Are you experiencing any difficulties with your mental health as a result of living abroad? As a matter of fact, living in a different country presents numerous challenges for many people. It makes no difference if you moved abroad for growth with happiness or for some other goal half-heartedly; mental health difficulties do pop up because deciding to be an expat is not an easy thing to handle. Therefore, if you have already packed your bags and relocated to a new county or plan on to in the near future, you need to get yourself ready to maintain your mental health and spend your days in a foreign country in a healthy way. Here are my 7 tips to maintain good mental health when living abroad.
1. Strike a balance between work and life
This sounds basic but is the most crucial strategy to keep your mental health intact and lead a fulfilling life. Have you seen anyone unable to balance their work and life and then be cool about it? I am sure you haven’t. So, how can you expect your heart to feel comfortable and at peace if you fail to strike a balance between your work and personal stuff? Many a time, expats get super engrossed in their work in order to ‘fit in’ and prove to themselves that they get overworked, depressed, and insomniac. Likewise, some people become super social in an attempt to adjust to the new place and while doing so they lose their grip on their balance. So, learn to have discipline when it comes to maintaining your social life and professional requirements. This will help you keep your mental health great.
2. Give yourself sufficient time to adjust
In quite a few instances, the reason behind anxiety, panic, and depression in expats is their urgency in getting adjusted to their new foreign land. They somehow forget that their minds need some time to tackle the change of place, environment, language, and people in general. In a rush to adjust, they pressurize themselves and end up being psychologically disturbed with issues like insomnia, anxiety, depression. So, be kind and patient towards yourself and take your time to adjust peacefully.
3. Remember to exercise and get good sleep
Who doesn’t know that a sound body keeps a sound mind, right? So, like I said you need to discipline your life to get the most out of it in the new place. So, squeeze some time out every day to get moving, do some exercise that can be fun like dancing, yoga, walking, or any other sort of physical exercise that can help you release your pent-up energy and relax your mind too. Moreover, a healthy sleep cycle (at least 6 hours of sleep) needs to be established for you so that your mind can function well and you can feel happy too. Quite interestingly, doing exercise leads to having a sound sleep cycle so get moving and have a peaceful resting time to ensure a healthy mind.
4. Stay connected with loved ones
If I ask you to mention only one major reason for someone’s mental agitation or disorder, what would you say? I suppose most of you would point out the lack of human connection that leads to disturbing and depressive thoughts and ultimately ruin the mental health of an individual. So, while you settle abroad, you need to get connected to your loved ones virtually and share with them your daily activities, feelings, etc. This way, you wouldn’t feel left out or the odd one out and have a happier state of mind.
5. Connect with other expats
Making connections with others who are also living abroad is an additional vital step to taking care of one’s mental health when living in a different country. When you are going through an emotional roller coaster and you need someone to listen to you and empathize with you while you are going through it, this works extremely well. Because other expats would be in the same boat as you, they would assist you break out of the rut and guide you in settling in properly and coping with the problems; becoming linked to them would be a huge favor to your mental health and would be a terrific way to benefit from their experiences.
6. Ditch too many unhealthy habits
Now, this tip is universal in its nature because no one can have good mental health when he or she gets involved in a lot of unhealthy habits like drinking, smoking, partying, or doing drugs. So, avoid such practices and stay motivated to get settled and rock yourself in the new place.
7. Seek professional help, if needed
Although the tips I have shared above will help you or anyone moving to a foreign land a lot, we cannot just pass this statement as a verdict. If, despite doing all of the above, you feel despondent, unable to function healthily, feel bad about everything, and lack any sort of motivation, do not waste any time and seek professional help to get your mental health back on track. After all, we are not machines but humans with all sorts of hormones and emotions that can go unbridled and put us off the pedestal. So, contact a psychotherapist who will help you through your issues, and employ techniques like deep belly breathing, meditation, and guided imagery to shun all sorts of pessimistic thoughts and help you regain your vitality and vigor.
Finally…
Peace of mind when you live abroad
In a nutshell, moving out and settling abroad may sound exciting or overwhelming. In either case, it is important to keep these 7 tips to maintain good mental health when living abroad a great priority that can help you keep great mental health while living as an expat.
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Images via: Jonathan Borba on Unsplash, LinkedIn Sales Solutions on Unsplash, Surface on Unsplash, Andres Siimon on Unsplash,
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