What is the importance of living abroad?
Updated: Nov 1
Author: Ahmet Deniz Yilmaz
Date of Publication: 13/12/2022
Every year, 1.4 billion people go abroad for different reasons. Some people travel around the world for business purposes, and others study abroad or simply have a holiday. An increasing number of people who go abroad however, don’t return to their countries. So, what are the reasons someone might decide to stay abroad?
Some advantages of living abroad
You will realize that you can be alone for a long time. During this time, you will probably notice your own potential and capabilities.
You will leave materialism aside and give more importance to memories and experiences.
Seeing and tasting new things will increase your creativity and broaden your mind.
You will be friends with people who have nothing to do with you in terms of personality and you will learn a lot from them. In fact, you will accept that something different can also be interesting, and you will start exerting less criticism on others.
You will be able to adapt to new conditions faster and more easily.
Your perspectives will change and you might become a completely different person.
Living abroad will change you and your mindset, often for the better.
The importance of living abroad for your career
Your stay abroad not only helps you gain additional experience but also helps you when applying to international companies. What’s more, it allows you to have less prejudice towards the people you will work with. This will make you more comfortable in adapting and seeing differences.
Another plus of living abroad is that, meeting people from different countries can help you gain new insights into current issues or challenges you are facing - at work as in real life. This is because, given their backgrounds, everyone will likely have a different perspective or opinion on how to solve things.
One last advantage of living abroad for your career is that it may help you gather information and do research. Hence, experiences abroad may be particularly helpful for people who are in or are considering an academic research or journalism career.
The importance of living abroad for your health
A separate parenthesis on the importance of living abroad is our health. This includes things like learning a new language and developing the skills necessary for adaptability. In fact, it has been found that language learning increases our brains’ flexibility and strengthens our memory. As our brains are being more and more trained to remember and apply new information, our minds stay healthy. This could eventually prevent premature aging.
According to scientific results, language learning stops dementia or Alzheimer's disease for at least four years. What’s more, it develops the brain's brows and keeps them healthy and functioning. Also, any foreign language you learn makes you hear better. In other words, knowing more than one language gives you more advanced listening skills. This is because our brains work harder to distinguish between different types of sounds in two or more languages.
One last positive aspect of being abroad and knowing an additional language is that it will be faster for you to switch from one job or task to another. This is because your cognitive flexibility will be enhanced and you will be more able to adapt to unexpected situations.
The importance of living abroad is therefore undeniable. It sounds exciting to go or study abroad and make new friends from different cultures. But the skills and abilities that you learn while living abroad are even more beneficial. In fact, you will realize the importance of these newly acquired skills only once you return to your own country, and wonder how you were able to live without them before.
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Reference List:
Global Tourism Hits Record Highs - But Who Goes Where On Holiday?
50 Reasons Why Everyone Should Live Abroad At Least Once
10 Visible Benefits of Going Abroad for You and Your Career