You moved abroad. You experience all these various different (weird?) things. People tell you to adapt to the new culture. You feel uncomfortable, not even sure if you are you anymore.

Everyone else around you seems to know better what you should do, how you should adapt, how quickly you should do it (surely if you’ve lived there for a year you must feel like at home, right?), why you should be feeling certain way or what you should start valuing. But somehow you feel torn inside, not fully integrated with the new home yet, not quite where you were a year ago anymore.

When we decide to go abroad, the thing people often say to us is that ‘we will change’ and ‘we will never be the same again’. Like it is something wrong. But most of us look back and feel like we have changed indeed, but for the better and it was totally worth it. Of course you will change and adapt! But it makes it easier to be aware of who you are and how you’ve changed.

So…who are you? Which of the behaviours and values you’ve adopted from the home culture? Which of them you’ve adapted to the new culture you found yourself in? Which of them are your own? What makes you who you are? Seems like some really hard questions to answer on the spot. But don’t worry, we’ll now break it down to smaller chunks.

1. What are your core values?

It’s important to establish what you really care about or if you’re in a relationship – what you both really care about and what values you’re going to live. Figuring out what your core values are help you make decisions in the future. Thanks to being aware of what matters to you and what you’re willing to fight for you know which options to go for.

For example, if one of your values is health, you will be less likely to accept a job offer working 70 hours per week, including some weekends on an assignment based in Ethiopia. Even though it might be a great development opportunity you would probably choose to protect your health, keep getting reasonable amount of sleep, having time for sports and leisure activities and living in a country where the risk of  contagious diseases is slightly smaller.

Take a moment to think of 3-5 things that you truly value and you’re willing to fight for at this given point in your life. What are the things you’ve identified?

2. What situations made you feel uncomfortable during your first weeks and months abroad?

‘Focusing on the negatives? Marta, shouldn’t we be embracing the positivity and gratefulness in our lives?’ – you might ask. Yes, I do want you to focus on the uncomfortable this time. The negatives, stress, feeling uncomfortable are not completely wrong or useless – they are there for a reason. What they might help you figure out in this exercise is what you value and what your natural responses are to various situations.

Think about situations where you thought “these people are weird”, “this is so strange”, “that’s just stupid”, “how can they accept this?!”. This will open up your mind to noticing what you were assessing these behaviours against. You assessed them against y o u r normal at the time. Y o u r norms. You will then start noticing which of these behaviours you have adapted to with least effort. These will probably not be of too great value for you. The ones you should reflect on are the ones that you’re still having troubles getting used to.

3. How would you describe yourself in three words?

You’re probably familiar with a concept of an ‘elevator pitch’, a short introduction that you’d make about yourself if you’d only have 30 seconds to do that in an elevator (B.Eng.: lift). I’d like to now encourage you to think a little bit in those terms, but assuming you’ve only got 5 seconds.

Step 1. Think of the life roles that you take every day when engaging in all the various activities and hobbies. Below is a list to get you started:

wife, husband, friend, partner, mother, father, professional, specialist, manager, homelover, footballer, blogger, traveller, programmer, painter, decorator, jogger, fashionist, comedian, authority, coach, mentor…

There are many more options you can think of when describing yourself. Take a moment to write them all down. All of them. Are you responsible for looking after the house while your partner is on an assignment abroad? Write down that your roles include being a decorator, housewife and a cook. Got it? All of them.

Step 2. Now go back to the values you’ve written down as your core ones, remember the things that really matter to you and you are willing to fight for. Then look at the roles you have identified in step 1 and choose three of them that are most in line with your core values and the closest to your heart currently. They will be the ones you should be embracing and focusing your energy on as they define you. Especially in the moments when you start losing yourself in the amount of duties that you have to fulfill. They are also the ones you can leverage to try out new things, learn and grow.

Step 3. Look at the three roles you’ve chosen in step 2. Try to add adjectives to these three roles to make the description richer and more reflective of who you really are. Once you’ve done that you should be ready to write down your own affirmation.

Example: My name is Marta. I am an occupational psychologist, avid learner and loving partner.

This affirmation will be a reflection of what you currently believe is the best representation of you and your values. It will serve you as guidance when you’re in doubt when making any future choices. It will serve as a tool for reflection when you look at it in a couple of months, when you might want to change it a little bit to be in line with the current state of mind. For example, today you might define yourself as a manager, partner and footballer, but in a year it might turn out that a new role will prove to be more dominant, such as being a parent. This is why it is important to check in with yourself once in a while to align on your priorities.

You can also expand this exercise with step 4 – thinking about how you’d like to describe yourself in 5 years, what would you like to be the core of your activities and energy focus, and compare it to your present affirmation. What steps do you need to take over those five years to get there?

I have also prepared a special gift for you if you think you truly want to make your expat life better! After filling in the details below and signing up to the newsletter, you will get an email (check your spam folders as well…) with link to download a nice and free pdf exercise booklet with more details and examples – uniquely for subscribers!

Finding time for self-reflection in today’s busy world can be hard. It can be especially hard when you’re going through such a difficult life transition as moving abroad. I hope you will find those three questions and exercises useful to discovering what matters to you now, in this given point in your life, wherever you are in the world. I believe that getting to know yourself better is key to establishing a fulfilling life abroad.

If you decide to do this exercise I would really love to hear from you, read your affirmation and get to know you better! You can either comment below or write to me at contact@projectabroad.eu 

I want to download my free exercise book now!