Expat Life and It’s Psychological challenges

Imagine that you were born in completely in another side of the world. Living in another country is not easy, there are many challenges that come with expat life. Many of us go to another country with lots of hopes, a good life, exciting challenges. Then the first year comes, it is a honeymoon on one side, source of nervousness on the other side. The language is new, the culture is new, and the system is completely new.  The Challenges of expat life begin.

Homesickness because of Expat Life

Homesickness means feeling unhappy and distressed when you are away from home. It is an important concept that all expats/migrators need to be aware to take preventative actions. It is a feeling of very deep longing for one’s country, family and surrounding. The situation arise from missing familiarity, and it can influence expats on any age group.

Symptoms of homesickness:

• Feeling sad
• Having difficulty to focus
• Missing your home
• Physical symptoms

Here are some preventative actions to avoid homesickness.

Stay connected to home: Try to stay in contact with your family members and try to establish an environment that is related to your own home environment. There could be various ways to achieve this. Firstly, you could design it in a way that it resembles your own environment, maybe listening to music in the evenings in your local culture. Moreover, you could invite your friends once a week and do activities or chat in your own language.

Keep a distance from places that makes you feel “foreigner”: Cultural mingling is a good thing, however the dosage needs to be balanced. If you are already suffering from loneliness, too much exposing to environments which makes you feel isolated and lonely would make the situation worse. So it would be far from keeping an intact mental health. The ideal is to balance, so if you spend time lonely in a foreigner place, make sure that it does not exceed your limits.

Get adapted to the new culture and lifestyle: Learning the language of the country that you live in and try learning about the cultures would help you to make you feel more safe and confident. For instance, in the Netherlands there is a book on “Why the Dutch are different?” So reading such books would help you to understand the culture that you live in and would make it easier to adapt to the culture. 

Settle your character: Settling your own character is the most important thing to make you feel confident. If you have issues with self-confidence, migrating to another country could make the situation worse. Therefore, the best is to give emphasis on settling your own character. Some self-help aids could help to make you aware of the situation, however the ideal is to find a coach or therapist. Here are some articles that are related to the topic.

Give emphasis to your mental health: Your mental health is the most important thing ever. If you lose it, this could bring lots of misery to your life. Therefore, make sure that you prioritize your mental health. Self-care and tuning inwards is essential. Working on unhelpful thoughts, gratitude journals, regular meditations would help you to work on your inner self and reach to a positive mindset. Spending time and money on your mental health is a huge investment. Here are some sources that could help you to get informed and start in the topic.

Life as an Expat

Expat Honeymoon: There are lots of excitements in the first few months. The food is different, social activities, there are many new places to visit. The restaurants in the city are tried out, new friends are made with different cultures. The cookies in the market were my favorite. In the Netherlands, cycling was so exciting that we even once crossed the border with Belgium.

After a while, time passes and disappointments come. Loneliness starts to build up, the issues regarding cultural shock starts to be prominent. People become tired of such things that are not even worthwhile to give effort in one’s country. Like going to doctor, or explaining the issue. There could be days or months passes in depression because of loneliness.

So living as an expat has two sides, on the one side there are lots of excitements and newness in life and on the other side disappointments build up. So to make the most of this experience, disappointments needs to be tackled in a very effective way and excitements needs to be highlighted. In this way, the impressions about the expat life experience can be maximized.

Maximizing Expat Life Experience

As an expat, make a list of things that excites you in your new life.

For example,

• Going out for drinks
• Eating in a different restaurant once a week
• Having a walk in the park
• Going to a museum
• Taking photos
• Learning the language
• Talking to people from different cultures

Minimizing the Impact of Challenges

Make a list of things that stresses you in expat life.

• Being lonely
• Being unhappy
• Cannot find a hobby
• Healthcare system
• Language issues

Then list down the possible solutions that could help you to tackle this issue:

Being lonely: Checking the expat groups on Facebook, finding friends that are a good match.

Being unhappy in your new life: Write down the factors that you are unhappy with. i.e. work environment. Then think of possible solutions that you can change and it would affect your environment.

Don’t have a job: Maybe you are an expat, and you don’t have a job. This creates a lot of stress in your life. There are two ways to tackle this issue. Firstly, try to understand the source of stress (financial issues, lack of security). Then try to find solutions (i.e. extra income through online job, financial management).

Healthcare system: The healthcare system might change enormously from country to country. Particularly in the western countries, the system may be very different and slow. This might create a panic when there is an issue that might need emergency. Language barrier may also influence the healthy communication with the healthcare experts. There could be possible solutions for this issue, firstly list down the symptoms and translate them at home. Ask a native friend whether it is properly translated. You could also consider a B plan like finding a consultant on online e-health sites, or travelling the neighbor countries.   

Click to view Expat Positive Experience Maximization mini-notebook. It will help you to consider your factors and help to find solutions to overcome challenges.

Homesickness

Homesickness is an important concept to become aware of and take preventative actions, particularly if you live as an expat/migrator. It is normal to feel homesick to a certain extent; however, if the situation is taking longer, it is important to take action. Seeking help is a good idea to keep your mental health intact. Some strategies to overcome challenges are staying connected to your home environment, spending time with friends that you could speak your local language, and taking actions that would help to get adapted to the country’s culture.

If you need expert help regarding mental health adaptation, here is my It’s Complicated profile.