Unshackling from the 9-to-5: My Journey into the Digital Nomad Lifestyle

Study hard, choose the ‘right’ course, go to uni, get good grades, land an office job, buy a car and a house, settle down. Sounds familiar?

For so many years, that’s what I thought too.

I took a Degree in Graphic Design. My family was worried that studying graphic design would leave me jobless, but one month before I left UiTM for good, I landed a UIUX Designer role in a well-known Malaysian fintech company.

That was 4 years ago.

Early this year, I landed a new remote job. The company was based in Denmark so I worked outside of the traditional office environment 100% of the time. Sometimes I went to Desa Park City and stayed there for hours to work on my laptop, sometimes I hung out at Bean Brothers LINC while sipping their cappuccino with other techies.

Not to forget, I actively started to share my journey as a designer on X (Twitter), racking up over 14,000 followers in the span of one year. This has completely changed my life. I met so many techies who worked remotely. And that’s when I first read about: Digital nomad.

Over the last few years, the Covid pandemic has altered numerous aspect of daily life, especially the idea of remote work. Just take a look at any online job boards. You will see several opportunities of remote working. And now, digital nomads have evolved from relatively unknown into a flourishing global community, numbering around 35 million around the world.

You must be wondering, what about Malaysia? Can this country accept this new way of working?

Last year, the Malaysian government went a step beyond by introducing a digital nomad visa initiative. So yes, our government does acknowledge this new wave of trend.

Back to my story, after experiencing one year working from random cafes, I was also struggling with my deteriorating mental health and 99.9999% close to taking away my own life.

So after I came back from being hospitalized due to suicide attempt, I quit my full time job.

And I have never been happier. Because I wanted more.

I wanted more of life.

I believe that all the setbacks and experiences I have gone through is the path that leads me here. I was jobless in 2021 due to Bipolar Disorder and started freelancing. I learned the art of persuasion, how to communicate with clients, how to deal with uncertainties and the unpredictability of life.

But Edd, how did you decide to take this risk, throw away your job and start traveling? I understand that it sounds crazy to quit a very good job, but the reason how I managed to this is because I have been charging my clients RM7,000 – RM10,000 for website development.

I’m also active on Twitter where I’m being paid to create content. And I have been doing this wayyy before I understand the meaning of digital nomad. Hence when someone tell you there is a reason as to why things happen, please believe them.

If you want to be a digital nomad like me, yes you can. You can speak English? You have a laptop and an internet? Then you’re luckier than most people. Internet is the free door to all kinds of opportunities that you want. But you really have to WANT it.

Some people want to freelance but quit within 3 months. Don’t be that person.

I will write an extensive article on how to be a freelancer and living a nomadic life. Stay tuned!

So what’s next for me? I’m flying to Vietnam next week. It’s my first solo travel and I’m excited. 😀