ten years an expat
Home is where the heart is, so the saying goes. But what happens when your heart is split between more than one home? Ten years as an expat brings a lifetime of wisdom.
We cannot go back, only forward. But there certain aspects of ourselves (our family, culture, and heritage) that it is impossible to leave behind. And so we're forced into an eternal vortex of expat existence. Not from here and no longer from there.
As an expat, you have the wings of new beginnings but not the roots of home, no stable or solid foundation to call your own. You feel grateful, bold, and inspired one day and then anxious, alone, and alienated another.
You are fundamentally different from who you were when you began your journey but still not the same as those around you in your new environment. A little of the old and a little of the new, you cannot commit to being either wholeheartedly.
Have you lived this, too?
If I could speak to myself ten years ago, I would say that, regardless of the fact that this decision was of your making, it will be one of your toughest challenges. It's normal to feel proud of your achievements yet nervous about what this new environment holds for you. Take it one step at a time.
The first three to five years will be a blur of life inside a bubble. Everyone else will seem to be moving more quickly than you, landing better jobs than you, putting down roots more quickly than you, and fitting in more easily than you. Some days, crossing the road or going to the grocery store will feel like too much. You will feel resentment against your partner, your new friends, yourself. Other days, you will achieve things you never thought possible and climb hills that will allow you to see sights you never dreamed of. You will make deeper, more heartfelt, and authentic connections with others. You will feel more. You will learn more. You will cry more than you could ever imagine.
But this experience will shape you into who you were meant to be, change deeply-ingrained generational prejudices, and create a new generation of opportunities for your children. They will be worldly, tough, and spirited. They will see in you the warrior, the healer, the home that they will carry in their hearts all ways for always.
