The race for “digital nomads” is on — and the US is very much not leading the race: Mexico, Costa Rica, Portugal, the UAE, Panama, Thailand, and Indonesia are emerging as some of the most popular destinations for digital nomads (ie remote employees who combine work with travel), Bloomberg reports. These destinations are pulling plenty of talent out of the US, where some 11% of the country’s workforce — 17.3 mn people — are now calling themselves digital nomads. That’s a 2% y-oy increase from 2022 figures, and the figures are expected to rise further in the coming years, with some 70 mn people saying they are considering or actively planning to become digital nomads, according to MBO Partners (pdf).

There are a handful of countries rolling out visa — or residency — schemes to attract global talent: A total of 60 countries now offer remote work visa schemes, including a handful of countries in Africa introducing digital nomad visas, such as Namibia, Cape Verde, Mauritius, and Seychelles, the business information service notes. Spain, meanwhile, offers a program through which digital nomads can get permanent residency in five years. Their one-year remote work visa schemes for “international teleworkers” offered as a part of the startup law to foster entrepreneurship and attract talent to its economy. What stands out is that the visa can count towards a permanent residency, which can be applied for after five years, and remote workers can work part-time for a Spanish company as long as their salary isn’t more than 20% of their total foreign income. Meanwhile, Canada is developing a “tech talent strategy” to attract foreign digital nomads that involve allowing startups to apply for three-year work permits, according to Bloomberg.

A new reason to become an optimist: Traumatic experiences could be catalysts for personal growth, according to research cited in the Wall Street Journal. Since the 1990s, psychologists have observed a second stage that follows Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a result of psychologically harmful experiences: Post-Traumatic Growth(PTG). Lesser known than its antecedent, PTG is what happens when people who have struggled psychologically come to experience positive, transformative changes that don’t typically fade over time.

Getting through it isn’t the same as getting over it. While developing their understanding of PTG, psychologists Richard G. Tedeschi and Lawrence Calhoun found that some people who experienced PTSD also experienced growth in five areas: Personal strength, compassion, reception to new possibilities, a greater appreciation of life, and spiritual and/or existential change. This reflects more than just resilience in the face of adversity, it marks a change in the individuals’ worldview, and the introduction of new positive behaviors.

It’s not a cure for sadness. Tedeschi is adamant to differentiate between happiness and positivity. “There are still difficulties,” he says, but these individuals will discover a wealth of fulfillment in their lives that they would previously have not experienced. PTG is still under research to better understand how and why it happens, especially since not everyone who experiences PTSD experienced PTG. Deeper knowledge of this phenomenon will help psychologists and psychiatrists pave the way for positive recovery following trauma.

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