Robin Pullen — Exploring The Life Of A Digital Nomad
With Robin Pullen — Exploring The Life Of A Digital Nomad
In short
Robin Pullen, author of Get Activated, describes swapping a fixed address for a digital nomad life across South Africa after a single question — if you knew you couldn't fail, what would you do? — took hold. The conversation covers emotional regulation, imposter syndrome, both men's periods of paralysis, and why happiness is a state rather than a place.
Who is Robin Pullen and what does he do?
He is an author, professional speaker, business coach and trainer who has since added digital nomad to that list. He wrote Get Activated, available on Amazon or through his social handles. He describes himself first as a dad, partner and someone who helps people move towards their highest potential.
What does it actually mean to "get activated"?
It means living intentionally rather than being run by instinct. Robin describes the lizard brain's fight, flight, fawn or freeze response taking over so people say things they didn't mean and treat family in ways they regret. Getting activated is catching that moment and shifting from instinctive reactions to intentional responses.
Are stress chemicals like adrenaline bad for you?
No — Robin insists the chemicals are neither good nor bad, they are simply chemicals. Adrenaline and noradrenaline were necessary for survival. The problem is that when a partner or colleague says something, the meaning we give it can be interpreted by the body as a threat, putting those chemicals to unresourceful use.
Why has Robin become noticeably calmer?
He now lives from a resourceful state, whereas three to five years ago he lived from a powerless one. He describes spending days in a haze, knowing he needed to act and wishing he could, but lacking the power to use his experience and capabilities to do anything meaningful.
What made Robin write the book?
He asked himself what he could leave his four children that would be of real significance. Not a house, a car or Bitcoin, but emotional control and regulation — the ability to choose what you think and feel and to select your state of being. Believing that gift was the most valuable, he put his head down and started writing.
Does imposter syndrome ever go away?
No — Robin says it is a journey and describes being faced with it again the day before recording, during a weekly coaching swap with a buddy in Montreal. Despite hundreds of hours of coaching and thousands of training, it returned in a new, sneaky variation. He calls a life a living document, crafted continually.
What triggered the move to a nomadic life?
A question posted in a WhatsApp group: if you knew you couldn't fail, what would you do? It hung there for a week while Robin and his partner walked the golf course in Centurion discussing it. That led to asking whether they would even stay in Pretoria, and the answer was no.
How does the nomad arrangement work in practice?
They book Airbnb stays of a month at a time with the option to extend to two or three. They have stayed in Rossendal near Bethlehem, Richmond, Table View and now Scarborough, booked for two months. Nothing is planned years ahead; they follow what opens up.
Is the nomad lifestyle as idyllic as the sunset photographs suggest?
No. Robin pushes back on the word "happier", noting that on the other side of the sunset is dinner, breakfast or a difficult landlord — and the worry before recording about whether the internet would hold. They gave up the hallucination of a safe, secure address for adventure that is exhilarating and also stressful.
In their words
So making that shift from instinctive reactions to intentional responses.
I look in through the window at your life and I go, you're just like me. I've got to figure this out.
This stuff is a journey. Just because I've delved into imposter syndrome, let me be vulnerable and real with you.
To be successful, you need to believe first that you are successful and live from that state.
But on the other side of the Sunset is dinner or breakfast or a difficult landlord.
Key takeaways
- Emotional reactions are not fixed: the same survival chemistry can be leveraged into a chosen, resourceful response.
- Coaching starts with applying the work to yourself — if you can't make it your own, you have nothing to give.
- Imposter syndrome recurs even for experienced practitioners; treating personal growth as something to finish is a mistake.
- The nomad shift required unsubscribing from the belief that success depends on a certain house, car or city.
- Happiness is a state of being rather than a location, and it still has to be chosen daily wherever you are.
- Two further books are planned — Get Aligned, currently in manuscript, and Get a Life.
Show notes
On this episode I chat with Robin about his journey to becoming a digital nomad.
“I believe there is more in you than you think, and with the right resources and support you are able to do more than you think or imagined.
Experience has taught me that the answer to every challenge we face is closer than we realise, even if sometime more challenging than we think.
Yet I have seen hundreds of normal ‘everyday’ people like you and me, discover within them an ability to do what they once believed was the impossible.”
Robin Pullen
Frequently asked questions
Where can people find Robin?
On social media under the handle "get activated with Robin", as one word, on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, or by searching the hashtag #GetActivated. The book is available on Amazon.com or by arranging a copy through him directly.
What did David go through himself?
When lockdown began he hit a wall, unable to string a sentence together or work at his computer, and beat himself up as lazy and stupid before spiralling downwards. He sought help, then began putting into practice the things he talks about.
Where might Robin go next?
Possibly up the coast to the garden route, then the Natal South Coast and Durban area, and eventually Bali. Overseas plans depend on borders opening and on neurosemantics trainings he wants to attend, which could route him through Egypt, Morocco or Singapore.
What did David learn from losing everything?
That friends attached to his house, car, clothes and watch left like rats abandoning a burning ship. The few who stayed did not care about status, and he has since built deeper, more enriching friendships.
Can someone simply decide to become a digital nomad overnight?
No — David notes it is not a single morning's decision. Anyone aspiring to it has to build towards it, including unpicking the security people attribute to a fixed address and the convenience of popping down the road to the shop.
Transcript
Once again, it is what's involved. So good to have you along with us. I'm gonna be chatting to a guest tonight to, I've chatted to, I'm gonna have to ask him, I think it was a year or more ago, but he's doing some fascinating things now. And I thought time we caught up with him. Who is it? He is none other than Robin Pullen. Hello Robin, welcome to the show. - Thank you, David. Good to be back. And yes, it's more than a year. It's almost two and a half years since we last connected. Can you-- - What? - Sure, all right, okay. Well, in two and a half years, most people may have sort of that are listening to the show and I may be going, okay, so who is Robin Pullen? So let's start off right at the very beginning. Do a bit of a recap. Who is Robin Pullen? What do you do? And then we're gonna get into where you do it and why you do it. - Okay, cool. So last time we chatted, you were interviewing me for the book, "Get Activated". And the role that I was talking about is as an author, I'm a speaker, a professional speaker, a business coach, a trainer and published author. And in the short time since COVID and since the world has turned around a few times, I've added another dimension to that of digital nomad.
So living the digital nomad lifestyle. But really at the core of it all, I'm just a guy, I'm a dude, I'm a dad, I'm a partner, I'm a lover. And I love to help people get activated towards their highest potentials. - Okay, now let's talk a little bit about "Get Activated" 'cause it's a great book and if you haven't got it, it is definitely still available. I went and had a quick look. You can still get it, it's all good bookshops. I know it's available online. - Yeah, Amazon.com is the easiest way to get it. Otherwise, just find me at the "Get Activated" with Robin anywhere on socials and we can organize a copy for you. - Fantastic stuff. Now let's talk a little bit about "Get Activated" and why the need to get activated. - So David, the core of it is living an intentional life and not being caught up by instinct. And instinct, when I talk about instinct, it's that lizard brain. So we all have feelings. We think and we feel and what most of us are not aware of. It's kind of like in the background, we don't bring to the foreground of our awareness the world would call it being conscious. When I'm real time aware of how much my thinking is trapped or caged by the way I feel, those emotions.
And when you're in those emotions, you've activated your lizard brain, your flight, fright, fawn or freeze, that survival mechanism that's built into our being, into our human being. And when that survival mechanism is activated, then we are trapped in instinct. Then we say things we didn't mean to. We do things we later regret. We engage with people in ways that like, but this is not who I wanna be. We treat our children and our family in ways that we wish, we know somewhere in the back of the mind, we know how to do better, but we just don't know how to do it better. And "Get Activated" is about catching that moment and not being caught into those instinctive responses, but learning how by managing your emotion and using your mind and your body to live with intention. So making that shift from instinctive reactions to intentional responses. And this little- - That's great. So the amazing thing is, I mean, you've been talking about this for a while and over this last period, particularly during COVID and everything, suddenly the concept of EQ or emotional intelligence became sexy. I think you were talking about this before it became sexy, but that is basically what emotional intelligence is all about anyway.
It's about getting out of that fight or flight mode and being able to make and choose your responses. I mean, a negative of when you're in that flight or fight mode and the reptile brain kicks in, is that it floods your body with all sorts of bad chemicals as well. - Exactly, and that's what we need to learn. So that flooding, a cascade of... Let me just make a distinction, David. The chemicals are not good or bad. The chemicals are chemicals. It's what we allow them to do to us. That is either resourceful or unresourceful. A great way to explain this is adrenaline is good. Adrenaline, noradrenaline, this hormone that our body injects into our blood system and into our whole being is what is necessary for survival. And a couple of hundred thousand years ago, that's really what we did as human beings, we were in survival state. Now what we don't know, we don't bring to the foreground, we don't keep conscious is when my partner or a child or my colleague says something and I interpret the meaning that I give to what is said and the way that I feel it is said we use, but how those words were used, my body can still interpret that as a survival, as a threat and take me into survival mode.
And that's where that instinct takes over that reptilian brain and those very chemicals which are good get used for a not so good and unresourceful response. And the magic here, the key here, is that you can control that. That you can take control of that little mechanism and you can leverage, you can use what is a natural response with a little bit of insight and understanding how your brain works, how your mind works, how your emotions work and you can leverage that moment to choose a response that is resourceful. And when you do that, you start to change your life. I call it, you co-create your destiny. - She's absolutely fantastic. We are chatting to my special guest, Robin Pullen and we're talking about getting activated, co-creating your life. When we come back though, I wanna dive into a couple of things because just in talking to you now, I've noticed some things and I wanna see if it's just me or if this is well the case. It is what's involved with my special guest, Robin Pullen. We'll be back in just a bit. And we're back with my guest, Robin Pullen, talking getting activated and co-creating your destiny. Now, one of the things that I've noticed, Robin, just in our chats and in sort of following you on social media, is your approach to the world over the last little while seems to have become a lot calmer, a lot more introspective.
Is that the case? - Well spotted, my friends. Indeed, it is the case. And I think what you're seeing, let's use different words, what you hear, what you see with your eyes, you hear with your ears and perhaps also feel in your body because what we see and what we hear, we give meaning to those thoughts, the evidence, empirical evidence, and then the meanings creates a feeling in our body and that feeling, that mind-body-emotion feeling is called a state. So I have slowed down, my speech has become more clear, my intentions, my behaviors and my actions, even my speech is far more intentional. And I live from a state of being of resourcefulness. Not many years ago, three, four, five years ago, I lived predominantly from a state of being, a powerless state of being, a state of being of that fright, flight, fawning, which is people-pleasing and just giving your codependency, giving your power away or freezing, not knowing what to do, just spending days and days in a haze in my mind, knowing I need to do something in my heart, wishing that I could do something, but in my body, lacking the power or the ability to use my experience, my expertise, my capabilities to do anything meaningful. And with this work of, yes.
- You know what, I think this whole concept and the fact that you've actually vocalized it because you're not the only one. My little epiphany happened last year, we just got into lockdown and I hit an absolute wall. I wasn't able to string a sentence together. I would sit in front of my computer and stare at it, knowing that I had to do stuff and just being totally unable to do it. And it was possibly one of the worst feelings out. And I mean, I used to beat myself up mercilessly for it. I'm like, now everything that people have said about you before is true. You are lazy, you are stupid, you are this, you are that. And I ended up in this massive downward spiral. Fortunately, I went and I got some help, which started me on the track again. And then I thought to myself, it's time I put all the things I talk about into practice. - I love it, I love what I'm hearing you say. - Slowly but surely started to dig myself out of that hole. But so many people are scared to talk about this. And I think you've now just said it. And to the outside world, they were to have spoken and met Robin Pullen before. You were dynamic, you were a go-getter, outwardly you were successful. And for you to turn around and go, no, listen, there was times that weren't so good.
I think that's amazing. I share my story as well because I believe there are more people. So well done, Robin, well done for sharing that. But how did you get, what was your process to go from that place and to start making this transition? Because this is gonna lead us into this concept of digital nomads. - I love it. So as you were speaking, David, I become aware that I have to say to people, the get activated message is not first about a book or a program or coaching or training and consulting, which I do all of those. It's first about me. It's first about what the heck is going on with me. I've trained over 108,000 people across the continent. I've worked through 11 levels of leadership, CEOs to any that I see. I've worked in 13 countries and I've done the work. And the scary thing is when I see so many people, so there are very few excuses. I've cut them down to like, there's seven reasons why people don't do what they say they're gonna do or they can't get stuff done. And there's thousands. And I mean, hundreds of thousands of variations of those few things. The scariest thing is that I could see myself in just about all of them. I could see that it's not just, I'm not just looking in through the window at your life going shame, you're struggling.
I look in through the window at your life and I go, you're just like me. I've got to figure this out. Why is my world so taken, so hijacked and controlled by stuff that I can see, I can hear. It's within my reach, but I can't grab ahold of it. And slowly but surely, there's a maximum. I'm sure you'd know it. We practice what we preach. So as a coach, as a trainer, it's easy to pontificate. It's easy to be philosophical and learn how to say the say. It's another thing to walk the talk and starting to put that into practice. First for myself, and secondly, second priority for my kids. I have four kids. I am divorced. They live with their mother for various reasons. And I want the best for them. And I found myself sitting one day going, David, if I could leave my kids anything, would it be of significance? If I could leave my kids something that would make their world different, would it be a house? Would it be a car? Would it be like a pocket full of Bitcoin, money? And I come to realize that the most powerful, the most significant gift I can give to my kids is this idea of emotional control, emotional regulation, and learning how to choose to intentionally select what I think and feel and how I can choose my state of being.
Because when I can do that, I truly believe I can co-create my destiny. I create with, whether you speak of God, whatever you speak of, your faith or your religion, or a higher being or the universe, the universe has my back. But when I get myself out of the way and I put to-- I calm that flat, that survival network, and I learn to live in a state of power to create the destiny that I desire. And if I can leave that for my kids, there isn't a more valuable gift that I could leave for them. And I put my head down and I started to write the book. I'm blown away because this is a way more intense and real conversation than what we've had before. And as you're talking, it's making me think as well. Because one of the realizations I came to was my imposter syndrome was massive. And I never, ever felt that I was good enough. So what I used to do is I would go out and do training after training and course after course after course and get this certificate, that diploma, this one. And I've got a truckload of those things behind my name. And yet, I always felt like a fraud, always. When I was doing my training, when I was talking to people, felt like an absolute fraud. And for me, that's been part of my journey is to go, hang on, acknowledge what this is and acknowledge that you have worth and you do have stuff to give.
As long as you can give it from a place-- and this is going to sound all touchy feely, but if it comes from a place of compassion and a place of love, that's when you can start making changes. But my biggest coaching client has been myself. Absolutely. As a coach, David, I actually want to pause here. I want to make a distinction in what you've said. As a coach, I do two things. First is apply to self. Apply to self. It all starts. If I can't make this my own, I've got nothing to give. And the second very important thing I'd love your listeners to hear, and I resonate with what I just heard you say now about the imposter syndrome. This stuff is a journey. Just because I've delved into imposter syndrome, let me be vulnerable and real with you. It's Friday today, 20 after, whenever we're recording this. And maybe I shouldn't have said that because you put it live on your show later. Yeah, everybody knows that I have to work from home now. They're happy with it. So in this moment now, yesterday, I found myself-- I have a coaching buddy. So as a coach, I connect with another guy in Montreal in Canada once a week. And we practice our skills. We invest in our coaching skills. And we do-- so I coach him, and then he coaches me.
And yesterday, David, I was faced with my imposter syndrome in its most recent variation, in its most recent sneaky, snarling way of trying to get back space in my life. And I'm a coach. I practice this stuff. I've got hundreds of hours of coaching, thousands of hours of training. And the message I want listeners to hear is that this is a journey. You are not alone. You're not the only one who's struggling with this. And even if you've been doing this work for a while, it's not over yet. We are evolving. We are growing. We're like a living document. This book, The Story of My Life, is a living document that's been written over and over, not from scratch, but being worked on, being crafted every day, every week, every month. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely true. I mean, I would consider myself-- and that was also the other thing I used to do. I wanted to get to the end. I wanted to get to the end of everything. So I wanted to finish it. So now I see imposter syndrome. OK, let me deal with that and finish with it. It's a work in progress. And it's going to be a work in progress for as long as I take breath, I think. But I want to move on when we come back. I want to move on to the digital nomad thing, because when I saw that you were doing it-- Exciting.
--big part of me that was like, oh, I want to do that too. So let's get into that when we come back. This is what's involved. My special guest is Robin Pullen. And we're back with Robin Pullen, my special guest. What's involved is what it is. And we're talking about getting activated. It's so much more. We're talking about-- and I've used this term so many times over the last year. I think we're talking about becoming more human, becoming more aware. So while we're talking about this, a little while ago, I suddenly saw what for me was out of the blue that Robin is up sticks. And he is going to go and walk the land like Kane in Kung Fu. Tell me about that. What led to that decision? A fascinating story, David. But I first want to comment on your intro in this segment about becoming human. That is so true. This is a journey of becoming back to myself, of getting to a place where I just be me. And I stop pretending. I stop-- I give up on this rush, this trying to be someone else-- something else for someone else somewhere else. And what if I could just be me? What if I am good enough? What if I have the skills, the experience, the expertise to add value, not just in business but in life, in my relations, in my family, in my friends, in my community, and then extend that into business?
And it's in that one of those circles, to answer your question, David, that we got this WhatsApp partners on a WhatsApp group. And one of the girls in that group sends this stupid question. Ah, it's just a little question. And it goes something like this. I quote it poorly. I think it was read, if you knew you couldn't fail, what would you do?
And this question hang in that WhatsApp chat for like a week. And my partner and I, we're talking. And we're coming back to this. And we come back-- one day, we were still staying at the Gulf Estate out in Centurion. And in the evenings, we'd walk around the course. We'd do either a run, a 5K run, or we'd just take a walk through the trees around the course. And we started chatting. It's like, that's such a cool question. So like, really, what would you do? If you knew you couldn't fail, what would you do? And that started opening up other questions as coaches. That's what we do. We ask good questions to get to the meaning behind the things that we are thinking and feeling. And one of them was, OK, so if I knew I couldn't fail, would I be in Pretoria? Would I be in that house? Would I be in that city? If I couldn't fail, where would I like to go? What would I like to do? And the short answer is, it looks like what we're doing now. We've embraced a lifestyle. It's called the Jyotong nomadic lifestyle. Because we realized that if I know I couldn't fail, my clients can come from anywhere. My speaking clients, my coaching clients, my consulting clients. As they have through COVID, through COVID-19, the world has realized, oh, shucks, I don't have to be in an office.
Actually, businesses have realized somehow our staff are actually even more productive working from home. When I can't see them, I can't look over their shoulder and check what they're doing. Insert in the brackets unspoken words, I can't get in their way so that they can just do what they need to do. And I've learned that coaching can be online, virtual. Training can be online. Or 98% of our businesses, which we've been asking for a couple of years now, we've been suggesting, hey, we don't have to meet face to face. A lot of this work we can do on a call, like you and I are doing right now, David. And then other things started to fall into place. Like right now, I'm sitting in Scarborough, down in Cape Town. If I look out the window across the trees, I can see the ocean. It's a bit breezy out. Yesterday was calmer, but today is crystal clear, because the wind has blown all the dust and the sea fog out. And I'd rather be sitting here in a coastal town, if I know I can't fail, if I know that the universe has my back, I'd rather be sitting here than in the dusty corner of Centurion, or Pretoria, or Zaneen. None of those places are wrong, but this is where my state will feel alive, where my body will feel alive.
Here, and then until the borders open, perhaps Bali, perhaps Phuket, perhaps Bangkok. Perhaps go visit my sisters in New Zealand. So if you knew you couldn't fail, what would you do? And that started this journey. Embracing digital, everything we do-- OK, that's a generalization-- but everything. Most of what we do is already virtual. Virtual, meaning voice-over internet protocol, or emails, or online training, pre-recorded, or live training, using websites, using all the platforms that are massively scaling. So people are doing the work for us. We don't have to figure it out. That's the digital. And the nomad is I have relinquished. I've decommitted my identity in stuff or places. So I am full stop. I used to be because I live in a certain house. I used to be valuable because I drive a certain car. I used to feel like I was more worth, or I'd be able to do more because I stayed either in Joburg or Pretoria, or if I was in Cape Town proper. I was close to business, and I could respond. I could show up. I used to feel that to be a professional speaker, I need to be within access of the speaking circuit, where all the conferences are booked. And I used to feel that I needed to be able to show up at these monthly meetings and just to remind people that, hey, I'm still here.
You can hire me. You can book me. Now I believe I am full stop. So that nomadic piece of we have decommitted. We've unsubscribed from the idea that to be successful, I have to be somewhere. I have to have a certain kind of house or a certain kind of car. I have to have a certain-- no, you don't. To be successful, you need to believe first that you are successful and live from that state. What that successful thinking creates a feeling in your physical body, in your emotional body, in your mental body. And then from that, let that flow out into who you are, where you live, and what you do and how you do it. You know what is amazing? The telling of the story is absolutely amazing. And as you were talking about it, I'm thinking backwards. For me also, I used to define my worth by my toys. So what kind of a house did I live in? What kind of clothes did I wear? Did I have the right watch? Did I have the right car? People would like me for my stuff. And one of the most sobering things is-- and it's not a journey I would recommend anybody should have take willingly, but try losing everything. And then seeing where your so-called friends are. Because it's like rats abandoning a burning ship.
Because suddenly, you're not able to supply stuff to them. And they're gone. And in terms of trouble, they're gone. And the few that stay, those are the ones that don't really care about the money, the status, the car, the clothes, or anything like that. And I found I've built far deeper, more enriching friendships since my little experience of losing everything. Absolutely. What you're describing there is the mistake, the confusion between human being and human doing. And I found my identity in my human doing, my stuff, how I show up, where the truth is. And the activated truth, the higher truth, the freedom, the liberated truth is that my value is in who I am first, my human being. Yeah, absolutely. My special guest is Robin Pullen. This is what's involved. We're talking about getting activated, becoming more alive, becoming more you. And this concept of being a digital nomad. When we come back, we're going to chat just a little bit more with Robin and wrap it up. It is what's involved. And we're back with Robin Pullen, my guest, on what's involved. So you're now in the Cape, Robin. But before then, where were you? You were somewhere else before then. I just remember the sunsets. I don't remember the label of the place.
Yeah, I've got pictures of sunsets in Hauteng and in the Free State. So we stayed for a bit for a short while in Rössendal, a place just between Bethlehem and you might know Clarence, the southern Free State. And from there, we went into, I think it's called McGregor. No, hang on. Richmond, yes, the town of Richmond. Stayed in Richmond for a bit. And then to table view. So the other side, Bloeburg Strands side of Cape Town. And then now currently in Scarborough. And the idea is find a place that we'd like to experience. And we do Airbnb at the moment. That's the current strategy. Find a place, book it for a month, a long stay, with the option of extending it for two or three months. And that's it. That's the plan. And when the season comes to an end, it's like, OK, where's next? So it would be nice to say we have the next six years planned out, but the truth is we don't. We're living in the moment. And we're looking at what opens up, where we feel like going. There is the back of our minds, the desire to go overseas, to get into Bali. And there's some trainings that I still want to do. So I've embarked on neurosemantics as a modality of coaching, as a skill set of coaching. So there's highest trainings that I want to attend.
But they were all put on hold with COVID. So whether that takes us up into Egypt and then through to Morocco, or that takes us into Singapore or into Bali, it depends which path opens up for those trainings. And then we'll take it from there. Find a place, spend a month to three in a place, and then move on. Yeah, it's amazing. I mean, I still remember reading old Tim Ferris' book, that four-hour work week. And also, there was the concept of becoming a digital nomad. And I was like, I so want to do that. But that's for other people. And just recently, over the last, let's say, six to eight months, I know of at least, yourself included, at least four or five people that have now started to embrace this digital lifestyle. I saw a friend of mine a little while ago, also a coach, a guy by the name of Brenton Nestle. And they also used to-- do you know Brenton? Yes. OK, well, we literally-- he packed up stuff. They were going to go overseas. Everything happened. They've now decided to do this exact same thing. And we went down to, strangely enough, a place called Brenton on Sea, just outside of Nalspate. And in a little town a couple of minutes away, there he was. And we went, and we had lunch with them.
And I've never seen them happier. Never seen them happier, more laid back. Don Packett, another one, another gentleman I know. Don's also asking about walking there. So it seems to be something that's doable. Yeah, I want to pick on something, make a distinction. I heard you say you've never seen them happier. And just to balance this conversation so that the audience doesn't have a misleading impression, happiness is a state. Life can be simple, or it can be hard. Let me rephrase. Life is simple. Simple doesn't mean easy. Simple means it's simple. We can make it complicated. We can allow the scenario to be stressful. Doesn't matter where you are, you can experience both fear and the anticipated anticipatory fear or anticipatory bliss. Doesn't matter where you are. What matters is your state of being, your state of mind. So you look at my Facebook profile, and I love Sunsets. I love sky art. So there's a lot of, wow, I'm living this amazing life. But on the other side of the Sunset is dinner or breakfast or a difficult landlord. Or even in this current place right now, one of the conversations before we started this recording is I hope the internet holds. And those are realities. So just to-- this is a real laugh.
Digital is, with all the challenges of digital and nomadic, with all the challenges, we gave up the sense of security, the hallucination of a safe, secure house that we know where our street address is. We decommitted. We unsubscribed to that, and we subscribed to something of adventure. And that adventure is exhilarating, exciting, and all of that. And it's difficult and challenging and stressing. Stressful, not stressing. Stressful. And it shows up. The relateings in our community, we are real. And so I just want that balanced view that this is an amazing lifestyle. And it's still very real. We have to show up every day and choose our state of being. Yes, and I think your point there is very, very important. Happiness is not a place. It's not somewhere you go. And being fulfilled is not somewhere that you go. And you can do it. It's how you choose to do it. I mean, we're just out, ironically, outside of Pretoria, in Pretoria East. And on a plot, it's 10 hectares of natural African bush. And we have all the challenges there. We have all the challenges of not having power. Then we sit there and think, oh, did we buy diesel for the generator? Or did this happen? But as I'm sitting here now in my office, I'm looking across natural African bush.
I can see some mountains in the distance. I am as happy as a pig in a poke. Superb. And that's my desire for everyone. Anyone who's listening to this episode, getting activated is about dropping into your body, learning to understand your thinking and your feeling, and choosing a resourceful state. Doesn't matter where you are, everybody gets the same opportunity to live by reacting to everything around them, or learn to become conscious, and learn how to respond so that the environment around you supports you to create the life experience of your desire. Yeah. And I mean, again, just as a further sort of proviso onto the digital nomad lifestyle, this is-- and you mentioned this. This is not something that you just did one day. You didn't wake up one morning and go, OK, well, stuff this. But you've got to be in a place for it. So if it's something that you aspire to, you have to build towards that. And you have to build yourself towards that, the things and the stuff. Because there's a lot of security that we attribute to our address, and being able to just pop down the road to the store, et cetera, et cetera. So like anything, it sounds romantic. I mean, when we were at Brenton-on-Sea, I was like, I could live here.
And then the reality of, like, you know, but then you get to see this every day. Is this something that you could do every day? And that's when the answers and the questions start coming up. So that's wonderful. Now, the book is Get Activated. You say you're still busy with coaching and training, et cetera, et cetera. Is there another book in the offing? There's two more books coming. And I'm actually working towards the second one. So after Get Activated, I'm writing. I'm preparing a manuscript called Get Aligned. Once you become active-- so now, I've got this insight. I've got this resource. I'm able to make these choices towards resourcefulness. How do I start to align my inner thinking, my inner feeling, and the world around me so I can start to live in this space? And then the third book will be called Get a Life. How do you put that into practice? But I'm not quite there yet. Well, then I'm putting it out there right now. As soon as Get Aligned is ready, I want to talk to you again. Absolutely. I look forward to it. I look forward to it. Now, Robin, if somebody's listening now and they're thinking, heck, I could do with a little bit of coaching. I could do with a bit of help. Maybe I'm looking for my team to get some sort of access to the kind of stuff that you do.
Are you willing? Are you able to do that? And how do people get hold of you? I am willing. I am most definitely able. And I'm available. And I'd love to help. The simplest way is on socials, @-- my handle is @-- all one word, get activated with Robin. So get activated with Robin. If you look on Twitter, on Facebook, on Instagram, on LinkedIn, or just hashtag #GetActivated. If you search #GetActivated or #ActivatedLast, then you'll find me. Yeah, that's the easiest way. Fantastic stuff. I've just got to put in this little anecdote. That's exactly how I got hold of Robin again. It was literally through Facebook Messenger. I was posted there. So how does one get hold of a digital nomad? And Robin's also was, thank you enough, right here. So that's how we started this conversation, which I think is absolutely fantastic. Robin, any ideas as to how long your current stay and your current location is going to be? Or is that also up to-- Well, we've booked for two months. And then we'll see, because Scarborough is a beautiful place, when the internet is working and all things are in place. And depending on the emerging work-- what's the right word-- what constraints, opportunity demands, the work demands, we could stay here for another month or two or three.
But then the adventure is yearning. So probably up the coast, so into the garden route. My partner, there's some places around South Africa that she hasn't seen, which would be lovely, as long as there's internet connectivity and reliable electricity. We'd love to see some of the garden routes before heading up to Durban area, to Natal South Coast, and then out to Bali. Wonderful stuff. Well, we wish you guys all the very best. Robin, thank you for taking the time out and having a chat to us today. It's so good talking to you. And it's inspiring to know that you've done this. And the changes in you as Robin Pullen, I can see them clearly. And hats off to you, mate. Thank you. Much appreciated. Great chatting to you again. And I would look forward to the next one. Absolutely. There we go, it wraps it up for this particular edition of "What's Involved," my special guest there, Robin Pullen. Remember, the easiest way, just look for that #GetActivated with Robin. As I said, wraps it up to each and every one of you. Look after yourselves. Take care. Thank you for listening.
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