Imagine being offered a tempting proposal to leave everything you ever knew of and move to a completely different country?
Would you do it? Would you be brave enough to get out of the ordinary, test your limits and expose yourself to a completely unknown adventure?
People constantly travel the world. If you ask me, traveling is probably one of the best cures for anything. It provides you with a liberating sensation, a form of freedom that cannot be reached with anything else.
You leave your country to go and experience the life, culture, habits, food, and society of another different and unique ethnicity. The real magic happens inside of you. You come back rejuvenated, changed, richer, more resilient and more self-aware.
However, when it comes to making that final, life-changing decision about moving abroad, the adventure is suddenly something that not only teaches you a lesson about the new country, but also something that teaches you the things you didn’t know about yourself.
Living abroad has the power to change your value system and make you see the world through a different type of lenses because
You get to meet and embrace a completely different culture
People you’ve never met before. Food you’ve never tried before. Culture and mentality, you’ve never experienced before. A language you’ve never spoken before. Ideas, perspectives, personalities you’ve never had the chance to hear.
There’s so much to grasp, to see, to smell, to feel. It comes all at once, and the feeling is amazing. The completely different and unique experience has the power to change your belief to the core.
You are suddenly exposed to a new lifestyle
When you live and work in the comfort of your own city or country, you are used to the way things go. You live surrounded by people who you’ve known your whole life, holding onto ideas and values your grandparents thought you.
Living abroad, on the other hand, gives you that sense of intense excitement mixed with fear. You are suddenly leaving the familiar, the safe nook and you decide to indulge in a new adventure.
Once you see how different we all are, you realize that you’ve missed out a lot of things. Moving abroad gives you the opportunity to look at the world through a different pair of lenses.
It opens your eyes to all the possibilities out there.
You take the path to becoming more self-aware
Step by step, living abroad influences you into a whole new person. You become more aware of the important things in life and even more grateful for the people in your life.
You start realizing that with great organization and sense of responsibility you can accomplish just about anything.
You start learning new things about yourself because now you have more and more time to reflect on yourself. You are far away from home and the only person you can rely on is you.
And it’s in that exact moment that you understand that by relying on yourself and overcoming the impossible, you grow much stronger.
You feel a sense of accomplishment
Creating a new life from scratch in a place where no one knows you is something not all of us have the courage to do. It requires getting out of your comfort zone, fighting every fear and insecurity and doing your best to survive beside the obstacles.
The more you push your limits, the tougher you become. The more you believe you can fight the circumstances, the more resilient you become, and you actually fight them.
You understand that life depends on yourself, and you are the only person who has to deal with the challenges and nasty consequences.
Once you succeed in all of this, you feel a liberating sense of accomplishment. Despite all the challenges and barriers, you did it.
You develop a more positive and enthusiastic mindset
Most importantly, experiencing and surviving the challenges of living abroad changes your mindset. It completely influences the way you perceive the world, yourself, your values.
It teaches you an important lesson about independence. The ability and courage to detach yourself from the familiar, safe place you once knew and discover the mysteries of the unknown.
The sense of freedom when you finally make it all by yourself.
Image: Sony Pictures
