5 Expat Lessons I’ve Used to Cope During Lockdown.

It’s funny, but I’ve found that a lot of the lessons I learnt from being an expat have served me well in life. I first became an expat at the age of 16, in 2007, and since then I’ve bounced back-and-to between England and Australia…essentially becoming one of those ‘boomerang’ expats who constantly feels torn between two places. Coronavirus is such a unique scenario and situation, but I’ve found a lot of similarities between the lockdown and expat life, so thought I would share my views and how being an ex-expat has helped me to cope with the coronavirus lockdown here in the UK.

I’m used to not seeing loved ones for long periods of time

The first one is probably the most obvious, but as an expat you become used to not seeing loved ones for months or even years at a time. It’s something that naturally comes with expat life. All of my friends in London are struggling massively with not seeing each other, but this was literally my life for two years when I lived in Australia…only I had to wait almost a year to be reunited with them rather than a couple of months. Obviously it’s much easier as an expat because you can still see your new friends in your adopted country, but going months without seeing my friends and family has definitely still helped me loads during the lockdown because I’m just putting myself back into my expat mindset.

I’m already a regular and expert user of video calls

The day before I moved back to Australia for the second time, I forced my parents to download WhatsApp. At first they HATED it, but once I’d moved they quickly became avid users of it and now I can’t get them off it haha. My Dad has even showed my Grandma how to use it now! As an expat you get used to chatting to loved ones over video calls, and sharing birthdays and Mother’s Day etc through a screen, so for me it’s been a natural change to revert back to video calls. It just feels like I’m living in Australia again…just without the weather 😉

Being an expat means missing favourite restaurants

Part and parcel of being an expat is missing your favourite restaurants and foods from back home. Even now as a ‘repatriate’ I miss restaurants and foods from Australia! As an expat you literally can’t win – you’re either missing food from your home country or missing food from your ‘second’ country. So during the lockdown I’ve found it quite easy to be apart from my favourite restaurants and food because it’s just the same as being an expat…only I can at least order takeaway from the ones that are still open!

You’re used to ‘waiting’ months for your old normality

When you’re an expat you often go months or even years without going home and seeing your friends and family back home. You create a ‘new normal’ in your new city and new life, and spend months or years waiting to go back to your ‘old normal’ for a visit. I’ve found that my expat experience has actually helped me loads because I’m essentially used to missing out on my ‘old life’ and being patient and waiting to return to it. My past expat experiences have helped me to create a ‘new normal’ during the coronavirus lockdown that makes me happy and passes the time until I can go back to ‘old normal’ – small wins, little things that make me smile day-to-day, and embracing the new changes, lifestyle and lessons from the current normal etc.

Experiencing trauma while an expat has helped enormously

This is naturally something I always hoped would never have to come in useful, but actually, experiencing trauma while an expat and thousands of miles away from home has helped me a lot. As a 16-year-old expat my aunty died very suddenly from cancer and we weren’t able to fly home for the funeral, and then as a 26-year-old expat I suffered my second miscarriage 10,000 miles away from my family and the baby’s father who were back home in London. During and after the miscarriage I had to cope completely alone until my parents flew over six weeks later, but it made me incredibly resilient, taught me to be OK with myself, and taught me patience. If I can go through that all by myself, I can do anything.

It’s normal for a crisis to make you question your expat life

I know that a lot of expats are currently struggling with being ‘stuck’ in their adopted country and being so far from family. It’s traumatic events and crisis’s – whether a miscarriage, family death, or the coronavirus pandemic – that really put things into perspective and force you to analyse your life as an expat. I personally made the decision to move back to the UK after that second miscarriage because it made me realise how important it is to be close to family, and I know a lot of expats are going through the same thoughts because of coronavirus.

All I’ll say, is that it’s a very personal choice and you need to do whatever you feel is best for you. But I have absolutely no regrets about moving home, and although I miss Sydney and my life there, I know deep down that moving back to London was the right decision for me.