living abroad and what it’s taught me

I have lived abroad for six years now, and three of those years have been in Spain. Which means most of my young adult life has happened outside the United States.

The longer I live internationally, the clearer it becomes that this experience has shaped how I think, how I work, and how I move through the world.

Here are the biggest things living abroad has taught me, in both life and business.

1. Our bubbles are tiny compared to the world around us

I grew up around people who looked like me, thought like me, went to the same institutions as me, ate dinner at the same time every night, followed the same rhythms, and lived by the same rules.

To us, that life was the whole world.

Then I moved abroad, and everything expanded. Suddenly I was surrounded by different languages, different beliefs, different schedules, different lifestyles, and completely different definitions of normal.

Once you step outside your bubble, you cannot unsee how big the world actually is.

It changes how you collaborate, how you communicate, and how you problem-solve. More perspectives always lead to better thinking.

2. Time is important, but it does not have to rule your life

My dad always said:

"If you are early, you are on time.
If you are on time, you are late.
If you are late, do not bother showing up."

That sentence shaped my entire relationship with time.

Then I moved to Spain, where "I will be there at 5" usually means "closer to 5:20," and no one is stressed about it.

And suddenly I found myself asking: why am I stressed about it?

Why am I rushing out the door, wondering if I turned off the hair tools or the oven, racing to be three minutes early when everyone else will arrive thirty minutes later?

Living here taught me something I did not know I needed: nothing good has ever happened to me when I was in a rush.

Now I still show up for clients on time, but I no longer treat urgency as a personality trait. A deep breath serves me better than sprinting ever did.

3. Communication is much more than words

When you live somewhere where your first language is not the main language, you realize quickly that communication has very little to do with perfect vocabulary.

When I was a teacher abroad, I attended parent-teacher conferences where absolutely no English was spoken. Somehow, I still understood the energy in the room.

Body language, tone, pacing, intention, presence. Those things speak clearly, even when words do not.

I once sat through a meeting where two parents started arguing and I had no idea what they were saying, but I understood exactly what was happening.

Living abroad taught me that communication is about attention, not grammar.
This has made me a better listener and a better collaborator in my work now.

4. Nothing in life or business is that serious

The number of times I have almost lost my mind abroad is genuinely impressive.

I have held back tears in government offices.
I have shown up to the wrong airports and wrong train stations.
I have dealt with canceled flights, lost luggage, delayed paperwork, and taxi drivers who probably needed a nap more than I needed to get anywhere.

If you let every inconvenience ruin your day, you will not survive living in a new country for very long.

Living abroad forces you to develop a sense of humor.
A little lightness.
A belief that most things will eventually be a funny story.

This mindset translates into business too. Most problems are not emergencies, and most mistakes are not final. You learn to keep going.

5. Community matters, and it evolves as you do

One of the group chats with my childhood friends still goes off every single day. That will always be a core part of my life.

But living abroad taught me something I did not expect.
You are allowed new chapters, which means you are allowed new communities.

Friends who understand the current version of you.
Friends who challenge the beliefs you grew up with.
Friends who see you in this chapter, not the one you left years ago.

Community is not about replacing people. It is about expanding your life as you grow.

6. Growth is uncomfortable, but staying the same is worse

There is discomfort in the language barriers, the paperwork, the loneliness, the confusion, the cultural differences.

But there is also discomfort in staying exactly where you have always been.

Every time I have chosen growth, even when it scared me, it moved my life forward in ways I never expected.

Living abroad did that.
Starting my business did that.
Showing up online did that.

If I have learned anything in six years, it is this:

Your next chapter requires a version of you that your old environment was never going to create.