Life Abroad these days is just challenging, and it’s even more so when you are trying to do life in another country. The EU is no different. It can be an exhilarating and transformative experience, offering a chance to immerse yourself in a new culture, meet diverse people, and broaden your perspectives, but it still comes with its complexities, and it’s important to know how to care for yourself in the EU.
There are several parts of your well-being that are considered vital, and some of these are the following: physical, emotional, mental, social, spiritual, and financial.
Important Tips For Life Abroad
Based on my experience as a foreigner living here in the EU as Life Abroad, here’s how I’ve tried to maintain a well-rounded lifestyle where all aspects of my well-being are covered.
Physical Well-Being
I’ve tried as much as possible to be consistent with exercise. In my early years here, what I did instead was join a local field hockey team and attend 2-hour training sessions a week. This was good for me to keep fit, socialize with locals, and learn some aspects of the language. I also played tennis during these years with locals on the free university court. Then I started going to the gym when it became a little challenging to find a well-being tennis partner or a new hockey team. I recommend prioritizing exercise and finding a gym or sport as soon as you arrive
Emotional Well-Being
It’s important to be able to express your emotions to show your Life Abroad, and often times, as a foreigner, in fear of coming across rude, shy, angry, or other feelings. We may want to close ourselves off and suppress what we may be going through. Life Abroad important to speak up if you feel injustice, if you’re upset. If you’re happy about something, or anything really. You need to be in tune with your emotions, feel them, and find good ways to express them – both negative and positive emotions. Try as much to process things in a healthy manner rather than staying bottled up. About Life Abroad I personally choose to talk to friends or write this blog. that’s how I put my thoughts down, reflect, and cope with things.
Mental Well-Being
Your mental health is so important, people! I’ve experienced some things here that have left me stressed out and just frustrated. The immigration procedures, the health care facilities at times, man, it can be a lot. Not only that, the anxiety that comes with being away from home and missing your family also can strain you mentally. I’ve found that keeping in touch consistently with my family always helps during Life Abroad. Aside from that, I try to keep busy too so that I don’t overthink too much. I haven’t done this yet, but I’m planning to join a yoga class so it can help me relax my mind as well. Then taking walks in the park alone or with friends also really helps to just give my mind a break. Checkout my blog A Foreigner’s Advice on Mental Health Care in the EU for some tips.
Spiritual Well-Being
This has been the most important form of well-being for me. Coming from a religious background, it has been easier for me to balance this out as I had practice before I moved to the EU. I take my prayers seriously because they are also a form of self-reflection and just knowing that there is God out there makes it easier to overcome the challenges that I face. Now this aspect of spirituality is different for everyone. For some during Life Abroad it’s religion for others it’s just practising mindfulness and relaxation techniques in order to be at peace spiritually. Do whatever works for you, but I recommend you don’t ignore this.
Financial Well-Being
Now I’ll be honest, it took me a while to find some financial stability, but I can definitely say that I’ve grown over the years career-wise and so too my salary and financial income in general. During Life Abroad and when I first came to the EU, can you believe I survived on 250 Euros a month? It was enough for rent at the dormitory, food and a couple of trips actually. I’ve always been cautious with money, so it wasn’t so difficult to manage the little. I recommend getting a budgeting app or Excel or Google Sheet to keep track of your finances and allocate them to savings, mandatory costs and leisure so you can better set yourself up. You can also spread your finances across your home bank account, your new EU bank account and then an international app like Revolut, TransferWise or Monese for e-banking. These apps are quite helpful for Life Abroad and helps us daily use and make finance tracking easier by providing graphs and other useful data at the end of the month. I also recommend reading financial books. It’s just good to give you a more rounded approach to life. When you’re financially at ease, you feel safe and have fewer things to worry about.
Europe is a beautiful continent, but it’s so easy to feel out of place, even after living there for a while, but best believe, you will find your crowd. Stay positive, take care of yourself and achieve your dreams and goals!
As always, let me know if you have questions, I’ll be happy to help! See you in the next read!