a one way flight out to Costa Rica.
I arrived in Costa Rica with very little money (which run out after three weeks) and no idea what
I was going to do with myself!
During my whole transformation I have been living an EXCHANGE lifestyle which started with Hostel Casa Del Parque in San Jose where my accomodation, food, laundry and WI-FI were all included for working six hours a day on on the reception five days a week. Spirit guided me to this opportunity
through the Workaway website.
So for the past year and a half( up till August 2019) I´ve had the luxury of not having to pay any rent or bills!
Although the exchange lifestyle has had its challenges it has been absolutely bliss to not have
dealt with any rent or bill payments.
During this time I have learned to live with very little money and to be content with very few posessions. I am very much inspired by Daniel Suelo and Mark Boyle who take it to the next level as they live MONEYLESS!
They both reminded me that more and more people are becoming Freegan and more individuals and groups are Dumpster Diving and rescuing perfectly good food that has been thrown away from company bins for their own use and to help others. See links page for more information.
Alternative ways of living such as work exchange, sharing/collaborative/gift/barter/resource based economies and cashless economic systems are of great interest to me and I want to incorporate them into my life wherever possible and as often as possible. I enjoy offering my time, skills and services to benefit others.
Over the past few years the way people raise money for business, projects and personal use has also changed and now are many options including peer to peer/sharing opportunities.
Examples
Peer-to-peer business services - Alibaba
Social lending - GoFundMe, Patreon
Peer-to-peer accomodations - Airbnb, Couch Surfingg
Peer-to-peer travel experiences - Spinlister, Turo, Vayable
Peer-to-peer task assignments travel advising
Car Sharing - Uber, Lyft
Commute-bus sharing
Business and freelancers are now starting to offer pay what you want options based on gift economy/sacred economics. I´ve experienced a simple example of this via a free walking
tour I took part in in San Jose. The Tour guides always ask for a donation which is not
mandatory and the walkers have the choice of how much to give if at all. I didn't have much money but gave what I could afford, I actually wanted to give more as I really enjoyed the tour and the thought that the tour guide was excellent!
I loved all my experiences at Hostel Casa Del Parque (HCDP) incuding meeting some amazing people and coming to the realisation that Spirit is encouraging me to share healing knowledge and alternative ways of living. It's also during my time at HCDP that I learnt about my psychic abilities, my strongest is my claircognizance. It´s been interesting to learn
about them especially clairaudience and clairsentience. I´ve had expriences showing me that
my abilties are opening up and I am enjoying learning how to use them to help other people.
It's fitting that the logo of the hostel is a butterfly as the butterfly and the humming bird are amongst my spirit animals.
My time at HCDP involved me returning back to raw vegan eating but before that I was expressing my creativity by cooking delicious vegan meals that I shared with the other volunteers and a special guest I became close friends with who then went on to become
vegan. I also started creating beautiful, bold and colourful abstract art on cardboard using nail varnish as it was the most affordable medium for someone living with as little money as possible!
Living the nomadic lifestyle is amazing but not without it's challenges! I have chosen not to
earn a salary as I would like my skills and services to be accessible to all regardless of income
or status.
Please look at my exchange page to see the skills and services I offer and my donation
wish list. Of course I am more than happy to provide a service without a donation but if you
are in a position to give a donation´or have a product or service to exchange then thats
a bonus!
CHECK OUT THE THE NOMADIC HEALING ARTISTS WISHLIST