My Expat Story
I met a wonderful man and fell madly in love. Then he moved back to his home country. After dating long distance, we made the decision to get married so that we could live and work in the same country. I went directly from our honeymoon to a new city, new country, new language.
The biggest struggle in my new life as an expat was that for the first time, I did not have a job. There was little structure to my days and no way for me to meet people.
Then my husband was told he’d be transferred to a new city. I was relieved when I found a job there. It wasn’t my dream job but I was eager to work again. After I accepted the position, my husband’s transfer was cancelled. I found myself alone in a foreign country, in a new job, long distance again for many months.
We focused on our careers and building our marriage. Then my husband’s department was disbanded. This time I took the initiative and found a job that I wanted in a city where he could work in the local language. Another move, another city, another country. Alone again, as it took months before his transfer came through.
We started talking about having a family. I didn’t want to raise a child alone. My husband travelled a lot and we had no family nearby. Eventually we went ahead and had a baby in a foreign country.
Juggling work and motherhood was challenging, especially with a husband away for weeks at a time. Resentment creeped in. Moving back to my home country started to look attractive. While I loved being a mother, and loved my job, I wasn’t happy. Everyone else seemed to have the perfect husband, great friends, a wonderful life. Why not me?
I tried getting my husband to change. That didn’t work. I tried marriage counselling. That gave me a safe space to talk, but no peace of mind. Then I tried working with a life coach. Finally I learned to stop reacting, and start taking control of my life. I began to create the life that I had always wanted.
The tools worked so well that I became a Certified Life Coach so that I could share the secrets with fellow expats. You too can stop focusing on what you left behind and start loving your life overseas.