Without a shadow of a doubt, the hardest part about being an expat is receiving bad news from home, when you are thousands of miles away.
On a daily basis, there are things that are 'hard' about living in another country - generally being away from family and friends is hard. The language barrier can be hard. It can be hard to do your job when there are policies and practises in place that can get in the way of what you are trying to achieve, that are unlike anything you are familiar with from your home country.
Like anywhere in the world, you also face the daily frustrations - the little things that annoy you, or make you think 'are you kidding me?', or cause you to have a rant and moan to your friends.
These are all things that, particularly when you are living in the tiny expat bubble, are entirely magnified and seem so much bigger than what they really are.
Receiving bad news from home suddenly puts all of these things into perspective, and serves as an unwelcome reminder to never forget who and what in your life is important.
Channel everything you have only into the things that matter.
Treasure every moment with the people you love - life is completely unpredictable and entirely precious.
On a daily basis, there are things that are 'hard' about living in another country - generally being away from family and friends is hard. The language barrier can be hard. It can be hard to do your job when there are policies and practises in place that can get in the way of what you are trying to achieve, that are unlike anything you are familiar with from your home country.
Like anywhere in the world, you also face the daily frustrations - the little things that annoy you, or make you think 'are you kidding me?', or cause you to have a rant and moan to your friends.
These are all things that, particularly when you are living in the tiny expat bubble, are entirely magnified and seem so much bigger than what they really are.
Receiving bad news from home suddenly puts all of these things into perspective, and serves as an unwelcome reminder to never forget who and what in your life is important.
Channel everything you have only into the things that matter.
Treasure every moment with the people you love - life is completely unpredictable and entirely precious.
I can completely relate to this post. I think bad news puts things into perspective wherever you are but when you're thousands of miles from home, it really makes you evaluate what you want out of life and why you're doing this. Hope you're finding a way through it.
ReplyDeleteYou're absolutely right, it doesn't matter where in the world you are, although I suppose being so far away is what makes it so much harder as you feel so removed from what is actually happening and you feel like you can't be there for people. Thanks so much for your comment and for your kind words :)
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