If you travel as a nomad and pass through places that serve as meeting points with nomads, you tend to find that while some blog their travels and recommend the lifestyle to everyone else, there are plenty of people quietly living the life, without any internet presence documenting it, and they might be very quiet and introverted people. It might be compared to vegetarianism/veganism, where some have the impression that “vegetarians/vegans always need to shout what they are doing”, but perhaps the majority of people with that diet are just quietly following it without making a big deal of it to others.
I’m a digital nomad, I work as translator. I’m currently traveling for the next several months in West Africa. I wouldn’t say that this life is any better than anyone else’s (I just know that it’s what works for me personally) and I’d consider it strange to try to advertise it to others who haven’t shown any inclination towards it. That said, if someone already feels wanderlust, then I’m always happy to give advice, as I have benefited greatly from that kind of travel skillsharing and I do my part to pay it forward.
"Look, I'm a founder! I put a web app up!"
"Sign up for my newletter, my blog, my instagram, my X, Y, Z so you can find out how to make the same ad revenue I do, off of people just like you! You don't have to be you forever..you can take advantage of the yous and become one of the mes!"
/s
.. sometimes telling people you’re vegan can help avoid awkward situations like when a friend got some cake they wanted to share.
When I have been in another place for a few months the differences I initially find refreshing soon melt away and I find some other stuff to get annoyed about.
In a way, it's great to know the grass is not always greener elsewhere and to accept that, yes, being a nomad doesn't suit everyone.
I don't plan on cutting back yet, but I'd like to know for the future, since I've never actually met a career professional doing so.
> Portugal is the member state with the fifth longest period of paternity leave, with a potential of 21 weeks to care for their newborns. However, this report paints a different picture when it comes to the division of domestic chores. Here, Portugal joins Estonia, India, Japan, Mexico, South Korea and Turkey as among the countries where women put in three times more time on such tasks than their male counterparts.
That sounds in Portugal fathers are more expected to work/be a career man, and mothers stay home, than in the Netherlands.
They do most of the chores despite having jobs. We're a very patriarchal society still.
That answers your own question, does it not? That is, fathers don't take time off to spend more time with their babies because they are too poor to risk losing that job?
(This assumes that men tend to be paid more than women.)
That is, if only 10% take time off, and you only know 5 middle-class people who could afford it, then odds are that even at the Dutch level you wouldn't know anyone who does that.
I suppose it's possi ... okay, that was too easy. A search for "how many Dutch fathers parental leave" comes up with http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2015/06/just-one-in-fo... which says "Just one in four Dutch fathers takes parental leave".
I also read that in some of the European countries (I'm from the US) there is a right to part-time employment while on leave. I figured that mosselman was from one of those countries.
Searching now I found http://cepr.net/documents/publications/parental_2008_09.pdf from 10 years ago which says:
> Of the 21 countries studied here, ten allow parental leave to be taken on a part-time basis: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden. Portugal is notable in that it gives parents an incentive to choose part-time over full-time leave: parents have three months of full-time parental leave or 12 months of part-time leave.
Based on mosselman's followup, my guess was correct.
I didn't say it was for everyone, I just said it is for me.
I have lived both lives, and I know what I like and don't like. I'm certain I am the most qualified person to decided what kind of life is right for me.