5 Reasons You Will Love Your Life Abroad
Living abroad is one of the most exhilarating and life changing experiences a person can have, and those of us who are lucky enough to have the experience can attest to the positive changes expats can go through while living in another country.
As a second year expat, I’d like to share with you the reasons I’ve fallen in love with living abroad. Maybe once you make the move abroad you’ll find these reasons to be true yourself.
1. You’ll Find You’ve Changed
Change is inevitable. Whether you live in the same city all your life or country hop regularly, people undergo changes – even if they’re unnoticed. Living abroad, however, makes all of these changes obvious. It was while I was living in Korea and going back over my old journals from the year before that I realized just how much I had changed.
I had become braver and more courageous. Living in a country where the language and culture aren’t native to you oftentimes forces you to look inward for guidance. Having the ability to do that often in your day-to-day life allows you to understand yourself better, to see how you’ve changed, and where you can make improvements upon yourself.
2. Opportunities Present Themselves
While opportunities are everywhere, it’s the optimistic people who find them most. If there is one trait universal to expats, it’s optimism. I’ve found so many fun, fulfilling, and at times strange opportunities that have opened up to me while abroad like writing for a magazine, reporting at a Road FC Championship, modeling, or blogging for a major recruiting company. These specific opportunities would not have come into my path had I stayed at home.
3. You’ll Become Vulnerable (In A Good Way)
Packing up your belongings and moving to the other side of the world isn’t easy, in fact it’s gut wrenching and scary at times. However terrifying in the beginning the move might be, in the end that fear is a good thing because it forces you to be in a vulnerable state. In my own humble opinion, vulnerability (in small doses) is a good state in which to be. It keeps you open and appreciative when you find kindness in others.
4. You’ll Learn
All people who have achieved anything significant before have been people who understand there is never an age at which a person should stop learning. Even Michelangelo claimed at age 87, “I’m still learning.” Living abroad is a wonderful experience because it causes the expat to be in a constant state of learning. There will be things to learn like language, culture, and history about the new country in which you’ll reside. Living abroad allows you to learn something new everyday.
5. You’ll Love More
If there is one thing that living abroad has taught me above all, it’s to love more. Living so far away from my family and friends has taught me to appreciate them more and cherish our conversations and time spent together. At one point, I admitted on my blog that I harbored an unhealthy obsession with change because I was afraid of being hurt, but after meeting so many strangers that have become friends abroad, I’ve learned to trust and accept the kindness of others. I’ve met many people while abroad, and whether my time with them was long or brief, I’m thankful that every one of them came into my life at the point that they did.
Have you ever lived abroad? What did you learn during your time in another country, and what reasons did you love living abroad? Tell us in a comment below! We’d love to know!
