When it comes to picking your whole life up and moving somewhere new, of course research and planning are important parts of the process. However, there are some things that you simply have to figure out as you go along, and some challenges will crop up that you don’t see coming. I thought I’d explore a few of the biggest challenges I’ve faced and a little of how to work through them.
Firstly, leaving behind the stability of a full time job, a good social life and a roof over my head was something I knew would be difficult before I had even left. We’re brought up by our parents knowing that stability is the goal and it goes against everything I’ve been taught to basically throw all that out the window to start again. However, I don’t think this a bad thing at all, its the kind of uncomfortableness you can learn to be okay with and there’s no other way to achieve that than jumping straight in the deep end!
Secondly, as many hours of planning I had put in prior to the move, nothing could have prepared me for how constant the planning would still be once I got there. I’ve battled a lot in these last 4 weeks with trying to get ahead of it all without getting overwhelmed, and I’ll tell you now, it hasn’t been easy. It feels like the list of things to sort out has been never ending: find a flat/houseshare, update my cv, find a job, join some social groups, explore the area.. and so it continues, all whilst trying to eat healthily, keep exercising and keep up with the rest of my goals. So, trust me when I tell you it gets easier.
Looking back over those 4 weeks now it seems so silly some of the things that I let get me down. My best advice is to keep reminding yourself of the courage it took to take that leap in the first place, recognise that you did it, and revel in your own accomplishment. The more you put yourself out there the easier your move will be.
Now, something to note is that I’m a rather emotional person, in the sense that I feel everything deeply, and to my core. I know this isn’t at all a negative thing but it does mean that travelling to somewhere new can induce a slight emotional overload from time to time. Seeing such beautiful places and having incredible experiences can put you on such an emotional high, yet the homesickness and complete lack of familiarity can create extreme lows – particularly when you start missing life’s little comforts! With a long term move, in comparison to being “back home”, it feels like there is much less of an emotional middle ground. As well as that its all too easy to compare absolutely everything to what you’re used to – you’ve got to learn to accept the differences for what they are, and know that change isn’t all bad.
Homesickness is another feeling you have to learn to live with I’m afraid, though it can be easily fought off with frequent FaceTime calls home, texting updates and sending postcards, etc. Personally, coming up with different ideas to continue sharing your life with the people you love back home is the best way to battle this. Here are some ideas for you:
- A weekly photo update – not just the stuff you post on insta for everyone to see but those b-roll shots of the dinner you cooked yourself or the dog you made friends with through a garden fence on the way to work.
- Voicenotes – I’ve found this is an easier way to talk to people who are on a completely different time zone as you can reply in your own time but still have proper conversations.
- Send actual letters! – nothing feels as personal as receiving a handwritten letter in the post, I still feel like a kid excited to open mail when I receive them from home
- Use the Locket app – this allows you to add a widget to your home screen displaying a photo of your friends, each time they take a new one and send it that becomes your widget and visa versa.
- Waffle Wednesday – have one day a week allocated to sending your friends or family a life update. What’s happened in the past week? What are you aiming for right now? All the little things 🙂
Take each day as it comes and don’t forget how you got here
Another common struggle is money management and making sure you don’t run out of it. When you start your move and you have whatever large sum saved up in your account, you’ve finally finished working after grinding to make it here, its all too easy to go on a bit of a spending spree. But, you can’t treat it like a holiday. Of course there is a balance, as with all things in life, but splurging in the first few weeks is how you’ll end up running out of money and going home broke – or in debt to parents like I was!
Have a look online for some budgeting tips if this is a challenge for you too.
Lastly, making friends in a new place comes naturally to some but for others can be the most daunting part. It takes a lot of courage to put yourself out there and try to make new friends. Finding a job can help massively with this as it will give you people to talk to who know the area and social scene a bit better, but I think what makes the process a whole lot easier is finding activities that you already know to you love doing. For example, you love running then find a running club to join, you love playing pool, find your local pub and see if they have a tournament night, you get the idea. It’s also important to remember that so many other people are in exactly the same boat!
The beauty of travelling is that you have the absolute freedom to do pretty much whatever you like. It’s taken me 4 weeks to properly realise that our original plans can change and that’s okay, I’m missing friends sooner than I thought I would and that’s okay too, and that just because I’m seeing all these amazing places it doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to also feel sad. We’re only human after all, so don’t put too much pressure on everything being perfect.
