An Exciting New Plan is Unfolding

Hey friends, it’s been about two weeks since my last blog post and I’m happy to say things are looking up!! I was struggling a bit and wasn’t sure how to move forward but I think I have found the solution and I’m pretty excited about it. Here’s my new plan…

A Quick Recap

I was feeling a bit unsure last time because I just didn’t feel my work on my Etsy shop was leading me in the right direction and I haven’t felt inspired to make illustrations in ages. I felt stuck, mostly because I couldn’t see how I could make it financially work to just go do and explore the things I’m interested in — everything about connecting to nature, sustainability, permaculture, regenerative living, …
How can I earn an income while doing the things that I love and make sure I don’t run out of money eventually? I’d been thinking about it for weeks and weeks, I had hundreds of ideas but none that truly seemed viable and the more I thought about it the more anxious I got.

I had the feeling that there must be an easy solution and that I wasn’t seeing it, but you know, the harder you try to see it, the more you just don’t see it!! I felt like I was just hitting my head to a glass wall (like the seagull in my previous blog post). So eventually I gave up and just tried to let go and relax a bit. And lo and behold a solution presented itself not much later…

Lovely wildflowers are popping up everywhere, how pretty is this combination of purple malva and this white yellow flower?

So What’s This Great New Plan?

This idea is not a big fancy money making idea but it will give me everything I need at this moment, time to explore, to learn about the things that interest me and meet likeminded people, all while not having to worry about my finances!

A post on Facebook about volunteering somewhere in the north of Portugal grabbed my attention last week, and while this exact opportunity wasn’t ideal it peaked my curiosity to see if there are other places here in Portugal where I could go volunteer to help out in permaculture gardens or other regenerative projects.

The idea of volunteering had actually already crossed my mind before. A few weeks ago I even looked to see if they work with volunteers at a permaculture farm close to Portimão, a farm that I plan to visit. But they only have a special program for interns and you need to commit for 6 months. And the program looks quite intensive with very little time for yourself and that is just too much of a commitment for me right now. So anyway, after seeing this Facebook post last week I decided to research a bit more…

Most days there are not that many shells to be found on the beach here, but sometimes the beach is suddenly covered with thousands of beautiful shells and then the next day they’re all gone again… It’s interesting to see how much the beach can change from day to day.

Places to Volunteer

I looked on websites like Workaway and Worldpackers and there are quite a few really interesting volunteer projects on those websites. And on google I found even more that just advertise it on their own website.

Often these projects require you to volunteer anything between 20-30hrs/week and you get free accommodation and food. It’s a great opportunity to do some real hands on learning, meet likeminded people and connect with the beautiful nature in the area. And it would give me the chance to explore what I do and don’t like without having to worry about running out of money. It will give me plenty of time to think about what I could eventually do to build my business around…

There are a variety of places, some are focused on market gardening, others are retreat centers, some are still in the early stages of getting established and have natural building projects, others have been established for many years, some are small with just the owner/family living there and 1 or 2 volunteers, others are big with 20-30 or even more volunteers, …

I have found 2 places in Alentejo, which is a region here in Portugal just north of the Algarve, not too far from the town of Odemira, that have really caught my interest and I’ve already sent in my application to one of them, hoping to hear from them soon.

I have volunteered like this once before, a very long time ago I wwoofed (I should check the Wwoof website out as well now that I think of it!) at a very small and still new permaculture homestead in Mullumbimby (if I remember correctly) in Australia, which was sort of known to be a hippy/alternative town. My experience there was not amazing, I was the only volunteer there and made to sleep in a rat infested little bungalow and there was a bit of a weird atmosphere there but if anything that experience will help me to choose my volunteer places more carefully now.

In a lot of these places accommodation will be basic and internet will often be limited too because they are remote. And especially limited internet and maybe not being able to charge and use my laptop and ipad pro like I’m used to will be a big adjustment for me cause I’m so used to using them all the time but on the other hand being able to spend my days getting my hands dirty and out in nature while having a digital detox sounds really nice too… I’m sure it will be good for me…

In the Mean Time

In the mean time I feel a bit like I’m floating in this liminal in between place, I’m not entirely sure yet where I’m exactly going but anything is possible and there’s so much potential! I’m pretty excited to go do this!

I’m still renting my apartment in Portimão til the end of April and I will use the time till then to visit a few local projects that I’ve been wanting to visit, enjoy some more of the lovely nature around here and I’m working on my blog and planning my social media a bit in terms of layout, design and type of content cause I don’t really feel it reflects my mission as much as I wish it would.

And I will have several friends from Belgium visiting me one after the other from the last week of March til the end of April, right up til I will leave to go volunteering. It will be great to have them over and go hiking and visit some places together.

And Then the Adventure Really Begins…

From the 1st of May I can start volunteering somewhere. It’s very hard to say at this point how it will go but I will probably commit to staying for at least one month at any place I’ll go to, and then see if I enjoy it there, people are nice, if there’s interesting stuff for me to do and learn. If so, I can extend my stay to more months, if not I move on to another project elsewhere. There are lots of these places in Portugal but also in Spain and other nearby and faraway countries so I can just keep going like this for quite some time until I either get tired of it, until I find a place where I want to stay long term or until I find that brilliant idea that I can be passionate about and that can lead to a proper income for myself!

I’d love to hear if anyone has done this sort of thing before and what your experience was like, or if they know of great places to volunteer in Portugal or elsewhere. Let me know!

digital nomadfiguring it outPortugalthe journeyVolunteering