3 COMMON REASONS WHY PEOPLE LEAVE TO LIVE THE EXPAT LIFE

We all wonder why someone decides to emigrate. We like to think we know, and often we decide the reasons in our own head because these are the ones we can be most comfortable with, and I get it! It is hard to accept that someone is leaving because they wish to escape my life, whether that be in family, workplace relations or friendships. It fills me with disquiet that I may be missing out on something I do not feel any drive to experience. And I am going to feel lost without them. But here we are, making someone else’s decision to leave all about us. And that’s what we do, at least initially. We filter events through our own perceptions. We see them first and foremost from our side of the fence. Now cue the person leaving. 

It is not in everybody’s character to seek out new horizons – and that’s absolutely fine. Not everybody feels that need that the expat does, to boldly go and see for himself what the world holds in store for him. It takes steely strength to walk away from everything and everyone you know to  – and that’s the BIG question.

There are many reasons why people choose to live the expat life, and here are three of the most common ones:

POVERTY is a broad category; it includes physical, mental and emotional levels that keeps you conforming to the local status quo. It covers everything from not having a penny in your pocket to not being able to be truly yourself. You are out of opportunities for advancement and you cannot accept the ways thing are for the ways things will be forever. Even thinking about this local future ahead is so deadening that you feel you are the proverbial rabbit caught in the headlights; you know it will end in disaster if you don’t move but you cannot see your way forward at all. You need to get out of the local headlights and see where that will take you. 

You are frozen in place and need to do something, anything to move forward.

EXPECTATION is closely linked to poverty.  You have dreams others do not have. Why you are different, who knows for sure. But you are. You want something different from life than you are experiencing right now. You see things differently. You want your life to be different. From whom? From your current local tribe. This expectation goes so deep that ultimately you are prepared to disconnect from your tribe to follow your dreams. Let no one underestimate the amount of personal strength needed for a move like this. 

You have strong internalised dreams and are determined to be all that you can be.

ESCAPE is another broad category, and often the only one expats articulate. Some are not sure where they are ultimately bound or why; they just know they must leave where they are. Others have a very defined reason for escape: poverty, unhappy family situations, unrewarding work, for example, the list is long. The one common factor in all their stories is that they must leave, and often, they burn all their bridges behind them. 

You are crystal clear about the un-sustainability of your current position/location. You WILL move, wherever you can, as long as it’s not here.