"I crave change," writes UK blogger and expat extraordinaire in Sydney, Russell Ward. "I used to be something of a change embracer. Over the past decade, I changed location, house, even my passport. It's not always been smooth sailing, often emotionally fraught, generally riddled with unknowns. On balance though, change has been a good thing and key to the process of moving forward. I've found one aspect of my life difficult to change. My working life." I hear you, Russell.
Thanks for inviting me to comment on your post to share a little about my work on this topic. That's what I've pasted below.
You're right, location independence is a very attractive concept.
I started following the lifestyle design and location independent movements a few years back, because they were pioneering a solution to a problem I'd long had as a serial expat/repat/person who moves a lot and has what I call multiple cultural personalities.
How to bridge all those worlds, how to be myself and live a life that feels right even if/when I have no support around me to do that. Ultimately, solving this problem has become my work.
I pinpointed that location independence works best for people like me by allowing us to remain where we are and yet live a life unlimited by that.
We're here for lots of reasons. Kids's school. Close to family. Some choice we made in the past that we're not ready to dissolve today. Lots of reasons.
But just because we're here and it's not the ideal place for us to pursue our dreams doesn't mean we have to defer our dreams. We've got a lot of tools available to us today that help us hurdle limitations like geography and time zone and culture.
Anyway, that's a bit of why Tara and are focusing on helping people live better where they are.
How?
By reshaping our opportunities with the social web & mobile tech. We created an empowerment program which takes you through the process we've developed based on a combined 25 years of expatriatism, and our professional backgrounds in culture, media, info tech and psychology.
Sound like quite a stew? Yeah, creating your global niche is about using everything you've already got.
I am rooting for you, Russell, and everyone else who wants to do what they love no matter where they are.