I wrote a book, and I’m proud of it. That sounds goofy, but it’s taken a lot of effort to get this work to a point where I feel proud of it. Throughout the process of writing the book I have had many moments where I feel completely exhausted and overwhelmed by it. Lots of days where I opened up the file, scrolled through it and asked myself where to begin. I had to put the project down alltogether a number of times because I felt consumed by it; every time I came back to it though, I was impressed by the utility of the content I had written. I could rewrite everything infinitely, and I’m sure there are plenty of errors still, but I feel compelled to release the book now in hopes of helping as many people as soon as possible.
“Normal to Nomad” came together as I shared my realizations with myself in my journal; over time I realized how helpful this information would have been to Elsa and I as we began our journey, so I felt compelled to share it. The fundamental intent with this project was to produce the handbook I wish I had when we began living nomadically.
The handbook begins by describing our cultural predicament as I see it, and posits nomadic life as a way out, a temporary escape from the modern financial treadmill. I talk about the experiences I had which led me to the belief that our culture is in a sick place and we must step back from it to begin healing.
Next some quck virtues useful to nomadic life, thoughts on why modern nomads exist, utility of learning, the necisity of frugality, how to fuel our bodies and more. These sections are tactical and tactile, pragmatic ideas and solutions to get you going. Then we move into the more “how to” sections, camping, finding water, pooping, seasons etc. Followed by things, tools, rigs, gear and the like.
Technology is the focus for a bit after that. Some may see my focus on technology as contradictory to my adoration for and want to live in nature. Technological tools are elemental in facilitating this lifestyle in the modern day. This is what the arrow on the front of the book represents; the point is an evergreen tree representing the natural world, and the fletching is a circuit board nodding to modern tools. The two of these worlds become a powerful tool when leveraged together. One foot in the future, the other in the past is how Elsa and I like to describe it.
The last and arguably most important section of the book is mindfulness. In the beginning of this project I had positioned these chapters first, as it wasn’t until escaping into nature that I had found the space to relax into who I am. The more I worked through all this though, I realized that the tactical stuff needed to come first to unlock the peace and solitude necessaray to make things like journalling and meditation accessible.
The book is written for “modern freedom seekers” and is not limited to those hoping to live nomadically. The knowledge we’ve gained living nomadically has been profoundly useful to Elsa and I selecting our land, building our house and living off grid. I hope you find this handbook useful. Please reach out if you have any feedback. There will be open discussion on our Discord server and you can always reach me in the comments section here or via my email. Barronlink@gmail.com
Thank you for your support!
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Preorders are available now. Preordered books will ship in 6-8 weeks. Please preorder if you plan to buy the book, this will help me gauge the quantity of books I should order in the initial batch. Thanks again!