Five changes to expect when you move abroad

Venturing abroad, leaving your home country behind is a challenge that will certainly change your life forever. As your new life continues, you’ll discover a new country, an unfamiliar culture with perhaps its unique custom, new language, and new perspectives about the world which will gradually transform you.

It’s worth noting that the primary factor that will influence your decision to make a permanent home abroad will be the finances. You must be wondering how to send money home, deciding the best way to will juggle between different methods of money transfer. Having a keen eye on the fluctuations of the currency exchange is key to start saving and building your fortune.

Here are five things that will completely change, once you have migrated.

1. Your survival skills will sharpen and you’ll become more agile

From the moment you decide to move abroad, your life turns into a combination of challenging emotions. Learning at a faster pace, improvising, dealing with the often unexpected, and overcoming hurdles becomes a part of your life. All your survival instinct’s get sharpened and strengthened. For a while the word "routine" is abandoned from your vocabulary to make space for an ever rising adrenalin thrill ride, often putting you way out of your comfort zone. New places, new habits, new challenges, new people, new possibilities beckon you.

2. You’ll have two types of a lot of things

Two SIM cards, two driving licences, two library cards, two bank accounts, maybe even two tax returns. With two bank accounts, you will be transferring money online from one overseas account to the other, depending on your need and favourable currency exchange rates.

3. Your definition of "normalcy", changes forever

Living abroad, makes you realise that ‘normal’ refers to what is socially or culturally accepted. When you dive into a different culture and a different society, your definition of normalcy is very quickly redefined. You learn there are other ways of doing things, and after a while, you too take to that habit you never thought you’d ever adopt. You also get to know yourself a little better, because you discover that certain aspects which you really believed in were just culturally ingrained into you by the society you grew up in.

4. Becoming a tourist in your home country

Growing up, you accepted the city you lived in as it was, you never had to go around ‘discovering’ it. But, now, after staying away from your home country and city, you suddenly discover the fun of being a tourist. Now, when you visit home or family, you suddenly love doing all the touristy things you saw other foreigners do. You home country becomes more that just that – it becomes a new place for you to discover and enjoy.

5. The biggest change will be you

When you live abroad, the simplest task may be done differently. Finding the right word, or knowing which bus or train to take may be considered an adventure and a learning experience, as you embrace the new living style. There will be moments of uncertainty, but you will be amazed how language barriers can be broken with simple gestures and sign language. These would seem like great accomplishments as you enjoy mingling with the locals.

Living abroad is a journey that will profoundly change your life and who you are. It will rock your belief system, your certainties and your fears. You probably won’t realise it, or even believe it, before you do it. But after a while, one day you’ll see it all clearly. You’ve evolved, you’ve got the battle scars, you’ve lived, you’ve conquered and you’ve changed into a more enriched and stronger person. As your journey continues, you’ll discover things about yourself that you were unaware of, often much to your surprise. You’ll be better positioned to broaden your horizons that you may have felt was once limited in your home country. If and when you do move abroad, there’ll be many factors that will change your life forever.

If you’re feeling nervous about the change, that’s completely natural. Try and see this opportunity as a new life experience. An opportunity that will start to make sense after you’ve given yourself time to adjust to your new environment.