Published: Jan. 22, 2021, 8 p.m.
Happy Friday, friends! Welcome back to another episode and being here with me. You’re in for a special one today! I have the honor to engage in a connected, uplifting conversation with Jas who is an expat currently living and working in Germany. Hearty and wholesome are ways I find myself using to describe this conversation, as we jived about this shared yet unique experience of uprooting our lives and moving abroad to countries very different from the one we were brought up in, as we shared stories of interesting occurrences and also exchange tips and advice on some steps we can take to better integrate and find joy in our new lives in new cities. I hope you’ll find comfort and support through this conversation. I love you.
Here are the takeaways:
- The detachment and feeling that you’re stuck in an in-between zone between where you grew up in and the country you’re living in now is real and it’s okay to acknowledge it, feel it and process it
- Be patient with yourself
- Cultivate a healthy prospective with new friendships and being social
- be willing to socialize and invite new connections into your new life
- Find as many opportunities to connect with as many people as you can; a good tip: start by finding people who shares the same hobbies, interest
- Walk into the experience with an open heart and allow yourself to experience all of it; the good, bad, positive, negative; you just don’t know who of these will become your new best friends
- Bake a cake on your first day to the office and create/initiate those conversations
- Take this as an opportunity to start over; a clean slate and to be unabashedly you without the lenses and pressures from your family, friends back home
- Start unbecoming to become who you really are
- Sometimes, it’s more the fear of asking others to step out of their comfort zone by being around you than it is about you not being likeable or you having an issue
- Show respect and enthusiasm by attempting to learn more about language, culture and habits; you will be appreciated for trying
- The relationship with your parents who loves her can feel stressful and charged at times, but never forget that their intent is always that you’re happy and in a safe place
- Jas’s favorite mantra: I AM UNIQUE.
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