This is Co-Living
I spent the month of November in a small city in the south of Spain.
I stayed in a house with people I had never met before in my life.
We all worked from that house.
We spent time together.
We laughed a lot.
We lived.
🧐 How does it work?
There’s a house. Three beautiful people are in charge.
You book a room and pay per night.
There’s an office space in that house. In the morning you can pick a desk on a first come, first serve basis.
There’s a big fully equipped kitchen where you can cook whenever you want (Spaniards eat at 3pm) whatever you want (you buy your food).
When you’re done with work you can hang out with people.
You sleep and repeat.
A way better explanation is available here!
😌 How does it feel?
After just two days there I had to accept it: co-living felt right.
I was just feeling good and couldn’t really explain why!
It came to my mind later during my stay: I was doing Erasmus again — probably one of the best time in my life. You come to a new playground. You know nobody. Nobody knows you. It’s an empowering sentiment that gives you a lot of energy.
I also experienced something similar 5 years ago when I spent two weeks in Sofia, Bulgaria. But I had to find a co-working space and I had to find people to meet etc… Co-living provides you that all-in-one experience so you just have to focus on enjoying the moment.
I believe the “feeling good” boils down to this one simple thing: living in the present.
Tip: it’s even better when you’re a minimalist. For example, all my belongings fit inside a backpack and a suitcase — that’s less things requiring my attention!
👯 Who’s there?
Good people.
When you think about it: what kind of people are willing to spend weeks or months with strangers? Only sociable and curious people. That’s a filter. No assholes or other toxic individuals.
Then you have a bit of everything: freelancers, employees, founders, indie entrepreneurs… All working on their laptops. It’s surprisingly quite diverse which is a really good thing when you’re used to the tech startup world.
One thing I noticed as well: a lot of smart people. Is it because the desire to live life on your own terms makes you a bit smarter? Maybe.
You also get to meet the locals and that’s definitely a plus. I speak a bit of Spanish but nowadays most them speak English too. You just need to go somewhere twice — it’s a small town they will remember you!
🍻 Is it fun?
Yes!
There are many socials happening throughout the weeks. Sometimes it’s cooking with the co-livers or going to the beach. Sometimes it’s hiking before the sunrise or going to a craft beer place.
The fun comes also from partying and one thing is sure: alcohol (with moderation) is an amazing social lubricant. One glass of Spanish wine and you drop the small talk.
Also you know that feeling of dancing like nobody’s watching? Damn boi we did dance a lot — and nobody was actually watching!
One of the perks of a small town is that you don’t queue. You go from the bar to the club and there’s always space available. You can even dance with your arms open ah!
I think I need convincing no-one but Spanish way of life is the best.
💻 Is it productive?
That was one of my main fear coming to this co-living. I’ve got a startup and a team — I need to be able to get shit done.
But I found out so do the others — people need to pay their bills! There’s a satisfying productive vibe when the house turns into a co-working space.
If you’re not following this “Remote” trend closely you wouldn’t know but there’s actually a bunch of big companies having some (or all) their employees remote. For instance, the Director of People Operations at DuckDuckGo was at the co-living space when I was there.
As mentioned before, almost everything is taken care of so you can just focus on eating, working and relaxing. I even heard of a co-living space where food is sorted as well!
Thought: I’d love to have my team around, but the point is that you cannot force people to be somewhere. Should be a fundamental right.
🌻 Is it healthy?
Let’s go with bullet points on this one as I think they’re pretty self-explanatory:
- Small city
- No commute
- Good air quality
- The nature
- Mingling
- Laughing
- Dancing
- Working out
- SUN SUN SUNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Caveat: don’t forget that if you’re not careful you can end up quite drunk quite fast in Spain — not healthy. I had one truly unforgiving hangover but I learned my lessons ¡VAYA RESACÓN DE LA HOSTIA TIO!
🤷 Is this real life?
Ok that’s the main criticism we can get: is this real life? Can you live like this all your life? Having a partner and/or kids?
Well… I did my research and it turns out that people are doing that. So nothing is impossible.
Being a nomad going from one co-living to another is still pretty much an experiment for me. But I’d argue that life should be an experiment!
I do believe that when you only have a backpack and a suitcase, then you can be truly deliberate with what you’re doing. Eventually living life on your own terms.
Thank-you: while travelling within Europe you’re reminded of how GREAT this idea of Europe was. No borders. Same money. Peace. Brilliant!
At first I didn’t want to write this article. It’s silly but in a way you don’t want too many people to know about co-living. It’s obvious there will be more and more demand, and the number of co-living spaces will probably lag in keeping up with the trend.
But after many friends asked me about the experience I felt like writing something about it. I hope I’ll see you soon around Europe in a co-living space. Actually, I’ll be in Tenerife in February and then back at Sun and Co. later in 2020. Use my code “ELSANTO” when you book so you get your first night free — I promise you won’t regret it!
