Expat Dennis

A few weeks ago I quit my job.

I quit my job working as a Product Marketing Manager for a company that many would say is the “Google” of the Midwest in terms of work environment. In fact, the specific company that I worked for was so great that I truly had nightmares about my decision to leave. Between the dogs in the office, free beer on Fridays, flexible hours, wonderful people, and seemingly endless career opportunities, I worried that I would never see a company so good again.

However, after just a few short months of working full time at the company after college (I only graduated in May of 2015), I received an email from my previous employer — the owner of a hotel in the Seychelles islands.

For those of you saying… “Where?”, allow me to help you with this wonderful picture.

My former boss (the owner of the hotel), explained that the hotel’s assistant general manager resigned, and that she was interested in knowing whether or not I would like to take their place as manager.

This news was some of the most difficult news to receive. After all, I had just begun working full time for the company in Iowa. Taking this job in Seychelles would mean that I would have to abandon my current position after only a few months of full-time work. It also meant that I would be relocating to the opposite side of the planet, extremely far from any Americans, let alone friends and family — I would be entirely alone. All of these things made this decision-making process one that included heavy conversations with my loved ones, ridiculously complicated cost-benefit analyses, yet a continuous feeling of sensation by the thought of me living in an island paradise for the foreseeable future.

Come on. You know you would fantasize a little too.

After thinking long and hard about the decision, I finally made up my mind to take the leap of faith and revisit the islands for a full time gig. The reasons are various, but I think it ultimately came down to one simple question: Had I chosen to decline the offer in Africa, would I constantly be concerned about what my life would be like if I had gone?

Many would say that this is fallacious rhetoric. After all, the same argument could be made about me coming to Seychelles, and then wondering what my life would be like had I stayed in Iowa (which certainly has happened as well). However, the difference is that Iowa is a place that I’ve known my entire life. It is a place that contains a certain type of people; people whom I am very familiar and comfortable around. It is place that also contains what I would argue is a restricted and bounded set of opportunities; opportunities that as far as my naive and young mind could understand, were not aligned with how I wished to live my life. When looking at a place like Seychelles, I could not help but see a place made up of unknown possibilities; possibilities that would certainly push me beyond my comfort zone, amongst people, cultures, and landscapes that are entirely foreign to a place like Iowa. And it is this perspective that ultimately drove my decision to seize the opportunity to revisit the islands. Only the future will tell whether or not my decision was correct. But for now, I’ll rest easy beyond the difficulties of making such a tough decision, and press forward onto the cultures, people, and opportunities that I now have access to. A door is closed behind me, and many new doors are now ahead.

Signing off for the first time, with many more posts to come.

-Pat Dennis