By Zeinab Jaber
Yesterday a friend was asking me how I dealt with being an expat . She was crying for help and needed guidance as she moved recently to the UAE .. we had a good 2 hours phone call , and hence writing this here.. After 11 years of being an expat mom in the UAE.. I can say now that this surprisingly made me stronger . I cant believe I’m saying that now and ” loudly ” .
This life-changing experience where I abruptly found myself as a non-working expat mum after living in the luxury of family support and a convenient lifestyle was a big shock to me .
Being an newly expat mom was like for me
I was drowning in depression and was lost at the beginning, trying to convince myself that I’m exaggerating and that I’m mentally strong ! But the challenges kept on popping up..
Who thought I’d say that .. this positive opportunity allowed me to reinvent and discover myself , my talents, my passion and dreams !
How things got better with time
After 11 years , and lot of ups and downs , after all the shedded tears and despite the unavoidable struggles at the beginning to build my network and get comfortable in the new country, on the new soil with all the new faces .. I can say that i found myself , I learned lot of new things , followed a long awaited dream and made bunch of really good friends that I can call family .
So new expat moms I can hear you , I can feel you , and I promise it will get better soon and way faster than you think .
A Message from an expat mom to another
I know the struggle of the inadequate support you’re used to , the language barriers sometimes, the financial and future worries .. these are few of the many difficulties you might be facing. But everything will fall in the right place at the right time.
There is no doubt that it can be very stressful for new expats to always be positive .. But a positive attitude is the key to overcome all these . Take the right steps, be positive and enjoy .. and believe me this will end up as very fruitful journey.
