123: 5 Signs You’re Ready to Move Abroad

The truth is, no one ever feels 100% ready. Moving abroad always involves uncertainty. However, there are often small signals that the idea might be more than just a passing thought.

In this episode, we talk about 5 signs that you might be more ready to move abroad than you think.

We cover:

• Why constantly imagining life abroad can mean something deeper than wanderlust
• How researching visas and logistics is often the first real step toward a move
• Why international travel sometimes turns into “life research” instead of vacation
• The role uncertainty plays in big life decisions
• Why many people feel drawn to a different lifestyle, not just a different place

If you’ve ever wondered whether moving abroad is just a fun idea or something you might actually do, this episode will help you think about that question in a clearer way.

Because the first step toward a move abroad isn’t having everything figured out — it’s curiosity.

👉Take the free quiz: Which European city should you move to? 🤔

Grab my free guide: 5 exact steps to move abroad

Website: jordangiberson.com
Instagram: @jordan.giberson

Transcript

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I think a big part of moving abroad is getting over that emotional hurdle of deciding, yes, I am going all in. You just need to be curious enough to try and willing to say yes, there are a lot of unknowns for me and I don't have it all figured out, but I'm going to keep moving forward regardless. Hey, my name is Jordan Giberson. I'm a Texas girl living and thriving in London. The best thing I've ever done? Moving abroad, hands down. And I'm passionate about helping others do the same. Are you curious about finding a job abroad? You're in the right place, friend. I'll teach you the tried and true secrets of how to make moving abroad a reality for you and how to live a fulfilling life once you get there. We'll cover topics like choosing the best visa for you, how to get a job offer in another country, how to get over your fear of moving abroad, and how to live a life you love once you get there, this is The Move Abroad Podcast. Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Move Abroad podcast. Today we're talking about 5 signs that you're ready to move abroad. A lot of people dream about moving abroad, but they aren't sure if they're actually ready. So today we're talking about these 5 signs that show that you're more ready than you think, and to clarify and to be perfectly honest with you, no one really feels 100% ready. I mean, you're moving to probably another continent, let's be honest. So there is a lot of uncertainty that does come with moving abroad, and you won't know everything until you actually move there. So no one ever feels 100% ready. But I will say that if you've. Been wondering whether moving abroad is just a fun idea or something that you might actually do. Then I hope that some of these signs will help you figure that out. Figure out whether this is something that you actually want and whether it's worth that risk because it is a bit of a risk. You don't know whether you're going to love something until you actually do it and experience it. But side note is that I have never met somebody that said I regret moving abroad. Not a once, literally not one time have I ever met somebody that said. Man, you know, I always wanted to move abroad and I actually did it, and I wish that I didn't do it. I really regretful. This is the worst decision ever said. No one ever. I have never heard anybody say that. So rest assured that even though it might feel like there's a lot of uncertainty and you might feel very nervous, and that's totally normal. I have never heard of somebody that regretted it, so I hope that you find a bit of peace in that. But without further ado, let's go ahead and talk about the five signs that you can look for that show that you are ready to move abroad. So let's get started. Sign number 1, that you are ready to move abroad and more ready than you think is that you are constantly thinking about moving abroad like all the time. It's not just a passing thought. It's not something that just comes into your brain, once every few months. Maybe you imagine daily life abroad, not just vacations. I remember one time my mom, before I had moved abroad, my mom had said, you and Jordan, why don't you just go visit London, during your vacation days? And I said, mom, I don't want to be a tourist. I don't want to visit on a vacation. I want to live there. I want to experience the fullness of what life would look like there. Maybe you picture things like grocery shopping or commuting or living in a neighborhood abroad. Maybe you've even walked in that neighborhood before and you imagine yourself in that neighborhood. Maybe you imagine the commute of walking to work and going by a coffee shop on your way to the train station or the bus stop, and you imagine looking out the train on your commute into the city, maybe, I don't know what that would look like for you, or maybe you're imagining the grocery store and how it looks a little bit different and some of the ingredients look different, but you're really excited to cook and to experience a different type of food that you are really excited about cooking. So I think the key idea here is that maybe you've been dreaming about living somewhere else, living somewhere abroad and not just visiting there. A lot of people might dismiss this as being unrealistic, that they're kind of thinking about moving abroad, but I think that a persistent curiosity usually means. Something deeper. I think that if you're constantly thinking about it and it's constantly on your mind, I think that's probably a pretty strong sign that it's something that's important to you. When I was still in the exploratory phase of thinking about moving abroad, I remember I thought about it constantly and it would just naturally come up in my everyday conversations, whether I was talking to a friend of mine, a family member. Or honestly a stranger. I remember just constantly bringing it up that I really wanted to live in London. I just like legitimately, I remember it was just constant. I was constantly bringing it up to people. It would just naturally kind of come up in conversation because it was something that was important to me. It was something that was constantly on my mind. So it just became a part of my everyday conversation. So if that's you, maybe it's not every single day, but if you feel like, yeah, that's me. I am constantly thinking about this. It's constantly on my mind. I'm constantly bringing it up in conversations. Then I was the same way whenever I was thinking about moving abroad. So that is your sign number one. If you are constantly thinking about moving abroad all the time, that is one of the top signs that show that you're actually more ready to move abroad than you think that you are. Sign number 2, that you are ready to move abroad is that you are already researching visas or logistics. If you've already moved past the stage of romanticizing a place and just kind of thinking about the vacations that you've taken there and you've already passed that stage and you're already researching visas or logistics or neighborhoods to live in, or any of the practicalities with moving abroad, what would look like to sell your car or move apartments? If you've been Googling things like how to move to Spain or can Americans work in Europe or cost of living in Portugal, then this is probably a really big sign that you are more ready to move abroad than you think that you are. I think a big part of moving abroad is honestly deciding that you actually are going to move there. I think that's the biggest step is just getting over that kind of decision hurdle, or you could call it an emotional hurdle of deciding, yes, I am going all in. I am 100% going to move abroad and no one is stopping me. I had to hit that phase. And you might be kind of in that phase too, where you're trying to get to that point, and maybe you already are, maybe you're getting? Really, really close to it. So the key idea here is that once you start researching how it usually means that the idea is becoming more real for you So this is your second sign that you are ready to move abroad if you've already been researching visas and logistics. Sign number 3, that you are more ready to move abroad than you think is that you're prioritizing international travel. You might be choosing international trips over domestic ones, and you might be visiting places and thinking, could I live here? You might be paying attention to the neighborhoods, the lifestyle, the cost of living, what the people are like, and the culture, the foods that you might be eating. You might be really paying attention to some of these things and having this thought of, could I actually live here? What would living here feel like? Travel might start becoming a bit of research for your future life and not just a vacation and not just seeing how other people live, but envisioning what your life could look like if you actually live there. So sign number 3 is that you are prioritizing that international travel over domestic travel. Sign number 4, that you are probably more ready to move abroad than you think is that you are open to uncertainty. Moving abroad involves a lot of unknowns, like figuring out the paperwork and figuring out what the heck a visa even is, and the process of that. Figuring out the cultural adjustment and knowing that that's going to be a bit of an unknown. Perhaps you're going to have a language barrier and maybe you say. I don't even care. I'm okay with that. I'm willing to learn. If you're someone who can tolerate uncertainty, I think that's a really huge advantage. And maybe you aren't somebody that typically tolerates uncertainty, but you say, you know what? I don't even care. I'm willing to just jump into the deep end because this is something that I really want. So if you are open to uncertainty and you find yourself willing to take that risk and saying, there are so many uncertainties, but I'm gonna go forward. I'm gonna do it anyways, and I think that's what I really want, then I think you're probably more ready to move abroad than you think. You don't need to be completely fearless. You just need to be curious enough to try and willing enough to say, yes, there are a lot of unknowns for me and I don't have it all figured out, but I'm going to keep moving forward regardless. So that is our sign number 4, that you're more ready to move abroad than you think. You are very open to uncertainty. And trust me, I totally get it. I know that the uncertainty of moving abroad can feel really daunting. It's difficult to not have everything figured out, especially if you're used to being very organized and having everything aligned and feeling like you know a lot about something before you jump in completely. But moving abroad is a completely different experience and you are going to feel a lot of uncertainty or feel like there's a lot of unknowns and a lot of it is just like you figure it out along the way. And that's okay. Sign number five, that you are probably way more ready to move abroad than you think that you are, is that you are craving a lifestyle change. I think a lot of people want things like a better work life balance, walkable cities where they can walk to their local grocery store or walk to get their haircut or walk to the local park or walk to a coffee shop or restaurant and walk home afterwards. I think there's something that's really special about that. I think a lot of people also want things like easier access to travel and moving abroad to Europe is an incredible opportunity to be able to access different parts of the world that maybe we're not used to. So I think that's also a huge bonus of this really big lifestyle change of moving abroad and having this access to travel. I think a lot of people want a slower pace of life, perhaps really depending on your life stage, you might be wanting to move to a bigger city still. And I think that there are a lot of different benefits. To moving abroad and a lot of things that people are seeking out whenever they're seeking to move abroad and have a lifestyle change. But I think that's what it's really about. If you're really craving a change, if you feel like you are, maybe you're loving your current life. Maybe there's a lot that's really good about it, but you just want something different. Maybe you just want a new challenge for yourself. I think there are a lot of different reasons why people want to move abroad. I think, I mean, you probably know what they are off, off the top of your head. Like there's probably something that's very obvious. You're like, yeah, it's like definitely because of X, y, z reason. For me it was because I was excited about having a challenge for myself and I was excited about the adventure and I wanted to be able to travel a lot. And I think as I've been here longer and longer, I think those reasons. For staying here have changed. I think it's still about that, but I think that perhaps it's changed for me over time, but I think it's, yeah, just craving a lifestyle change, craving something different, craving a challenge, and maybe it's, you want to be able to. Maybe it's that you want to have a lower cost of living, or you are seeking a different, maybe government structure. Maybe it's because of politics. Maybe it's because you actually got a job offer and maybe it's for your career. I mean, there could be so many different reasons, but I think the 5th sign is, is this craving of a lifestyle change. And I think that the key idea here is that moving abroad is often less about escaping somewhere and more about moving towards a different lifestyle, moving towards a great positive opportunity. But I mean, everyone has their reasons for moving abroad, and it just is so different from person to person. So in wrapping us up for this episode, we kept this short and sweet. These are the 5 signs that show that you are ready to move abroad. Whether you think that you are or not, these signs can show you that you are actually ready. So sign number 1 is that you think about moving abroad all the time. Sign number 2 is that you are already researching things like visas and logistics. You're kind of already getting into the weeds of your research. Stage sign number 3 is that you are prioritizing international travel over domestic travel. Sign number 4 is that you're open to uncertainty, even if you're a little bit nervous about the uncertainty and a lot of people are, you are open to it and you are okay with having the unknown. And sign number 5 is that you are craving a lifestyle change. You're excited about moving towards something, moving towards an opportunity of what a different life could look like. So I wanted to say that you really don't have to have everything figured out to start exploring the idea or to get to the stage where you say, yes, I am in, I am 100% in, I'm for sure going to move abroad. I always say that that's actually kind of the first step to move abroad, and it sounds kind of silly. I mean. Feels very obvious that the first step is actually deciding that you want to move abroad. But I do think that a lot of people get in the research phase or they're kind of considering it, kind of thinking about it. Maybe they say they're going to move abroad, but I think maybe in your core, you haven't decided that that's 100% what you're going after and no one's going to stop you. I think that you do kind of have to reach that point of saying. Yes, this is something I'm for sure going after and I think that that does take time. It is a bit of an emotional journey. It does take a bit of time to kind of do research and to kind of get to that emotional point, I think, to decide that that's what you 100% want in your life and that you want to make that change. But I do want to say that you don't have to have everything figured out to start exploring and to decide that that's actually what you want, and to start taking steps forward. I think curiosity is usually the first step. But it does take that conscious decision, and I think that if you are experiencing these 5 signs, then you probably are much more ready than you think that you are. You do not have to have everything figured out. People do not have everything figured out whenever they move abroad. It's just about taking step after step and just being conscious about taking the next step forward until it becomes a reality for you really. So if this episode has been for you, if you feel like you're looking for signs that you are ready to move abroad and you're still doing research, I would encourage you just to stay in that research phase for a little bit longer, continue researching. You know what countries you want to move to, what visa options are best for you. Maybe you already know those things and that's really clear for you, but you're just kind of waiting for that sign that you need to just move forward and to, I mean, for a lack of a better phrase, just kind of jump off the cliff and just start like barreling towards it and taking steps. Maybe you feel really scared to start doing that and to start taking actions towards it, but I would encourage you just to start taking little actions. It doesn't have to be. A huge, huge step, but I think just start taking steps towards it. I mean, you can go back and listen to an episode that I've done on the steps to move abroad. There's actually a free guide that you can download if that's helpful. You can get that download at Jordan giberson.com/guide. Or there's also a link at the bottom of the podcast description. It says, grab my free guide, five exact steps to move abroad so you can go grab that. If you feel like that's helpful as a next step, or I would encourage you just to start taking small steps towards moving abroad that feel right for you, so that you can start to make it a reality for yourself. So with that being said, I hope that this was helpful for you. I hope that you're walking away feeling encouraged and feeling like maybe you have experienced all of these 5 signs and you're like, shoot, okay. Maybe I am more ready to move abroad than I think that I am, even though I don't. Feel ready. You probably are a lot more ready than you think that you are. So thank you so much for listening to another episode of the Move Abroad podcast. I will catch you here again next week, same time, same place. I'll catch you then.