Moving to another country is a big, a very big decision! And you should approach it with your brain first and then with your feelings. Don’t do such a drastic change for the wrong reasons.
Bad reasons for moving to Portugal or any other countries are more common than you think.
Believe me I know! It is a known fact that a part of our decision process is influenced by other people and depending on what type of person you are, people have a greater or smaller influence on you, but for sure, they have some sort of influence.
And this is a major part of the reason why people say keep your plans private and don’t tell anyone about it until after the fact. So other people can’t spoil our mojo, thrive, confidence and short story short, to be sure that your decision is your own.
Of course this is much harder done than said. If you have family around you this will be impossible to achieve.
Let me give you some examples of bad motives for moving to another country (of course from my experience) that seemed perfectly fine at the time, and probably they even were very good reasons at the time. Because this is what happens:
You only see the biggest problem in front of you, the rest is a blur.
Running from something: family, ex or current love, work or even a toxic environment
This was for me 2 or 3 years ago the picture perfect reason to flee to a brand new foreign and exotic place like Portugal. But guess what: it’s not going to work 100% if you are not doing it right.
Yes, a certain degree of distance is going to help but only on the short term. Eventually family is going to invade your new found peace, ex or current love is not going to disappear from your thoughts just because, and the toxic environment you spend your last years in is going to leave enough of a mark to spoil your new found happiness.
So if I had to do it all over again, I would do it differently: I would set some boundaries, mend and deal with feelings and only after that leave to Portugal. Because to put to much strain and expectation on just one action (leaving) is going to prove to be disappointing and harmful in the long run. Eventually, you will realize that you have to deal with unresolved problems and I for one, would prefer to deal with it then than now. So don’t run. Walk slowly but surely towards something new after you made sure nothing from the past is going to spoil your experience.
Not feeling happy
Yes, whenever I don’t feel like myself, when life is loosing meaning, when food has no taste, I plan a new trip. There is no harm in a few days, or even a few weeks of roaming this wonderful planet. But anything more than that… you will discover that no matter where you go, no matter how much distraction you throw at your brain, it will always find a way to remind you that it has a problem.
So there is no way around the unhappiness, not on the long run. Deal with it, as soon as possible.
Portugal (or other place) seems like a paradise
Well, this is a indeed one of the bad reasons for moving to Portugal! Do you know that when you are bored or unhappy every little change seems like a paradise? Even the less fortunate situations, because well… it’s something else than more of the same. Your brain will take whatever you trough at it, as a “good thing” as long as it’s “something else“.
This is why this decision must be made with your brain. Because your feelings are important, but they change constantly.
Just a little example from my own life: as you know if you are watching my Youtube channel, my partner Flavius didn’t want to move to another place because he likes the life we have in our country. So no place we visited was good enough for him. Until we reached Portugal. And better said, the resort we are now, Vale do Lobo in Algarve. He said that he would move there. So I moved there. Even if for me for example a good fit was also UK (not London, more like a small city on the south coast, or even somewhere near Cardiff) or even better, Ireland. But Portugal seemed wonderful but frankly so those other places! But I moved here because I wanted more than anything to just move someplace else, not really mattered what the place would be.
So a number a places can be a paradise for you but in the same time, no place is a total 100% carefree paradise. No, not even Portugal. Even if in this moment it seems to you that way. Every place will have it’s problems and it will be advisable to choose a place with “familiar problems” or problems that you know for sure you can deal with.
In the end I leave you with an advice. More “words of wisdom” on my Instagram Account.
Whatever is good for your soul. Do that!