This Is What Happens When You Move Out Of Your Home Country

Leaving home is hard – it’s scary. A part of yourself wants to cling to a place that is familiar to you. A place that brings you comfort and security. But a part of you wonders what it’s like to live by yourself, to strive by yourself, to figure out life by yourself.

Because life isn’t all about feeling safe and sitting pretty. Sometimes it’s also about feeling frightened by the things that you don’t know, by the situations you can’t control – and learning how to overcome them.

Moving to a different state, walking away from everything you’ve known your whole life, and leaving people who are close to your heart are difficult choices to make – let alone moving to another country. It’s not an overnight, impulsive decision that you do. It requires a lot of consideration, support, research, inquiries, and budgeting. But most importantly, it requires a lot of bravery.

You have to ask yourself if you’re strong enough, independent enough to embark into a journey of living overseas. You have to be ascertained that it’s what you really want to do, and it’s what your heart tells you to do. It could feel like a million dollar move you’re making. It could feel like a life and death situation for you, especially when you’re young.

But you’ll never know what’s on the other side until you cross the line. You’ll never have a point of comparison if you choose to stay in one place. And you’ll always be stuck with questions about what’s out there, until you pack your bags, and just go.

It’s going to be a huge leap of faith, but eventually you’re going to be surprised at how liberating it is to step in a foreign soil, to breathe a different scent of air, to look around you and be terrified, yet amazed by how unfamiliar everyone looks like. You’re going to look behind you and miss home so bad, but as you see where you’re standing, you know that it is what you want. It is the beginning of a life you’ve been craving for so long. It is the beginning of something great, something that your heart desires.

You have all the opportunity to re-create yourself to the kind of person you want to be. You have the chance to feel brand new, to begin again, to build a new story to tell. You can choose which part of yourself you want to leave behind, and which part of yourself you want to bring with you in this new chapter of your life.

Not a single soul knows who you are. Nobody knows what your history is. No one has an idea about how many nights you’ve cried yourself to sleep, how many times your heart has been broken, how many failures you’ve experienced, and how many humiliation you’ve survived. You are a blank canvas to everyone, and it is only you who gets to decide how you want people to see you, to get to know you.

And that’s how moving to another country can quickly change your life.

You don’t have to go through an arduous process of changing who you are. You don’t need another human being to tell you how to change. Because the moment you set your feet someplace where not a lot of people speak your native language – you are already changed. You have a new identity.

You can find your true self while being lost in translation, while you’re trying to fit in. You figure out how to make life works without relying to other people, without feeling comfortable all the time. Everything that you do now is based only in your decision. You own your failure or success, so you always make sure to try your best, and to fight for your life.

Opting to create a new, temporary shelter in a place you are totally unfamiliar with is nerve-wracking. Sometimes you’re going to feel lonely and think about returning home. But a lot of times, you’re going to push yourself to stick around, to stay longer.

Because living a brand new life, in a brand new country, is so much better than turning around and saying hello to the life that you have already left behind.