Top 10 Keys to Success in a Foreign Land
Moving to a foreign country or even a new city in your own country can be an exciting, yet overwhelming experience. You may be going through the loss of the familiar, while also experiencing discomfort and uncertainty with the new. Here are some tips that can be helpful for you as you transition to your new home.
1. Remember Rome Wasn’t Built In A Day: Cultural adjustment takes time. Be fair with yourself. Expect that integration into a new culture can be challenging. Be patient with yourself you are in a process of learning.
2. Compare Notes: Chat with other expatriates you know and share your experiences with one another.
3. You Got Skills Girlfriend: List your accomplishments, internal resources and transferable skills that you possess and apply them to your current life circumstance. If you do not possess those skills, develop the necessary skills. Some examples include mindfulness and stress reduction techniques.
4. Spread Your Wings So You Can Fly: Research about your new location, seek out expat clubs, business associations, sporting groups and other social clubs (ask to be included before you leave home or get involved today).
5. Muster Up The Courage: Explore your new community because it will give you a sense of control.
6. Be Alert Of Signs Of Mental Illness: An expatriate assignment, like any significant life change, can worsen or even precipitate mental illness such as depression, anxiety or a range of adjustment disorders. The expatriate who experiences deep and persistent adjustment difficulty or mood changes, or observes the same in a family member, should seek the advice of a mental health professional.
7. Learn The Local Language: Learn the basics before you go to lower the impact of culture shock on arrival or begin learning today.
8. Try To Leave Judgments Behind: Try your hardest not to compare your new location with your old location…comparing will hinder your ability to settle in…accept that different people and cultures have different ways of operating this can help you reduce nasty culture shock.
9. Smile: Despite it being hard sometimes, try to shift your mood and turn that frown upside down.
10. Reframe From Regret To Rejoicing: Although you need to acknowledge the grief and loss of your career/job and your friends and family, you can also look at this transition as an opportunity. Celebrate that you have the freedom and time to do what you have always wanted, explore your new surroundings, travel to new countries and meet new people, start your own business, pursue higher education, get healthy, pursue a new hobby, learn a new language, give back, take culture classes, spend more quality time with your partner and kids, learn about the stock market, take your time to relax and get balanced…the possibilities are endless.
For additional resources, support or counseling you can visit my website at True Potential Counseling. I am an English speaking Counselor who provides counseling to expats, business men and women abroad, and cross-cultural couples.
