> I'm happy to follow the social protocols while never feeling like needing to belong
I used to be a "digital nomad" before coming to Australia, I lived in many cities across S. E. Asia and South America and, like you, for a while I really enjoyed being able to "taste the soup while not diving into it"[1].
However things change when you decide that the place where you are living is where you want to settle down and build a family (see my other comment in this sub-thread).
[1] This is a (probably not accurate) quote by writer and journalist Tiziano Terzani, unfortunately I'm unable to find a link to a source at the moment.
Sure, I wasn't implying that, just pointing out that it may be a possibility. Also, being single doesn't preclude you from deciding that you want to live somewhere indefinitely (the point that I wanted to make in my comment was more related to nomadic vs resident lifestyle, than single vs. married).
I'm actually not nomadic. Born in India, but moved to Canada a decade ago.
Things are pretty good here. Because of cultural differences people don't necessarily have to 'accept' me as one of theirs (it is just human nature to be so). And that's fine by me. If being emotionally accepted was a factor, I would have chosen to live among my extended family back in India.
I'm happy to follow the social protocols while never feeling like needing to belong (which is already hard enough even if you were born a native...).