Like me, I’m sure you see those stories on TV and online all the time. You know the kind on House Hunters International or on a perfectly pretty Pinterest pin about an expat with a limitless budget and perfectly free schedule, living their best life abroad in the city of their dreams.

While I’d love to say that my story unfolded exactly this way, regrettably, I don’t think that many expats experience this version of life abroad.

In my case, living abroad has been a pipe dream since my first trip to Paris back in 2015. This trip changed my life and helped me to see the world in a massively different way. I use the term “pipe dream” though, because let’s be real, not that many Americans live abroad. Obviously, 2015 is a little while ago, but you know the drill, life tends to get in the way of making big changes like this. In that time, I finished graduate school, started working, changed jobs a number of times, found a church community, traveled, was in and out of relationships and spent far too much time living in San Francisco, a place where I simply never felt at home. 

Fast forward to the end of 2019, when one of those relationships imploded and then to the start of 2020, when the world simply stopped. The aftermath of both events forced me to take a long look at what I’d been prioritizing, and the truth of it was, I hadn’t been prioritizing myself across the past few years very well.  This is why, in the start of 2020, in one of the darkest periods of my life, I made a goal and a promise to myself that this time I would finally do it. I’d move abroad permanently. I’d do something beautiful for myself. I’d take that massive and incredibly scary leap of starting over in a foreign place and I’d find a way to do it before I turned 29 in September of 2021. For much of 2020, I focused my attention on researching how to get to France or Spain, places I’d been and truly loved. The result of this research was a dizzying pile of resources leading me to either be sketchy, hopping around from country to country every few months in a state of non-permanence, to start my own successful company, or to go from the comfortable income level that I was used to, to teaching English and living paycheck to paycheck. None of these were ideal.

Taking a quick pause on my story, one of the reasons I’m hoping this article will be meaningful to you is due to the fact that I am not a student. I am an adult, living an adult life as a single woman in my late 20’s, trying to make a massive life change, while still having a career. From my extensive research, we are a rare breed. If you’re in the same place in your life, you’re not alone and moving abroad in a way that is both stable and continues to progress your life forward is absolutely possible, it just takes patience and persistence AND I’d love to hear from you if you’re going through this journey right now!

Now, back to my story. In December 2020 after months and months of research, I set a meeting with both HR and my manager to discuss the potential of eventually moving abroad within the company. Transferring offices, moving to a new team, whatever it takes. (For your reference, my company has over 18 offices across the globe, and has previously, allowed for a small number of transfers between the US office and offices in other parts of the world.) This meeting was incredibly defeating. I felt unsupported and thoroughly dismissed as I was attempting to simply learn more about the opportunities available. Unfortunately, I also received zero clarity about the pathways available to me for this kind of growth. With my hopes a bit dashed, I resumed watching house hunters international, saving money and continued to plan for quitting my job and moving abroad to teach English by my fall 2021 deadline. 

Fast forward to May 2021, when I off-the-cuff organized a meeting with a woman in my department, at my company, who is originally from Chicago, but now works in the UK office. I can safely say, that this meeting changed my life. In our conversation, she promptly mentioned that she was hiring, a role was available and I should apply quickly if interested. A note for my readers that typically with these internal transfers, you need a role to be available in your department and you need to apply and interview as any outside hire would. Nobody is going to give you the opportunity like this, without a good fight. 

4 weeks and 4 interviews later, not to mention too many nerves and far too much stress while continuing to support my own multi-million dollar book of clients at work, I got the zoom call that altered my life. I was going to London. Not to be a transient, constantly moving around Expat living below the poverty line, but instead to join the UK team and continue to build my career. This date, was June 17, 2021. 

On September 15th, 2021, 4 days prior to my 29th birthday, I arrived in London. I’m here for 5 years minimally, with the option to extend and I have the ability to build a full and rather permanent life in another country. A country that just so happens to makeup more than 50% of my ancestry. 

At the time of writing this article, I’ve been here for just over a month, and I still keep expecting somebody to kick me out. London, though not my initial first choice, is a complete capstone of my own resilience, patience, persistence and a reminder that we can all make drastic changes in our own lives for the better. Though it may seem more impossible than possible, there is a way for you to get here too. I hope reading this has inspired you to try just one more time for the object of your desire, whether it’s moving abroad, starting that company or even something as simple as changing one of the basic pillars of your life that consistently brings you down, I encourage you, just one more intentional step could be the key that unlocks everything. Take that leap.