Life Lessons I Learned from Living in Another Country and Moving to Another State
People always ask/assume that I’m prior or current military when I say that I have lived abroad and lived in a few other states. I emphatically, but graciously, always respond with no while thinking to myself: “why is it that people only think military personnel are capable of this lifestyle?”
As I chuckle and shake my head (to myself), I then proceed to answer any questions they ask which almost automatically begins with so what’s it like to live there?
Depending on my mood and amount of time, I then go into as little or as much detail as possible. What people don’t realize though is everyone’s experience is different, because there are so many factors associated with living preferences.
Additionally, all of my experiences to live in another country or state were all done by voluntary choice. I can only imagine what it’s like to live as a refugee, military personnel, or any other arrangement where it was not necessarily a planned decision to go and live somewhere else for an established amount of time.
Many people think that it is so cool and so much better to live somewhere else besides where they were born or raised. Having said this, there is no denying that there are some places where the environment is terrible and the need for escape is necessary.
So many people I’ve spoken to have reached a point in their lives where they are over their familiar surroundings and just want to see what else is out there.
And I honestly think its great when people want to explore!
I champion exploration and curiosity of the unknown — of course with a balance of calculated risk. I learned the latter part the hard way as I jumped into a few moves sight unseen.
Things To Consider
I now encourage people when they are thinking about moving to either another country or another state to try and consider a few things.
Visiting the place isn’t a catch all
While it’s great to put in plans to get a feel for the place of interest at the end of the day it almost always won’t be the same as when you actually live there. There are many places that, on the surface, are great places to visit, vacation, and retreat to, but when you get down to the day-to-day nuances of your routine things you would have never considered or been aware of will surface.
These things are typically the routine pleasantries that seem to go unnoticed when you visit.
I think we have to dismantle the fantasies we carry in our heads about these other places.
Knowing that over there isn’t necessarily the promised land of riches and gold.
While you may be leaving your existing environmental challenges, moving to another state or country will still present it’s own set of challenges. I wrote an e-book entitled The Simple Life which outlines these challenges and the harsh realities of living abroad. It’s a quick read and if you want to learn more about my findings of living abroad you can download a copy from Amazon.
It’s All A Balancing Act
The other thing I encourage people to consider is to balance the preparation with the outcome of the decision. I have moved to several places with varying levels of preparation.
For some moves, I prepared for it for over a year. For others, only a week or two. For each move whether I was more prepared than the other, it still didn’t fully prepare me for how much (or little) I enjoyed the location.
You don’t know what you don’t know — right?
Also people can tell you “oh it’s hot in Arizona” or “boy it rains a lot in Seattle,” but you really can’t fully grasp how well you’ll respond to the temperatures or even how true it is until you actually experience for yourself.
Don’t go into it thinking oh well — I lived in a hot environment before so I’ll be fine or I like the rain so this will be great!
While the optimism is great just don’t set yourself up like that.
Throw out your badge of abilities and go into the new environment with an openness to see just how well you truly can manage it.
Just a Few More Tips
If you are considering a move, do some research in regards to access to certain types of food and transportation. I talk about the pro’s and con’s of each in my e-book and provide some more detailed things to weigh out.
While I’ve never purchased a home before, I cannot speak to doing that in another state or country (if allowed). What I can say is that I’ve seen where not limiting yourself to only buying a home before you move there can help lessen the shock, disappointment, and most of all feelings of being stuck.
Maybe consider renting for a year to decide if you like that area or even if you like the state or country for that matter. This way you get a better feel for the location than you would by just visiting and making a decision to purchase something in that area. You can get to know the property laws, community, access to amenities and transportation situation better.
All in all, my best advice to you is to be open.
Throw out your expectations and do the best you can.
You really don’t know until you try and even if you are privileged enough to do that appreciate the move for the life experience that it is.
