In today's society there seems to be more and more people migrating to another country than their home country out of fear, because of the current status that we're in at the moment in the world.
Some people want to flee their country because of a war and feeling unsafe in the home where they've always lived, whereas others feel they no longer belong in the place where they live because they've somehow outgrown it.
Different reasons, somehow different expectations as well, but the process of immigration and really adapting to a new culture, new language and different climate still seems to be similar.
Whatever your motivations are to move to another country, you will always have to go through a process of adaptation which comes with struggles. These can be sometimes so overwhelming that you almost feel you want to give up and go back to where you came from. But how can you grow as a person and achieve different results if you always go back to what you're familiar with?
Fleeing from a war definitely doesn't give you an option to go back, so you have to make it work somehow and you do whatever it takes to survive. In today's society there are unfortunately so many people who feel lost, without a home and feeling very insecure, which really gives a whole different perspective to my own reasons for leaving my home country.
I chose to move away from The Netherlands because of the adventure and excitement of discovering new countries, new languages and different cultures. There was never a moment of fear in my decision to leave, but there was off course sadness for the temporary loss of certain people, foods, habits, traditions and whatever else The Netherlands had to offer me.
However, the excitement of learning something new always outweighed the challenges I ran into during my personal journey, which just kept me going. Even when I met my husband, my hunger for personal growth through traveling didn't diminish, but it just changed.
Growing up in The Netherlands my life was very different from his life growing up in the south of France: both eager to grow personally by traveling the world, but obviously with different skills and perspectives on life. This difference is something we've been trying to understand from each other from day one, which has been an adventure on its own!
Finding the spot where to live together has been quite a journey and our biggest challenge so far! The start of our search was in The Netherlands after we moved away from Ibiza where we met. Trying to find common ground for us as a couple seemed quite a task to be honest, because we both are built so differently.
As we started to travel together and try out different cultures and cities as a home base, we learnt what works for us and most importantly what doesn't work for us. The birth of our daughter definitely made our need to travel even more important, because we both felt the desire to show her what a beautiful place the world is and what similarities there are between all these contrasting cultures, languages and people.
Just the simple stuff like eating, drinking, working, playing and sleeping are the things we all do and all have in common, which to me are beautiful rituals to observe in each country. They've taught me how similar we are and have helped me to focus on the things that connect us in life, rather than focusing on what separates us.
Every adventure I've been on as a single woman and more recently as a mom and a wife continue to inspire me every day. The most valuable thing in life for me is to make memories and create new connections with people who value life like I do.
Whenever I feel lost somewhere I just focus on those simple daily rituals we all practice and focus on the similarities between me and the people around me, which helps me connect and feel seen, heard and appreciated.
So my message for people struggling with adapting to new situations is to remember we all go through challenges in our life at one point, no matter where you come from or what your background is. Life is supposed to be like that: the journey is every day a new adventure!