What It’s Really Like to Quit Your Job and Move Abroad

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According to Dr. Paul Nussbaum, President of the Brain Health Center, such a move can have positive psychological effects. "Anytime there is a transition, there’s novelty and complexity -- which is always good for the brain," he says. It stimulates the brain's cortex and leads to increased cellular connections, which can help prevent dementia.

But before you sell your belongings and buy that one-way plane ticket, it's important to do your research. Stewart Black, the Professor of Management Practice in Global Leadership for INSEAD who was written articles on the expatriate adjustment process, says that the more you know about your new home beforehand, the better you'll adjust. 


"Regardless of the motivation for moving overseas, psychological adjustment is a function of the difference between experience and expectations," Black says. "This is why the more you know about the land, language, culture, daily life, recreation, shopping, etcetera, the more likely you are to have a more effective adjustment."

Setting realistic expectations is key to a successful integration in your new home, and those who move as a rash decision rather than a carefully examined choice may end up unhappy. "The risk if you have quit your job and moved to your ideal country is that your expectations are higher than the experience," Black says. So if you're hoping the move will solve all of your life problems, you may be setting yourself up for failure. 


At Oyster, we know a thing or two about what it's like to show up somewhere and find the reality is nothing like what you expected. We're renowned for our keen ability to warn travelers about this possibility through our Photo Fakeout series. But when it's not just a vacation but a new life you have planned, the stakes are as high as they get.

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Any time there is a change, there is going to be stress, according to Nussbaum. But not everyone perceives stress the same way; for those who interpret the stress as excitement, "that’s a brain that is looking at this stress as positive," he says. 


And if your reason for making the move is to escape stress, it's probably going to beneficial to make a life change. "Leaving a stressful environment that creates chronic stress is always a good thing," he says. "Getting out of that environment is going to be psychologically really wonderful."

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According to Black, there are a two important personality traits that will aid would-be expats after their arrival: optimism and curiosity. While most people go through a similar cycle of adjustment, pessimists often don't experience an initial honeymoon phase in their new destination. "Because all the differences in a country do not emerge on day one, most people have the luxury of noticing the 'cool,' positive, outwardly nice stuff initially," he says, and explains that optimists tend to focus on those things while "the outwardly not nice things catch the eye of the pessimist." 


Over time, as more gaps between a person's expectations and experience start to arise, curiosity can help to mitigate negative reactions. "Those with high levels of curiosity say, 'I wonder why this is the case? I’d like to understand this better.' As they investigate, they learn more and the gap declines," Black says, while those who aren't able to do that are more likely to blame the country and people for their dissatisfaction.

There are a number of health risks associated with office life. "Sedentary behavior becomes very, very bad for our health," Nussbaum says. "Socialization is another important thing for brain health. When you are on a computer screen our friend, our spouse, is the computer screen. We tend to not interact that much with other humans."


So those making a move to pursue a job very different from their office work, such as selling ice cream or T-shirts, will likely get to experience more socialization, which Nussbaum says is definitely a good thing. If the new job allows for more physical activity as well, all the better.

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It's important to stop and think about what truly makes you happy. "I would say more than 50 percent of people out there are doing something where they don’t have a sense of role or purpose," Nussbaum says. And he says that most people have never even asked themselves what they really want to be doing. Studies support this: The New York Times reported last week that according to a recent a Gallup poll, 90 percent of workers are not engaged with, or are actively disengaged, with their jobs. 


"People that kind of venture out and do something on their own and start their own business, that is a person who identified what it is they are supposed to be doing while being alive on the planet," he says. For those who have identified their purpose, "the stress kind of goes away. They are happier, they are healthier."


So if you're moving to a new place to start a new venture, make sure you've thought critically about whether it is something that you will enjoy and that will fulfill you. Or you just might end up with the same kind of stress you had before.

Your dream of moving to a beautiful, exotic place isn't going to go exactly how you expect -- it's almost guaranteed. Glen Simkins, owner of Maui ice cream stand Coconut Glen's (who will be profiled in the second article in this series), says that the difference of whether you make it or not in your new life comes down to "whether you are willing to shift and mold." Being adaptable might also help you live longer and better; according to Nussbaum, studies have shown that a person's ability to adapt plays a more significant role in successful aging than cognition or even physical health. 


BuzzFeed published an article Monday profiling a couple whose travel adventures abroad didn't go exactly as planned. The title -- "This Couple Quit Their Jobs to Travel Are Now Scrub Toilets to Get By" -- kind of says it all. Despite the unexpected drawbacks of their new lifestyle, however, traveler Chanel Cartell wrote in a blog post that their lifestyle is still "like heaven for us." She elaborated: "There’s nothing quite like swopping million rand advertising budgets for toilet scrubbing to teach you about humility, life, and the importance of living each day as if it were your last."


That's about as adaptable as a person can get, in our book. And if you know you're not very good at being adaptable, take comfort in the fact that it is something that can be practiced.

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Several expats I spoke to, who will be profiled later in this series, agreed that it's not the actual move that will make you happier, it's the lifestyle changes that sometimes accompany such a shift. And Nussbaum points out that some of these changes can be made without moving anywhere. "It’s important to think about the things that are good for your brain and incorporate them into your workplace as best as you can," he says. He recommends trying to make some time where you can move about, and make an inventory of your talents; you may find that there's a place for more of those talents at your workplace than you thought. Any time people use more of their talents and have a chance to express themselves, "they feel better about themselves," he says.


More in this Series: 

• What It's Like to Ditch Your Career, Move to Hawaii, and Sell Coconuts
• What It's Like to Quit Your Big-City Corporate Job and Manage Vacation Rentals in Puerto Rico
• What It's Like to Wander the World as a Digital Nomad
  
  
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