EP 99: What Nobody Tells You About Moving Abroad Mini Series (Part 3: How We Change) with Janice & Sarah-Ann

Yeah.

And I have to admit, when I was thinking about the prompts that, that we had for this discussion, it actually felt like it was a diary moment, right? But the truth is that moving abroad just isn't about where you live.

It's about who you start to become as you rebuild your life, start a whole new chapter, new friends, and a whole new set of experiences.

So to get the ball rolling, Sarah, what parts of yourself did you have to grow into in this new environment, and what parts felt stretched or challenged the most as you move abroad?

I don't know why, but as you read the question, I had this little lump in my throat.

Aw.

And maybe it's like you say, right? It is this sort of reflection, and obviously these are stuff that, Jan, you and I speak about so regularly and so often, but every time we take a moment to pause and reflect back on it, it just always brings about this reminder that while we have come a long way.

So for myself, I really had to grow into what I would say was my independence.

Now, that's not to say that I wasn't independent in Malaysia, but the reality of it is back home we had the comfort of our family, friends, people we knew, the community, and all of that we grew up with, that we've built.

But here in Australia, I had to really learn how to take care of things on my own.

There wasn't somebody that I could call, and I couldn't call family that would drop everything and just come to my SOS at any point of time.

And when I say independence, I don't just mean logistically, but emotionally as well, because yeah, let's be real, setting up a new life, learning how to sit with myself and be in the quiet, in the unfamiliar, in the unknown, yeah, without family, without a partner, et cetera, it was essentially a very new season of rebuilding and challenging my independence.

So even as I say this, I have marked officially two years here in Australia now.

Ooh.

Which is wild.

Hooray.

Like, didn't we just get here? I don't get how we are now already at the two-year milestone.

I've also just moved into a new home after two years, and so part of what I was chatting about, growing into the independence and taking care of my entire house move on my own.

Obviously, I had really supportive friends that helped make the move happen and made it possible, but yeah, essentially I had to take care of everything myself.

Do you know what I mean?

Mm-hmm.

There wasn't anybody else that I could lean on and feel like they knew what was going on in that sense if it was not because I had orchestrated the help.

So I did get help, but I still had to take care and manage everything on my own.

There wasn't that safety net of family, is what I would say.

What about you, Jan?