I find myself in Tbilisi, Georgia. The country. I'm in a digital nomad capital. I've been living out of a suitcase and doing online work for a little over 3 months now. It's a marvel how I got here.
I sold my house, packed up all my belongings and began teaching online. Not necessarily in that order. Then I found a cat sitting gig in France and bought a plane ticket that I justified as being about the same as I would pay for rent in the US, so it was the cost of a month's housing in France. Then I meandered to Cyprus, and now I'm in Tbilisi.
But the story isn't that easy. It starts with how I got married to who I thought was the man of my dreams. He promised to be everything I had been waiting for. Then he wasn't. Not even close. I'm still untangling what happened. But, he was the catapult.
I couldn't live with him anymore. Not if I wanted to be able to stay sane. I was having panic attacks and in the worst mental state I have ever experienced. The day I moved just a suitcase out and back to my old house was so hard. But, my whole countenance changed between our shared apartment and opening the door to my house.
Then I had to navigate life from that point. As I could start thinking more clearly, I still had to work on facing the reality that I was married, but totally own my own. He wouldn't lift a finger to help me do anything to sell the house, pay a medical bill, or even encourage me in the work I had been doing when we met. He told me I needed a real job. He told me I'd be happier if I was busier. He told me that I stole from him when we had a tax bill to pay.
That was a hard reality to face. I still have trouble believing that it's possible to be married and think that way. But it was the catapult.
I took a look at my finances, only mine since we weren't a team, and realized that I had to have a way to earn money quick. But I was also fairly incapacitated by the emotional stress I was enduring still. Somehow, I found online teaching and began doing conversations for pay with students from around the world. As I got more stable from the income and the time away from the man who was emotionally abusing me, I was able to work more.
Then a friend offered to let me house-sit her AirBnB while I worked online. In the time I was house sitting, my own house sold. Then I was effectively homeless. I bounced around for a couple of weeks before I applied for a cat sitting gig in France. And now, I'm in Tbilisi.
After so many years ago of wanting to teach online and become a digital nomad, here I am. All because of the catapult.
I sold my house, packed up all my belongings and began teaching online. Not necessarily in that order. Then I found a cat sitting gig in France and bought a plane ticket that I justified as being about the same as I would pay for rent in the US, so it was the cost of a month's housing in France. Then I meandered to Cyprus, and now I'm in Tbilisi.
But the story isn't that easy. It starts with how I got married to who I thought was the man of my dreams. He promised to be everything I had been waiting for. Then he wasn't. Not even close. I'm still untangling what happened. But, he was the catapult.
I couldn't live with him anymore. Not if I wanted to be able to stay sane. I was having panic attacks and in the worst mental state I have ever experienced. The day I moved just a suitcase out and back to my old house was so hard. But, my whole countenance changed between our shared apartment and opening the door to my house.
Then I had to navigate life from that point. As I could start thinking more clearly, I still had to work on facing the reality that I was married, but totally own my own. He wouldn't lift a finger to help me do anything to sell the house, pay a medical bill, or even encourage me in the work I had been doing when we met. He told me I needed a real job. He told me I'd be happier if I was busier. He told me that I stole from him when we had a tax bill to pay.
That was a hard reality to face. I still have trouble believing that it's possible to be married and think that way. But it was the catapult.
I took a look at my finances, only mine since we weren't a team, and realized that I had to have a way to earn money quick. But I was also fairly incapacitated by the emotional stress I was enduring still. Somehow, I found online teaching and began doing conversations for pay with students from around the world. As I got more stable from the income and the time away from the man who was emotionally abusing me, I was able to work more.
Then a friend offered to let me house-sit her AirBnB while I worked online. In the time I was house sitting, my own house sold. Then I was effectively homeless. I bounced around for a couple of weeks before I applied for a cat sitting gig in France. And now, I'm in Tbilisi.
After so many years ago of wanting to teach online and become a digital nomad, here I am. All because of the catapult.
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