Only in my dreams were bus stops named after giant chocolate factories. Now I live the dream!

If you are reading Expat blogs, you are likely thinking about becoming an Expat or have the very attractive opportunity to become one.  If you are anything like me, you have found yourself scouring the web in an effort to find answers to one of the most unanswerable questions – “Am I the Expat type?”.  This frantic period of time for an Expat is much like what expectant parents must go through when they try to answer the most unanswerable of all unanswerable questions – “Will I make a good parent?”.  Funny enough, while there are no answers to these and many other questions, we still go for it in the face of potential failure.

This “go for it attitude” is probably the biggest indicator that you are in fact the right type.  By now you have listed all the reasons not to take the plunge and many times this list is longer than the list to become an Expat, but you still go for it.  You persevere in the face of fear and the unknown, much like a baby does when they take their first breath, mouthful of pureed peas (blech), steps…first anything.

I thought about listing certain characteristics of successful Expats in an effort to allay you fears, a cyber hug if you will, but at the end of the day…there isn’t a finite list of human characteristics that will determine your success as I have met too many different types of people who have chosen this path.  I have met shy people, outgoing people, people with kids, people without kids, people who like milk chocolate and people who like dark chocolate.  The one thing they do share in common is the love for their Expat adventure.

I am in no way saying take the decision lightly,  but if you think you have to have: an adventurous spirit, flexibility in the light of challenges, love for travel, etc…well then you could be passing up on the opportunity to learn these qualities.  I wasn’t always adventurous and  I continue to amaze myself through this process because I keep getting better at things I didn’t always innately possess.

At the end of the day you have two choices:

1. Stay in the comfort of your current location or “womb”

or

2. Get the hell out of that womb and do what a little baby does when they are born…live.

When I am not busy stuffing my face with chocolate, you can find me over at From A to Z blogging about my life in Zurich Switzerland.

Tags: expat life, expats, living abroad

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