Well loyal readers (all 8 of you), it has now been a cool 14 full days since I sailed into Montréal and dropped anchor as a fresh faced digital nomad.  2 weeks into this new life in a temporary new city I can say without a crumb of doubt that this is exactly the life I am meant to live.

I chose this path with conviction.  Attacked the logistics and planning with confidence and agency.  It may just be the single most effective pattern of goal meeting in my 45 years on the planet.  I put the nomad life in my sights and attacked it like a bat out of hell.

Who’s to say a bat out of heaven isn’t wilder than a bat out of hell?

But I couldn’t possibly be COMPLETELY sure that this was going to be right for me until I was in it.  I know I love to travel and am my best self when I open up to new connections in new places trying new things.  But aside from a week in Florida at my family’s condo back in February, I have only lived this experience on vacation.  Hitting the full send button on nomad-ing is a different beast than working from a vacation home I’ve known my whole life.  

There was fear, moments of doubt and questioning.  There were times when my asshole brain ran through all the possible pitfalls of my decisions.

But I plowed forward anyway.  And while I’m certainly not on vacation in Montréal for 5 weeks I have found the balance of energy that makes this the absolute best possible lifestyle for me – vacation AND new home energy.

And I get to refresh that bitch as often as I damn well please.  Sweet, sweet music to my Lush Life listening ears.   

It’s the best of both worlds – I have all of the pulsating anticipation to pursue the adventures and side quests I’d get into if I were vacationing minus the completely unnecessary self inflicted nervous system overload of trying to fill every minute of my agenda to maximize my time.

The incredibly interesting thing is that having 5 weeks vs. 5 days doesn’t mean I’m going to see and do everything that a proper City of Saints tourist is supposed to do.  

But it does afford me peace and contentment into how and where I spend my energy and what I choose to do or not. Regardless of the laundry list of touristy to-dos.  

I’m finding just as much intrigue and wonder in new routines – different grocery shopping experiences, places to go after work, parks to walk through, neighborhoods to saunter around, meeting fellow coworking space peeps, barkeeps at sports bars (it is the World Cup after all) and random folks I strike up a chat with.  I’m getting to build completely fresh life rhythms.

Some people would say that differently – that I HAVE to reconstruct my daily life.  I love that shit.  It’s a chance for me to poke holes in what I’ve been doing and upgrade, remove, adjust, trim the fat…whatever feels right. 

And beyond recreating my daily life, Montréal is a fantastic city to be the first of many stops on this nomad train because it offers so much variety in all things.  It is hands down, by far the most diverse place I’ve ever been to providing a bottomless pit for my insatiable curiosity to fall into.

I walk 35ish minutes to and from my office everyday and I pass by folks of all different colors, races, backgrounds, ethnicities, religions and poutine preferences.  

To say this city is a melting pot doesn’t do it justice.  It’s much closer to a “suicide” from the days of yore only upgraded by one of those new fangled softdrink dispensing abominations you find in fast food restaurants and movie theaters nowadays.

You know, when you poured a little taste from every soda available in your cup?

I walk down the street and hear 5 different languages in the span of a few blocks while seeing 10 restaurants serving up local dishes from 7 countries across 5 different continents.

In 2 weeks I have visited an Australian themed meat pie joint, introduced a German friend to Saganaki AND Hooters in a span of 24 hours, enjoyed Yemeni food, eaten Sri Lankan fried rice and exquisite lamb dumplings in Chinatown from a place that only takes cash.  

Always go to the dumpling place that only takes cash.

And I have also done some of the touristy vacation things –  I’ve climbed Mount Royal, gone to two National Parks, visited the famous boat turned into spa Bota Bota.  I’ve walked through Old Montréal and the Old Port, I’ve eaten bagels from St. Viateur and scarfed down a poutine. 

There have been attractions on the list for a Sunday that I’ve decided to skip so I could just rest.  I don’t feel the need to see it all because I’ve got just as good a chance to strike new experience gold on a Monday as I do a Saturday.

I’m tickled salmon that my weekends pass blissfully sans Sunday Scaries.

I’m well aware that i’m only 2 weeks in and that there is a honeymoon phase to all things in life.  I’m certain I’m going to run into hurdles and crotch kicks along the way – that’s just part of the deal.  Wading through life’s muck is something I’ve become quite adept at.

At least now I’ll have the natural dopamine of knowing my next new home vacation vibe is a hop, jump and a skip away. 

And that’s a life I can roll with.