I’m a terrible digital nomad

But like you, dear reader, I have responsibilities. A young family, a mortgage, after-school clubs, and endless life payments. I’m no digital nomad. Even if I could, I couldn’t.

The truth is, I can’t work on just a laptop. I need my comforts, a second screen, a proper mouse, and a good chair and desk setup. My workspace has to be ergonomic! A full day hunched over a laptop in a cafe playing tasteful lo-fi beats? Not happening.

That said, I’ve used a laptop as my main computer most of my freelancing life. Although my first freelance machine was a glorious iMac. I bought the base model and upgraded the RAM myself - back when it was still possible.

One of the reasons i’ve always preferred a laptop is portability. In theory, I could pick up and go - work in a co-working space, or sit in a cafe like I’m doing right now. But in the 20 years of self-employment, I can count of one hand then number of times I’ve actually done this. I’m a terrible digital nomad.

Most days, I carry my laptop into the office, plug into an external monitor and push through. I’ll often try to get in early and if something is pressing (it usually is), I’ll pop back to the office after dinner. Not great.

But today, Friday 26th September, something shifted. This month has been brutal - early starts, late finishes, constant pressure. I’m not the invincible 25-year-old I was when I started D3 Creative. Last night it hit me: the kind of tired sick feeling I've not felt since the kids were babies (hello 3am).

So this morning, I gave myself permission to stop feeling guilty. To actually use the portability I pay for but never exploit. It was a beautiful morning, the sun was shining the air had a crispness to it.

I jumped on my steel horse - my trusty Claude Butler bike (it’s seen better days) - and cycled into Heaton Moor. At Pokusevskis, over lunch, I had the urge to write and share something.

It sounds a bit wanky, but it’s true. Since updating this website, I finally feel proud of it. It represents me properly, Getting here meant treating it like a client project - it took over 100 hours to write, design, develop and optimise - but it was worth it. Now I can draft a little post like this and hit publish with ease.

And maybe that’s what ‘nomad life’ looks like for me. Not working from beaches or far-off cities, but taking small freedoms when I can and being more kind to myself.

I’m looking forward to the weekend. My little boy (age 6) has recently learned to ride his bike. After a rocky start, a few failed atempts, and a nasty face-to-pavement fall last year that understandably shook his confidence, he’s back on the saddle and it’s finally clicked. Seeing him ride makes me so happy - I loved riding when I was kid.

Tomorrow I’ll buy him a new set of brakes (only the back one works right now - bad dad) and we’ll head out for a short spin with his big sister (age 10) on the Fallowfield Loop. A different kind of journey, but one that feels just an important as any I could take with a laptop.

Is this an SEO-optimsed blog post about web design and development? Nope. And that’s not the point. I want to put more of me into this site. It’s a bit rambly and off-topic - and that’s ok. This is exactly what a blog post should be: not polished over optimised corporate nonsense written for search engines, but something written for people.