We all have our very own personal reasons for wanting to move abroad to live. For some of us it might be all about the weather, for others it could be the cost of living, and for yet more people it will be about employment possibilities or the standard of living and the work/life balance. However, the one thing that rings true for all of us is that the best things about being an expat are free to enjoy.
If you’re wondering whether a move abroad could be good for you and your family, or you’ve just been offered an opportunity to start a new life overseas and you’re looking for inspiring reasons to take the leap of faith and become an expatriate, this report is just for you.
We’ve been brainstorming and have come up with a pretty definitive – yet certainly non-exhaustive – list of reasons about how being an expatriate comes with a whole host of free to enjoy benefits.
1) You gain greater perspective as an expatriate. You learn that different people in different countries, who have been brought up in an alternative culture and perhaps religion will see the same things as you and interpret or value them differently. This will lead you to reassess your values, your responses and perhaps lead you to becoming a far more open and tolerant person.
2) You regain your childlike enthusiasm. All of a sudden you will discover that thrill and excitement you lived with when you were a child. New experiences and unexpected occurrences will allow you to feel like a child again and learn to love your new country.
3) You will make many new friends. If you’re open to your new environment in your new country you will make many friends – local people will want to get to know you and learn about you and from you, and fellow expats – even if they are from countries other than your own – will rally round you as you bond over all being strangers in a strange land! This can lead to you forging very firm friendships with people from amazingly different backgrounds.
4) Your outlook will widen and deepen. The more time you spend with fellow expats and new local friends the more you will learn about different people, different beliefs and even different countries. Added to this, by living in another nation you will begin to see things altogether differently and as a result your whole outlook will change for the better.
5) You can be who you want to be – you can be who you really are! We are sometimes placed in a mould in our old home country, with people’s opinions of us and expectations of us coloured by our own history, by that of our family or the role we play in their lives. When we move abroad we can become the person we truly believe we are. No one has any preconceptions about us and this can be freeing.
6) Boring things can become exciting, just because they are so different. From plumbing methods to street signs, you will discover at least one banal thing about your new nation that thrills you because it is so different and in so being it is either really clever and neat, or really stupid and funny!
7) You work out where the grass really is greener. For some people, a new life abroad can really make them appreciate their old home nation! For others, it’s definitive proof that they were right to leave. After all, if you don’t try something how can you know whether you’ll like it or not. I.e., you need to live abroad to see if you really do like it or loathe is – and it can help you temper your own opinion about your old country of residence too. Gaining this perspective is valuable.
8) New opportunities come knocking. I don’t know whether it’s a case of your eyes and mind being more open to opportunities when you move abroad, or the fact that you change so more opportunities really do open up for you – but you will find that if you give it some time, you will discover a whole raft of new things to do and experience when living abroad. Perhaps we are so indoctrinated into believing we know the ways of our old country that we’re sure we’ve seen everything it has to offer – and because we’re fresh and new in our new country we’re not blind or blinkered we just see more of what’s around us. Either way it’s refreshing and thrilling.
9) Problem solving becomes second nature. You will gain confidence from living abroad because you will have to learn on your feet. You will have to discover ways to cope with everything from the bureaucracy to different shopping hours, from different moral and cultural acceptances to alternative plumbing methods that leave you dumbfounded! You will learn to problem solve, create work arounds, be confident in asking for help and direction and all of this experience is massively valuable to you as an individual.
10) If you’re open enough you will learn the local language and develop a different part of your brain! Unless you move to an English speaking country from an English speaking country (!) you will find yourself immersed in a new language, and even if you don’t take formal lessons you will begin to pick up a bit of the patter just to get by every day. In so doing you develop skills that may have been lying dormant in your brain. This will wake up your brain and you may well find you get to the point where you have naturally absorbed and embraced the local language and you will have gained an excellent and valuable skill for free.
As stated in the introduction to this article the above list is far from exhaustive – but it does cover some of the very best bits about being an expat. And as you can see – they are all free! Perhaps you have your own thoughts on this matter? If so, why not let us know what you think.
