Eight years ago, the life of my family significantly changed. We became a nomad family in modern times due to my husband’s job transfers. We have moved a couple of times inside the same country and four times from one country to another.
Every time I get asked about our lifestyle, I receive a number of diverse responses: some people consider our lifestyle to be very fun while other think it’s a very sad way to live.
I have dedicated myself to enjoy the journey and open my mind to any circumstances presented to me. However, enjoying it took me some time after facing different stages that led me to be the person I am today.
Living in constant movement has given us the opportunity as a family to learn things of all kinds: social trends, tourism, customs, gastronomy, among other things. We are like any other family, only with the small difference of moving around every time the job requires it.
How do you live like this? With a lot of attitude and will. It is not easy to leave your family behind in your home country, nor is it easy to change houses every now and then, nor saying goodbye to your friends and starting from scratch elsewhere. Nevertheless, as human beings we have an unlimited and brilliant capacity to adapt to change and survive.
I once heard: “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” I think I apply that phrase in every stage of my life as “if you want to be happy, you can be happy anywhere” because happiness doesn’t depend on where you live, nor the clothes you wear, nor the restaurant you go to. You create happiness on your own and within you through daily self-discovery.
Along our journey as “expats”, as they usually call us, we have found a way to keep in touch with our loved ones, to celebrate birthdays and receive new family members. Likewise, we have come to accept that we didn´t get the chance to say our last goodbyes to those who have passed away.
I want to share my experiences with you so that you can take from them what could be useful for you in an increasingly globalized world. I invite you to share your concerns and that together we form a fabulous mutual learning community.
Through this blog, I will go over every experience with different topics: new school, new house, new job, new friends, goodbyes, coming back home, emotional impact and many other topics related to a lifestyle very different to the one we’re used to.
