Got a letter this morning and all it read:
You better head back to Tennessee, Jed...
- Tennessee Jed | Grateful Dead
You better head back to Tennessee, Jed...
- Tennessee Jed | Grateful Dead
Our hearts are thumpity-thumping because of our decision. WE ARE MOVING! Another big change is coming our way, and truth be told we are asking ourselves are we truly ready for this? We are moving back to the US (again) but this time it’s somewhat permanent. Our rather nomadic life is going to settle down in Tennessee, and we are leaving South Korea for good.
It’s going to be a bittersweet journey of putting a hiatus on our expat life. It’s a VERY big and courageous decision, but this is what we wanted. In the span of 10 years, we have lived in 4 countries and 6 cities across 3 continents. After several big moves under our belt, at some point we are going to be exhausted with all of this - we needed to take a break. We haven’t been in one spot for more than 18 months, packing/unpacking, and uprooting our lives over and over again for the past 10 years, is putting a heavy toll on our lives. Don’t get us wrong; our expat life has been very good to us. We are going to be very sad to put a pause in this life we are used to, but we are also glad and excited that it is going to happen.
It’s going to be a bittersweet journey of putting a hiatus on our expat life. It’s a VERY big and courageous decision, but this is what we wanted. In the span of 10 years, we have lived in 4 countries and 6 cities across 3 continents. After several big moves under our belt, at some point we are going to be exhausted with all of this - we needed to take a break. We haven’t been in one spot for more than 18 months, packing/unpacking, and uprooting our lives over and over again for the past 10 years, is putting a heavy toll on our lives. Don’t get us wrong; our expat life has been very good to us. We are going to be very sad to put a pause in this life we are used to, but we are also glad and excited that it is going to happen.
We know for sure we are going to miss our expat life, someway or another, perhaps we will find our way back. After all, we are trading awesome for awesome. As Kristin Newman puts it, “Life is an endless series of choosing between two things you want almost equally. And you have to evaluate and determine which awesome thing you want infinitesimally more, and then give up that other awesome thing you want exactly as much”. Right now, stability is what we need even though it also means giving up "living the dream in Europe". Yes, you read it right, we turned down an opportunity to live our dream in Germany. We had to choose the lesser evil of the two options we are presented: stability of being in one place for 5+ years versus 1+ yrs in Germany and we have to move again after that. We know for some that this sounds crazy and probably something you won't expect us to do but trust us, we made a calculated decision.
Adventure has always been a part of our story, and this new life will be our ongoing adventure. The real adventure is seasoned with change, hard decisions and taking the leap of faith. What we learned in the past 10 years of our expat life is that you need to break away from what’s comfortable to really see what you’re capable of.
So, are we finally dusting off our vagabond hands? No doubt that living in other countries, experiencing different culture first hand, tasting authentic food is very exciting, but we are also more excited for what’s in store for us. IT DOES NOT MEAN WE ARE NOT GOING TO TRAVEL ANYMORE. Traveling is in our veins and will always be our priority. Almost like an addiction that we have to feed all the time. As a matter of fact, we actually get to plan our travels even better since stability will be on our side. We are just putting a pause on our expat life, even it means giving up another dream.
The most difficult part of this life is leaving and saying goodbye. No doubt, we will grieve about our expat life. But every time we leave, we also know that anything is possible and doable. We just move on, plain and simple. If we survived living abroad, why can’t we survive this? Living abroad definitely changed us; the lessons will forever remain and will continuously shape our lives.
We also knew that someway, somehow that the end will come - we would find our way home. We know that life will evolve, the way it just does. One thing we know for sure that even though we are closing this chapter, we are going to continue to travel. Traveling will always remain to be our greatest love. After the romance of this expat life fades, at least another dream lives on.
Adventure has always been a part of our story, and this new life will be our ongoing adventure. The real adventure is seasoned with change, hard decisions and taking the leap of faith. What we learned in the past 10 years of our expat life is that you need to break away from what’s comfortable to really see what you’re capable of.
So, are we finally dusting off our vagabond hands? No doubt that living in other countries, experiencing different culture first hand, tasting authentic food is very exciting, but we are also more excited for what’s in store for us. IT DOES NOT MEAN WE ARE NOT GOING TO TRAVEL ANYMORE. Traveling is in our veins and will always be our priority. Almost like an addiction that we have to feed all the time. As a matter of fact, we actually get to plan our travels even better since stability will be on our side. We are just putting a pause on our expat life, even it means giving up another dream.
The most difficult part of this life is leaving and saying goodbye. No doubt, we will grieve about our expat life. But every time we leave, we also know that anything is possible and doable. We just move on, plain and simple. If we survived living abroad, why can’t we survive this? Living abroad definitely changed us; the lessons will forever remain and will continuously shape our lives.
We also knew that someway, somehow that the end will come - we would find our way home. We know that life will evolve, the way it just does. One thing we know for sure that even though we are closing this chapter, we are going to continue to travel. Traveling will always remain to be our greatest love. After the romance of this expat life fades, at least another dream lives on.
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