Flo Oberhofer

I am a village kid, so when I grew up I always wanted to get out of my village and explore cities and the whole wide world. Now well into my 30s this attitude turned 360°. While I live in a relatively small city now (for Indian circumstances), I love being out in the rural. During my 7 years in India I had the pleasure to spend a lot of time in rural areas working with individuals, organisations that are settled at the grassroot level. The place I stay in now is in the outskirts of the Himalaya's and some of the villages here are as remote as it gets. Exploring these villages, helped me understand the local culture, build friendships and also kept my curiosity awake. All in all it helped me connect to the "bigger picture" we all live in.

Almost all countries out there have rich histories of self-care and healing. Digging deeper into this history and the available practices not only helps you connect better to to country you have chosen to work in but also helps you cope better with the everyday challenges you go through in your second home. Be it some massage therapies, specific meditation and awareness practices, musical activities, spiritual rituals or just connecting and recharging in nature at places of power. I live in India and the real spiritual, yoga, meditation, ayurvedic practices are nothing like they are being taught by the majority of western influencers and trainers. Only by digging deeper and by listening I could understand what they are really all about.

It is extremely challenging to build yourself a "home away from home". On paper the place may be yours but the challenge is to really make it feel like home. I have been struggling with this for many years. Its challenging knowing that you will only stay in this place for a limited period of time before business will ship you off to a new location. You don't even know whether it is going to be in 6 months or 5 years. I often do not have the time to set up a whole house again. What helped me is building some small corners that just feel comfortable and homely. Decorate them with things from home, ensure you have good calming lighting - ideally the place should let you see outside in the far. Build yourself a homely corner away from home.

Living abroad sometimes can and will be testing. If have been living in India, and even after 7 years it sometimes still is challenging. But on the other hand, if you are aware and present, you can turn this uncomfortable feeling, this frustration, this irritation, this tension, this discontent, this disappointment into something special. The daily challenges and obstacles that you face while living abroad can provide you with some of the biggest opportunities for personal growth you will ever encounter. Often you are barely forced outside your comfort zone in your home culture. Take the opportunity that you get while living abroad to get to know yourself like you could never imagine before. I would have a whole book to fill.

Specifically when you live in a place which neither has a physical community you could stay in touch with or easy access to "home comfort food", you may start to feel lonely even though you have a nice community in the country in work in. I think its crucial that you tell the people around you how you feel, it helps share the burden. And everyone who has traveled for extended periods of time will understand your situation and empathize. If you share and talk about it you can avoid that your initial "home sickness" will turn into frustration or repulsion towards the country you live in. If you do not talk about it, you may get into a situation where even smallest issues will pose significant displeasure. Try to not get to that point!