6 Things Moving Has Taught Me

Growing up, my family moved around quite a bit. My family wasn’t in the army… it was in it’s own sort of army, um, of the religious kind. My dad was a pastor of the Seventh-Day Adventist religion (which you may have only heard mentioned in the media quite a bit lately, thanks to the presidential candidate, Ben Carson). His job meant that we usually got moved around every 3 - 4 years. I was born in Michigan, then a few years later moved to Pennsylvania, then Massachusetts, and then Bermuda. 

After Bermuda, we moved back to the US to Pennsylvania, and we planted. My parents confessed they wanted something more permanent for me and my siblings as we became teenagers and desired more stability. After I got married later in life, my husband and I moved to Brooklyn, NY only to come back to Pennsylvania once we had kids. 

Moving around has taught me a few things:

1. You can call anywhere home.
2. You can find and make friends anywhere.
3. Moving causes you to grow as a person. It forces you out of your comfort zone and forces you to be flexible.
4. Your perspective, awareness, and empathy increases. 
5. You gain world experiences you can't get in school.
6. You learn real time adaptation and problem solving skills. 

I am grateful to have experienced growing up outside of the US for a time, and I’d like to be able to give my daughters that kind of experience, too. The husband and I have decided to make that possible for our family by living abroad in the summers during school breaks, as often as we can (and can afford). Next year, thanks to a speaking invite (um, and my dreams) we are going to be starting our “summers abroad” program in Bologna, Italy. The next places on our list to live so far are: Ireland, London, Sweden, and Japan. 

I’m excited about doing this with my kids, especially while they are little. I read recently about how living abroad leads to a longer life… sort of. There’s evidence that it alters your perception about the length of your life.

“David Eagleman, an assistant neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine, has been fascinated by the brain’s perception of time ever since he fell off a roof and experienced a slow-motion effect. He postulates that:
 “…the more detailed a memory, the longer the moment seems to last. The reason it feels like time is speeding up as we age is that the world becomes more familiar. The more familiar the world becomes, the less information your brains writes down, and the more quickly time seems to pass.”
This means that when you move abroad, the world will be entirely unfamiliar. This is especially true if you are going from any Western country to an Eastern country, or vice versa. The food, smells, language and even popular colors are entirely different. Your brain will be on overdrive recording every new vivid detail.
As you continue to have new experiences in your new country, your own perspective of your life will lengthen. Your new memories will add up to a longer perception of your own life than if you monotonously repeated the same daily routine in your home country.
According to Michael over at Vsauce, time seems to pass slower when you have new experiences. When you are recording new memories, you perceive time to be passing slower than repeating the same experiences.”- Robert Krulwich (on his article "Why Does Time Fly By As You Get Older")

Personally, I’m reading this as: “If I live abroad with my kids, I will perceive them as little kids longer than if we continued the same day to day routine with them at home.” And to be quite honest, I am just actively trying not to let them “grow up too fast, ” as the ol’ sentiment goes. This quote mirrors my thoughts exactly:

“Life constantly changes us, whether we like it or not. A … child will learn that new things are probably good and exciting, and that a challenge is not something that should be avoided. Changes for them are actually positive and desirable. Children living abroad often develop positive approaches to unpredicted changes in life.” - Advantages For Children Living Abroad 

I think it will just be crazy fun, we’ll learn tons of stuff, and become closer as a family. Wish us luck, and please feel free to send suggestions of places (and people) to visit, especially if it's where you call home!