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The effects of moving to another country. Alone!
The effects of moving to another country especially alone can be profound. In fact, they are life-changing for a variety of reasons. I myself moved alone to another country over 20 years ago. I have lived and worked abroad ever since.
Of course, I make periodic visits back to my home country, but I find myself missing my home country less and less and my family more and more.
That’s just one of the challenges of moving to another country. But there are plenty of others. Let’s go through some common questions about the effects that moving to another country can have on you.
Is moving to another country a good idea?
As a 20-year expat, in my humble opinion, moving to another country is not only a good idea, it’s a great idea.
Moving to another country is life-changing.
Even if you only spend a few months or a year in another country, it will have profound effects on you much longer than your stay there.
Is it a good idea to live and work in another country?
Moving and living to another country is one thing. You can actually do that for a prolonged vacation or a gap year.
However, to truly experience what life is like in another country, the culture, doing daily chores that you normally do at home and trying to do them in the totally new environments of another country can be challenging.
Trying to converse and buy everyday items like fruit and vegetables at your local grocery store in a foreign language becomes cultural lessons in and of themselves.
But working in another country as well as living in another country, well this basically doubles your living experience in another country.
Let’s face it, most of us spend the majority of our daylight lives working. Having work experience in another country will only enhance your experience of living abroad.
This experience will become invaluable as you get older, even if you do decide to move back to your home country.
How does it feel to live in another country?
Living in another country makes you feel almost childlike. Many things that we take for granted and that give us a feeling of independence, suddenly become new again.
Simple things like going out and buying a piece of fruit, ordering a meal in a restaurant or taking public transportation become new experiences when done in another country and in another language.
Finding your bearings, getting to know and becoming familiar with the logistics of your new country become vital tasks you must master to feel more at home.
Does living in another country change you?
First living in another country forces you to change. You really have no choice. It forces you out of your comfort zone and familiarities that make you, basically you.
It’s very easy to compare living and life in another country to your own country and pass judgments.
But if you can get beyond that, you may learn that many things in your new country are done much better than in your home country.
You will also adopt some new habits, acquire a taste for new foods and may even dress differently.
Your environment ,no matter where you are, whether that’s in your home country or in another country after a while changes and moulds you.
How do I decide to move to another country?
Moving to another country is a huge decision. In fact, it may be one of the biggest decisions of your life. So it shouldn’t be taken lightly.
However, if you are after some new adventures and experiences. If you’re interested in learning foreign languages, meeting people from different cultures, tasting different foods and seeing how other people live and not just from a tour bus window or from the pool of a resort and then foreign country. Then moving to another country should be on your list of things to do in your life.
What does living in another country teach you?
Living in another country teaches you to become more self-sufficient and reliant. It also teaches you about another country and its people.
It will melt away many stereotypes and misconceptions that you may have of the people in your new country.
However, it could give you other impressions as well. Living in another country teaches you to deal with the locals as a local or as close to a local as you can be.
If you really immerse yourself living in another country, it can force you to learn it’s language, it’s slang and way of communicating.
Moving to another country will show you a different mentality and that all people do not think the same way as people back home.
Not only that, but you’ll learn that the people in you new country also have very good reasons for thinking and behaving the way that they do. It will open you up to new points of view and perspectives.
It will help you grow wise hopefully and teach you things that you will never have learned, if you had stayed home.
Living in another country will show you that you are adaptable. You can learn, change and grow as a human being. Living in another country will also teach you that you are stronger than you ever thought you were.
How does it feel to work in another country?
In some ways working in another country feels the same as working in your own country.
Usually, you have an office you go to and a specific job you need to do.
However, you will soon learn that your new colleagues in your new country have their own ways of doing things and doing business that are strange and foreign to you.
In many ways you may feel like a fish out of water working in another country.
But this is all part of the experience. By learning and adapting, you will feel more comfortable in your new country at work as well as in your social life.
You just have to be open to change and accept how things are done. Not by how you are used to things being done back home.
Why does living in another country promote creativity?
I’m sure most of you have heard the expression, “think outside the box”. One of the best things you can do to promote creativity is actually leave your environment.
Whether that’s your house, your town, city or even your country.
That’s one of the reasons why vacations are so useful. Changing your environment, relaxing and removing yourself from the day-to-day drudgery of our routines sparks creativity.
So when you totally move to a new environment like another country, your mind and body are inundated with new senses and new perceptions, sites and smells and other new experiences that will spark all kinds of creativity within you.
You’ll have thoughts and ideas for things that would never have occurred to you had you stayed in your home country.
The effects of moving to another country alone, conclusions.
The effects of moving to another country, especially alone, basically changed my life.
The people I’ve met, the places I’ve worked, where I’ve traveled to as well as the relationships I’ve built. Some of those I’ve lost touch with, some I have remained close to, etc. Moving to another country has affected me as a person in ways that I can’t even imagine.
I don’t mean to exaggerate, but sometimes I catch myself wondering, what if I had never left the United States, would I be the person I am today.
Would I have the same thoughts, opinions and perspectives on life and people and the world in general, had I not left the United States over 20 years ago.
The effects of moving to another country alone can have extremes.
There are many holidays that I spend alone abroad, away from family.
Many times even if I have friends, many of them are expats and they usually return home for their holidays.
There have been a few occasions where I have been invited to local’s homes to celebrate holidays. But these occasions are few and far between.
The effects of moving to another country alone in all honesty is a mixed bag.
But isn’t life itself a mixed bag? Whether you never leave your home country or you spend 20 years abroad, home is in the end, where you hang your hat.