Moving to a new place can feel like a clean slate — like starting your life from scratch. That’s even true if you’re moving to a new city, let alone a new country. All that matters is that you don’t have much of a safety net and that it feels unfamiliar and brand new. With that in mind, having a stress-free relocation can seem tough. At first, this can seem daunting — especially if you’re moving to a place you’ve never visited. However, after adjusting to the situation, you’ll probably find a few interesting lessons of moving to such a different place.
With that in mind, let’s get into some valuable life lessons you can gain from moving!
You Can Do Things On Your Own
If you’re relocating to an unfamiliar place, one of the first lessons of moving you’ll learn is — sometimes you have to do things yourself. And that’s especially true if you’re trying to adapt after relocating overseas, where you don’t have anyone you know.
Once you don’t have your parents, relatives, or friends to guide you or help you out, it just feels different. And that’s true even if you were an independent person before. Once you don’t have anyone intimately familiar to fall back on, it’s a new type of independence.
And when we say “doing things on your own,” sometimes we mean it literally. Have you ever sat down for a meal alone in a random bar or restaurant? Or just have a cup of coffee on your own? It’s something you’ll get used to, at least until you make some new friends.
It will quickly become apparent that being alone isn’t the same as being lonely. You can have many friends, be lonely, and be alone without feeling the same way.
And when you’re learning about a new place, you’ll also realize that being alone lets you soak in everything. You can observe the locals, learn their mannerisms, and quickly adapt to their way of life.
If you’re moving to a new country, being alone will also force you to learn the language. Even if you can get by with English, you’ll find that it’s hard to make meaningful connections without learning at least a few words.
You Can Always Make New Friends
When you enter your twenties, it can feel like you’ve made all the friends you’ve ever wanted. In most cases, this is particularly true for guys — most of whom make their best friends as children and hang out with them for life.
However, once you move long-distance to a new place, you’ll also find that you can’t be alone indefinitely. Sure, learning how to stand on your own two feet is great. But you’ll want to hang out with someone sooner or later. And that’s when you’ll need to learn how to make friends again.
Of course, the learning curve here depends on your age. Someone fresh out of college will easily meet new people and forge friendships. But if you’re over 30, there’s a good chance you’ve become rusty in that department.
Naturally, the easiest way to meet people as an adult is through work. If you’ve moved for a job, you’ll meet many coworkers without trying. But if you work remotely, as many people do these days, that might not be an option.
Even if that’s not the case, it’s best to let these things happen naturally. Sure, there are apps for any kind of relationship nowadays — from romantic to friendly and pretty much everything in between. However, meeting people online can be awkward even today, and it’s not always the best course of action for introverts.
Instead, find cool group hobbies you can do and groups you can join. You’ll soon learn that even a gym membership is pretty useful in this regard.
Surprising Lessons of Moving to a Place: You Can Be More Organized
Living in your hometown makes it easy to become dependent on your loved ones — friends and parents included. And it’s easy just to let life happen and be spontaneous. Even when you make plans, they don’t have to be very precise — especially if you live in a small town.
Once you move to a bigger city or a brand new country, you’ll learn that everything takes time. And that means you can’t expect to be as chill and laid back as you were before. You can give yourself some leeway once you figure out your new city and the local transport system. Before that, expect everything to take a while — so be organized if you don’t want to be late.
If you weren’t a particularly well-organized person before, a relocation will quickly change that. You’ll find that moving without a plan is remarkably tough and almost bound to end in disaster. Something will get lost or broken along the way.
You Can Save Money
People who live with their parents or roommates don’t realize how much money they save by sharing their living space with other people. However, moving to a new place alone will quickly show you the benefits of frugality and financial independence.
Unless you’re moving for a well-paying job, you’ll likely need to save money. Moving can be expensive; the same goes for living alone.
And it’s not just about learning how to save money — it’s also about learning how to manage your expenses. They’re two different things, even if they sound the same. For instance, managing your expenses includes paying your bills, credit card payments, rent, and other stuff on time — and knowing no one will remind you.
Wrapping Up
There are many surprising lessons of moving to a new place that feels completely different to learn. However, the most important one is probably that you’re just fine as you are. When we feel like a fish out of water, we always think other people will judge us or have some crazy expectations we can’t match. However, that’s almost always just social anxiety talking. In reality, people will like you for being yourself no matter where you are. If you’re changing, do it for yourself — and others will love you for it!