There's a recipe for How to Get Settled Into the Rhythm of a New Country. It's 1 part working to learn things about that country, and 1 part waiting. Great stretches of long, torturous waiting.
When you move to a new country, you're essentially trying to learn in the shortest amount of time possible what everyone else has been learning since they came out of the womb. It's not at all crazy to feel overwhelmed. Everyone else has had their whole lives to learn everything, and they've had people in their lives whose role it's been to teach them. You, on the other hand, hop off the plane and are immediately swept into the fray.
It's overwhelming, and frustrating, and scary, and it'll make you cry a lot from the sheer weight of what you're dealing with. That's perfectly normal. You'll spend plenty of time feeling stupid for not knowing what seems to come to everyone else naturally. It'll take so much time to adjust to everything you need to know just to fulfill your daily needs that you'll probably start thinking it'll never happen.
It will, though, I promise you. Keep on trucking and for goodness sake, find some friends who'll show you around and teach you some tricks. The knowledge of others is worth its weight in gold--and the familiar company of a fellow expat will be immeasurable.
I don't know if I've ever mentioned this in a previous post, but having the courage to move to another country has honestly been the best thing I've ever done for myself. It proved to me that big goals are not impossible. Moving abroad sounds like an undertaking and a process so immense that, not knowing where to start or how to begin fathoming the potential results, you're better off ignoring it than trying.
Now I know that I can make these big things happen, and that as long as I keep working, it's all a matter of time. I have so much confidence in my ability to drive the direction of my life, I can't tell you.
Here's to another six months of Taiwan before (cross your fingers!) I repeat this whole experience in Japan!
When you move to a new country, you're essentially trying to learn in the shortest amount of time possible what everyone else has been learning since they came out of the womb. It's not at all crazy to feel overwhelmed. Everyone else has had their whole lives to learn everything, and they've had people in their lives whose role it's been to teach them. You, on the other hand, hop off the plane and are immediately swept into the fray.
It's overwhelming, and frustrating, and scary, and it'll make you cry a lot from the sheer weight of what you're dealing with. That's perfectly normal. You'll spend plenty of time feeling stupid for not knowing what seems to come to everyone else naturally. It'll take so much time to adjust to everything you need to know just to fulfill your daily needs that you'll probably start thinking it'll never happen.
It will, though, I promise you. Keep on trucking and for goodness sake, find some friends who'll show you around and teach you some tricks. The knowledge of others is worth its weight in gold--and the familiar company of a fellow expat will be immeasurable.
I don't know if I've ever mentioned this in a previous post, but having the courage to move to another country has honestly been the best thing I've ever done for myself. It proved to me that big goals are not impossible. Moving abroad sounds like an undertaking and a process so immense that, not knowing where to start or how to begin fathoming the potential results, you're better off ignoring it than trying.
Now I know that I can make these big things happen, and that as long as I keep working, it's all a matter of time. I have so much confidence in my ability to drive the direction of my life, I can't tell you.
Here's to another six months of Taiwan before (cross your fingers!) I repeat this whole experience in Japan!
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