Work-Life Balance: Life as a Digital Nomad and Missionary

Feb 2020 Calendar with both work deadlines and mission dates

I’ve been working two jobs at a time since I was hired by the first company I worked for. I was a workhorse—taking on tasks I initially had no idea how to do—with high hopes of developing new skills I could use for future job opportunities. I was a weekend warrior, too. I endured the daily struggles of commuting to the office despite heavy traffic, floods, storms, earthquakes, and sometimes even a high fever.

Weekend vacations became essential—not just for fun, but more importantly, to recover my mental health. The thought of spending Saturdays at the beach helped me get through manic Mondays and midweek slumps. I liked my work. I was learning and earning. But there was still something missing in that cycle of work and play.

This looks like my work-from-home setup

In 2018, I decided to take a break from office work and looked for a gig I could do from home. I was beginning to feel the dreadful weight of burnout creeping into many areas of my life, and I knew I needed to slow down. I found a home-based job and, by the grace of God, something far more precious—missionary work and a religious community.

Just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, we were blessed with back-to-back missions. For two weeks, I had to juggle giving talks during the day and working afterward. It felt like I was doing double shifts. I was exhausted—but surprisingly, I was happy. Somehow, I found the energy to do it all again the next day.

Juggling tasks for work-life balance

My Takeaways

Work is important, but it isn’t everything. Looking back at that two-week mission-work routine, here are the most important lessons I’ve learned:

• Life is really just 24 hours a day. Take away 7 hours for sleep, and we’re left with only 17 hours to do everything we need to do. Work matters. But as we go through our days and fight our battles, it’s good to pause and pray as Moses did in Psalm 90:12:

“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

• Life is short. I could die anytime. Thinking about death may seem morbid, but it helps me see life more clearly. Some people believe it’s more practical to do mission work only after achieving financial freedom. But for me, it’s more spiritually practical to juggle work and mission daily—or at least weekly or monthly. Who knows? I might die early and never get the chance to enjoy life on the mission field.

• Work can be a mission field. Had I realized this earlier in my career, I might have found more meaning in the work I was doing.

• Work is God’s gift to humankind. Through it, we grow in holiness and virtue—especially in how we encounter others.

• My identity doesn’t depend on my salary. Whether I’m overpaid or underpaid, it’s really not about me. Some industries simply pay more; others pay less. Enduring poverty can be noble, but I also believe being in a position to give is just as Spirit-filled as being in a position to receive. In the end, earning money is just one aspect of the beauty of work. As St. Paul wrote in Colossians 3:23–24:

“Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as for the Lord and not for people, knowing that you will receive an inheritance as your reward. You serve the Lord Christ.”

remote work life