Ana Varela, psychologist and writer points to colivings as a growth engine for rural Spain

Ana Varela is a psychologist and writer. She designs workshops to combat stress and actively studies the changes that digitization is causing in the work and personal spheres. In this respect, she is currently involved in writing a guide for digital nomads interested in discovering rural environments. In her opinion, the colivings that host digital nomads represent a growth engine for rural Spain.

So, Ana writes from her own experience, since she spends her time telecommuting and traveling for long periods of time throughout the most rustic Spain. “I really love the nature of Spain, both its coasts and natural parks and biosphere reserves”.-She alleges. “Digitizing my work has opened up new possibilities for traveling around”.

The profile of the digital nomad: organized and autonomous

Varela points in his guide to a great diversity of digital nomads, but of all of them she highlights “their strong organization skills and autonomy capacities,” she says. The fact of traveling and offering results to the company requires well-developed skills”. Among the different profiles, those who travel continuously and those who prefer to stay for a long time in a specific place stand out. Various factors depend on this, “such as the comforts of the coliving where they are hosted, the group of people with whom they share spaces and the demands of the work to be carried out”.

Why opt for a coliving?

Colivings are a great bet: “it combines people’s privacy” to live and work, “with common spaces” to share experiences and network. This provides a great opportunity for digital nomads, since it facilitates “the creation of relationships not only personal but also professional.”

A good moment for rural SpainAna Varela supports the idea that it is “a good moment for the rural world in Spain”, since its repopulation is being promoted. In this sociocultural context, colivings represent a “magnificent opportunity to boost areas of Spain that originally were not within the usual tourist circuits and that are of great interest.” That is why in her guide for digital nomads, Ana highlights endless spaces and resources for possible digital nomads: from repopulation projects, a national network of welcoming towns, available colivings, coworking spaces, entrepreneurship support groups, rural hubs… “We can say that this is the beginning of change,” she alleges.