Overcoming challenges as an expat
- Overcoming challenges as an expat
Overcoming challenges as an expat is no easy thing. But the truth is, no matter what challenges life throws at you, you can overcome them even if sometimes it seems that something will never improve.
This blog post is to help you overcome any challenge that life throws at you.
If you are an expat or about to be an expat, you know there are some challenges that we face, such as:
- Making friends
- Finding a partner
- Learning a language
- Starting a new job
- Finding our new home
A little bit about me and my own challenges
The thing I see the most is that we end up thinking that people around us are always better than we are.
We end up thinking that no one is facing the challenges we are facing. And that ends up making us feel alone.
So, I wanted to share with you what challenges I have been through so that you see, you are not alone in this. You are going through a challenging time but you will be able to overcome it and you will be able to settle in no matter where you are.
First, if you want a longer version of who I am, click here.
The short version is that I am an expat. Just like you if you are one or if you are about to become one.
I have been an expat since 2018 and I can truly say it has changed my life completely. Being an expat has changed how I see myself, it has increased my resilience and it has shown me that no matter how low life can get sometimes, I can always come back stronger.
Feeling lonely
My challenges are very similar to the most common expat challenges, the feeling of loneliness.
The feeling of not belonging and missing home. That is how I felt when I moved by myself to both Edinburgh and Geneva. I felt lonely and like I had no one I could count on where I was living. It wasn’t easy, that is for sure.
But what I did to overcome it was seek help and at the same time, seek connection. Going to meetups, talking with more people, and finding my people no matter how long it could take.
That was the number one challenge.
Learning a new language
The second one was learning french, which was a long journey. I still remember moving to Geneva and being overwhelmed by hearing a language I couldn’t understand which made me feel even more alone. And what I did was, once again, find friends among the expat community that spoke English and start learning french.
Below you will find many of the things I practiced throughout my journey.
Was it easy? No… Not at all.
But you know what I say? When we know we have been overwhelmed and stressed before and we have overcome it, we start trusting ourselves that we can overcome anything.
Listen to expat stories on overcoming challenges
How can you start overcoming challenges as an expat
Awareness
The first thing when it comes to changing any situation that we have in our lives is awareness. Awareness of what is happening, awareness of how we are feeling, and even awareness of how we want to feel in our lives.
So here is where knowing yourself comes in.
If you are feeling stressed, feeling like your mind is always running at 1000 miles an hour and that you don’t even know what to do, I would invite you to
- Write down what is on your mind
- Or record a voice note for yourself.
Just by doing this, all that cognitive overload will start going down and down and it will become clearer where you want to start.
Seeking connection
Since an expat life can be lonely, especially in the beginning, I would encourage you to see where could you connect with people that are already in your life or build new connections.
Having the safe space of a relationship, no matter what type of relationship it is, can help us de-stress and help us find our strength, even more, to move forward.
And this can simply mean posting on a Facebook group, going to meetups, or finding people who practice the same hobbies as you.
This can also be done by connecting with people that are already in your life even if not in the same city as you.
Learning from every challenge
Now that you have written what is on your mind, when has this happened before and what did you do about it?
What have you learned before when you faced a situation like this?
You know, sometimes we just think we are the way we are and there is nothing we can do to change it. But the truth is, there is.
The more we look back at what we overcame and we focus our minds on what we learnt, the more we will keep on improving our resilience when new challenges come up.
Connecting with your future self
Even though we are in the present moment, the more we connect with our future self and with what we want to feel in our future, the easier it becomes to overcome challenges.
How do you want your future to look like?
That can be in 1 week, 1 month, 6 months or 1 year.
The important thing here is, how will you feel when you overcome this challenge and how do you want your life to look like when you get there?
Tiny action
Now, what would be a tiny step you could take to start overcoming this challenge and moving toward that future self?
What does this all mean?
It means that life always will come with its own challenges and an expat life can always through challenges at us and no matter how hard they might seem, we can always overcome them.
And the first thing is being aware of them, being aware of how we actually want our life to look like, and tackling one challenge at a time.
Listen to more practical tips on overcoming challenges as an expat?
Reach out
Helping expats overcome challenges in their lives is my goal as an expat coach and, if you are going through that right now and you want help in moving forward and creating a life you love where you trust that you can overcome anything
How it is to work with me
Wondering what do I help expats with and how does it all work? Click below to know more!