Moving overseas and Adapting

My adaption cycle of my life in Australia

Making a big change in your life can be daunting, sad and scary and through some periods of your life you will go through all sorts of stages and adjustments to fit into whatever it is you are transitioning through.

For instance the decision to move abroad can be downright daunting and you will never really know what to expect.

If you decide to move countries you are moving to a country with a different culture and ways of life.

Moving overseas you will go through a cycle of adjustment. It does not matter how much you know of the country and their customs and culture or how well thought out you have thought about the big move and how well prepared you are this adjustment is inevitable regardless of your knowledge of the country or being prepared because moving overseas is like a wave on the ocean, it will hit you unexpectedly.

After all we are human, we have feelings and emotions.

Our life includes, our country, our state, or suburb, our house, our community, our neighbours, our friends, our family, our culture and our daily activities and if you decide to move abroad all that you knew is just gone and when that is gone you will grieve, but you have to understand this is just a part of life and part of the adjustment cycle.

The first few months will always be the hardest as there are so many emotions running through your body.

You may feel sad, anxious, regret, depression but that does not mean at all that you made a mistake but that is fine because you are going through a massive period of adjustment.

You may be feeling depressed but this will gradually wear away.

You will go through different periods of an adjustment cycle. Parts of this adjustment period cycle include:

·         The honeymoon period

·         Culture shock

·         Adjustment stage

·         Crisis phase

·         Acceptance and understanding

The first stage of the adjustment period is the ‘’the honeymoon period’’ when you first get to your new country may feel exhilarated.

Everything is still fresh and new. You will most likely feel excited and ecstatic.

You will observe all the cultural differences it may all be very exciting to see.

The honeymoon phase is somewhat similar to getting a new phone, you are so excited and hyped up for your new phone and are obsessed with it.

Anything new can be very exciting and the honeymoon stage in moving overseas is like a burst of sunshine, it is all very exciting and new.

When you get your new job in your new country, your new home, new activities and scenery and you’re your new life as a whole is so exciting and interesting.

The honeymoon stage is almost like a shot of adrenaline and it is great because it will help you through this hard period of change in your life.

The honeymoon somewhat acts as a survival mechanism as you deal with this huge change in your life.

The second stage is culture shock. When the honeymoon phase wears off in comes all the culture shock.

You have just moved to a new country with a different language and culture.

This stage can sometimes be described like being a child again, where you have to learn language, culture and when interacting you have to work hard to understand and be understood.

This stage can be very exhausting but it is part of the adjustment period.

Even if you knew the language before you arrived you will have to learn the accent and language communication, like how they communicate with their body language to.

You have to learn how to express yourself appropriately in your new country because if you can’t you will just find yourself in frustration and maybe loneliness.

Your new country may have very different cultures and customs, some which you are not used to, such as, dress attire, communication, education, transportation, activities, and employment.

These new factors are fresh and new to you and you may be extremely overwhelming for you.

You may not accept or understand the ways of life in another country and it will most probably be a large dose of culture shock.

The new culture of this country may confuse you and leave you in shock but this completely normal and part of the adjustment cycle.

You may find yourself back at square one, it can be like starting your adulthood all over again.

You may feel like you have made a huge mistake in moving abroad.

At first everything was great it was a new, fun, fresh and exciting place but now it has become very overwhelming and are having second thoughts, but this is normal and part of adjusting.

This phase will pass by. It may feel like you’ve taken a step backwards in your process of adjusting to your new country, but it is actually a massive step in the right direction to adjusting.

After you have moved past the honeymoon phase and culture shock, you will move into the process of the adjustment phase.

In this stage you will start to adjust and fit into your country’s society. You get out there and explore your new country.

You meet new people and connects with the locals.  You start either study, school or job and here where is where you make relationships.

You learn new things get more in touch with the ways of life, the communication and culture.

At this stage you will feel happier and more at ease.

You gain a sense of belonging and importance in your new life. You will feel more confident.

At this stage you will be able to communicate better and interact more deeply.

Now you will feel great and feel like you fit into society. You understand the culture of your new country much better.

Whilst this may seem like a happy period it is just a stage and you are yet to come across the last stages of adjustment.

You have felt a sense of belonging at the adjustment stage and felt happy, but it is now time to move onto the crisis phase.

This stage is harder than the culture shock as many emotions come to play in this stage and in most cases will fall into depression.

This stage is like the homesick period. As you adjust into your new life into life in a new country where isolation will come in place.

In this period you will compare your new life in your new country to your old life in your old country.

You compare the culture in your hew country to your old culture in your old country.

You will start to miss things like your traditional music, tradition art and music, home food and customs of the country.

You realise just how much you really miss your old country and its culture.

You may begin to resent your new country’s culture and may feel trapped by it.

You start missing your family and friends, you may start to think that your family and friends may have forgotten about you after the absence of you.

You will feel stuck and out of place.

At this stage some people may feel they have made the wrong choice to mover to a new country and some people may at this stage decide to move back home to their old country.

You may feel guilty at the decision to move as it caused you to be extremely homesick and depressed.

Some things that may be help you to get past these feeling is, by, sending an email to your friends and family, organise a Skype call, and send a letter.

Reach out for help from your friends, co-workers, neighbours and professionals, it’s a great idea to reach out to people who have been in your situation.

Reach out to friends in your new home, keep in contact with your friends and family from back home.

You are a just human going through a completely natural inevitable period which just doe take a strain mentally to your emotions. You have made a big change and it is only natural to feel sadness and miss important things from your old life.

Now it’s time to take the last leap in your adjustment period.

This stage is where you accept your new home and life for what it is.

At this period you would have stopped comparing your new country and its culture to your original country and you will accept the country for what it is.

Along the way you have met some great souls and built meaningful relationships, now you have a better sense of belonging of your relationships, you have blended into your new life.

In reality all these meaningful relationships and sense of belonging has all happened because of all the hard times you experienced.

You learnt you built friendships and you found yourself and that was all due to the adjustment cycle.

You now have a clearer understanding of who you are, you accept the culture and ways of life and adapt to live in the ways of your new life.

Even though you have reached your last period of adjustment, as life is you will have you bad days and get homesick once in a while and that’s normally, but just remember what you have achieved and how far you have gotten.

It is completely normal to feel sad and depressed when you are adjusting to life in a new country, but just remember you are human and all expats go through this period of adjustment.

Whilst you are going through this adjustment period make sure to look after yourself.

If you feel you are not coping then seek help from friends, co-workers or professionals.

Speak up about your concerns or issues.

Don’t bottle in your emotions it will only make this process harder for you. During this process be kind to your kind to yourself love yourself and believe in yourself.