Your Perfect Day-in-the-Life as an Expat Abroad

Introduction: Welcome to Badass Digital Nomads, where we're pushing the boundaries of remote work and travel, all while staying grounded with a little bit of old school philosophy, self-development, and business advice from our guests.  

Kristin Wilson, Host:    00:00:23    Hi everyone. Kristin from Traveling with Kristin here, and welcome to episode 141 of Badass Digital Nomads on how to design your ideal day in the life as an expat. Before we get started, though, I just wanted to thank you for all the kind comments and messages that I received regarding last week's episode about regret and seizing the day. I was really quite uncertain about publishing that podcast, and even my mom and my sister told me not to publish something about the topic of death, although they didn't listen to it before it went out, but we were talking about it over the holidays and um, you know, I was sharing with them about what happened, but I'm so glad that I did publish it in the end because so many of you have expressed to me that you've been struggling with something similar. And many of you also knew Teklordz.  

Kristin:    00:01:23    As I mentioned, he was one of my first YouTube subscribers, really before I even had a channel, back in November of 2017. And I don't even know how he found me. So, so many of you knew him through those live streams that we did over the years or through Patreon. And so hopefully he's on board with us, uh, talking about him and remembering him. I also wanted to thank Jeff Wright, who has been buying me coffees for the past few weeks. He's bought me 15 coffee so far to equal a couple bottles of wine. Love the creativity there, Jeff. And also thank you to my newest patrons from December and January, Francis and Dave M. we've officially published 141 ad free podcast episodes over the last two and a half years, sponsored by me and also funded by listener contributions. So I really appreciate it, and you can join us and donate to the pod at badassdigitalnomads.com/donate.  

Kristin:    00:02:30    Uh, what else happened this week? Oh, I did my first DJ livestream last week for Abracadabra on Twitch. Abracadabra is a really cool channel. It's basically a company, an events company which, uh, Blondish is behind. So Blondish is a very world-famous DJ. She is also a crypto and NFT advocate. They just did this big Abracadabra Music Festival in Tulum. And while that was going on, the next day I did a live stream for their Twitch channel. So that was so much fun. It was great to be live-streaming in a different context than usual. It was definitely a unique experience, and I saw a few patrons and YouTube subscribers there in the live chat. So thank you so much for being there because I was really nervous. I also saw Walt, who's also a DJ back in the day, and one of my first patrons, so it made me feel a lot more comfortable to see some familiar names in the live chat.  

Kristin:    00:03:40    And this week we also wrapped up the last Q&A call of my live 12-week coaching program on how to move to another country step-by-step. It's called Ready to Relocate, and it includes eight modules, so eight different sections on different topics with 48 lessons in there, nine video trainings, 10 recorded q and a calls, plus live calls with me, a personal relocation roadmap for your move, lots of extra PDFs, downloads, guides, templates, and a knowledge base with some of my personal contacts and resources from around the world that I've used for my one-on-one relocations over the past 10 or 11 years. Enrollment in ready to relocate will reopen in February. So if you're planning on moving to another country in the next year and you want access to my system and support from me on how to do it, apply for a free call at travelingwithkristin.com/apply - A P P L Y .  

Kristin:    00:04:51    And so to celebrate the first group of people graduating from ready to relocate, I thought it would be fun today to share with you one of my students' favorite lessons of the program on visualizing your ideal day and the life as an expat. This visualization will help you if you've never moved abroad, and you've just been curious about it of like what your life would be like, where you might want to move. And it will also help you if you've been living abroad for a long time, but you've struggled sometimes with where to go next or even what you're doing in the moment. I know a lot of long-term expats can relate to that kind of question and confusion over like, wait, what am I doing again out here? Like, where should I go next? Even if you've been, um, struggling to stick with a daily routine or you've ever had questions during your expat journey about like where you should go next and why, this will also be very useful to you.  

Kristin:    00:05:54    What you'll hear first is the audio from the video that goes with this lesson, followed by the visualization audio. So it's best to listen to this somewhere that you can sit down or lie down and just relax and close your eyes. So if you're driving or walking around somewhere that's really loud at the moment, you can still listen of course, but you might wanna listen again at home where it's quiet. And you can also watch the video that goes with this lesson and download the two pdfs at travelingwithkristin.com/expatlife that's travelingwithkristin.com/expatlife. Little freebie for you there. I developed this exercise four years ago when I was giving talks and workshops for the Nomad Cruise and the Nomad Summit on how to succeed in the digital nomad lifestyle and also how to sustain a long-term expat traveling lifestyle. So I've taken that, adapted it to my coaching program, and I hope you enjoy.  

Kristin:    00:07:06    Now that you have a clearer idea of why you want to move abroad, the next step is to envision what your daily life might look like once you relocate overseas. Everything you do in this first module is going to make it a lot easier when you actually choose your first destination in the next one. This step is so important because it's possibly the first chance in your entire life that anyone has ever asked you to design what your day-to-day life might look like. Once we get old enough to make sense of the world, there is basically this hierarchy that is there to tell you what to do and at what age to do it. You might go to school for the first 15 or 20 years and then choose a job, a respectable job that fits into a specific category. After that, you have a good 40 or 50 years ahead of you in the workforce.  

Kristin:    00:08:02    It is only after this that you are free to retire, if you're lucky enough to retire at all. And then and only then are you free to live the life you want. Luckily, you are here, and you have the freedom to choose a new path in life in a new country. So we're gonna start over with a clean slate and just envision what your perfect day would be like, your perfect leisure day and your perfect work day. Chances are there are a long list of places that you want to see in the world and things that you want to do. Some of them might have been dreams that you've had since childhood, some of them you might have heard about through other people. And while it's great to get inspiration from the world around you, from the people you know and people on YouTube, myself included, it's also good to reconnect with what you really want and give yourself some time and space for your subconscious to suggest a few ideas that you might not have thought of before. All you need to do is download the guided visualization for this module. Sit back, relax, and see where it takes you.  

Kristin:    00:09:16    Welcome to the ideal Days Visualization. You may sit or lie down and close your eyes. Just breathe for a moment. Come into this space. Let go of any worries or cares or tensions, and just give yourself these next few minutes for yourself and for your future. Envision yourself being completely light and free. Nowhere to go, nothing to do, no one to report to. Just starting over with a clean slate, leaving the past behind you and an open road ahead of you. Just let all your cares melt away. Come into this present moment. Just breathe. Imagine yourself waking up in a new country, your new home. It's Sunday morning. You have the whole day ahead of you. Nothing to do, not a care in the world, just a free day for you to do whatever you want.  

Kristin:    00:10:42    Now in your mind's eye, see yourself in bed. You open your eyes, get out of bed. What time is it? Where are you? What do you see in the room around you? Who are you with? If anyone? It's a new day. Think back to when you were a kid and it was the weekend you didn't have to go to school, you didn't yet know what work was, and you were just excited for the day, the whole day ahead of you. What do you want to do? What are you looking forward to today? What would you like to do or see?  

Kristin:    00:11:34    Think about what would be so fun and exciting for you to do today. Now, get up and go open the window. What do you see outside? What do you hear? Do you hear birds chirping? Do you hear the hustle and bustle of the city below you? Do you hear the wind and the trees? What is the temperature that you feel on your skin? Take a moment, look out and draw in the sight sounds and smells before you. Are you on the balcony of an apartment in a city? Are you opening the sliding door of your house on the beach? Are you pulling yourself through the opening of your cabin on a sailboat?  

Kristin:    00:12:44    Are you climbing down the stairs of your tree house? Are you unzipping a tent? Let the image come to you in your mind's eye. Now it's time to get ready for the day. What does your morning routine consist of? Maybe you need to take a shower, brush your teeth, eat breakfast. What's for breakfast? Are you cooking something at home? Are you walking to the bakery next door? Are you headed for your favorite coffee shop? What do you order? is it a bulletproof coffee, an espresso shot, a green smoothie, maybe a fresh squeezed orange juice or papaya juice? What are you in the mood for? Who else is there? Did you have an exchange with the cashier? What language are they speaking to you? Again, just take a moment and take in the scene around you. What do you see? What do you hear? What do you taste after you finish? It's time to go to the next place. Remember, you're in a foreign country and you have all the time in the world. What would you like to do today?

Kristin:    00:14:32    Are you going to go for a hike in the mountains? Do you feel like lounging around on the beach, maybe taking a walk, picking up some seashells, maybe a cooking class, maybe a walking tour, maybe a bike ride, maybe a visit to a museum? What type of museum? An art gallery, a history museum. What sounds good to you? Maybe you'd like to go for a stroll through the park. Perhaps sit on a bench. Do some people watching, go shopping in a mall, maybe a local market. You can do whatever you want today. There are no wrong answers. Are you on a boat? Are you on a mountain? Are you in a library? How are you spending your Sunday abroad now? It's starting to get a bit late. The sun will be setting soon. You're headed back home from the day's activities. How do you feel? Relaxed. Energized. Tired. Tired. In a good way, I hope.  

Kristin:    00:15:59    As you head back home, what does your house look like as you walk up, what are you thinking about for dinner? Would you like to cook something at home? Is there a new restaurant you wanna try? Do you feel like eating at a bar and perhaps mingling with some other people? What about some street food? Are there any night markets around? What kind of food do they sell? Tin shows, noodles, barbecue. What is on your dinner menu? Who or what do you see around you? Are you eating inside or outside? What do you see? What do you hear? Is there music? What kind do you hear? The sound of people talking?  

Kristin:    00:17:04    The sound of wind waves, the ocean seagulls. Just take a moment, look around, scan the menu with your eyes, not your phone. Are you in the mood for some pasta, fish, tacos, tappas. And then after dinner, what next? Is it time to go home or do you wanna go out? Do you want to go dancing out for a drink and then get a beer? Maybe a cup of tea or hot chocolate? Maybe there's a drum circle on the beach. Maybe it's time to just go back to home base and curl up with a good book or some Netflix.  

Kristin:    00:17:56    And then when you do go home, how do you get there? Do you walk? Ride a bike, hail a taxi or an Uber hop on the metro. Maybe a tuk tuk or a moped. Now you can open your eyes, pause this audio and just take five minutes to write down what you saw, what you did. You can download the worksheet to record your thoughts or record them in a journal. What did you see in your ideal day? What did you do? What did you feel? What surprised you about the images that came into your mind? What stood out?  

Kristin:    00:18:45    And now it's time to repeat the visualization process for your ideal workday if applicable. So you'll just repeat this process for Monday instead of Sunday. For example, it's Monday morning, you're living in a new country. What time do you wake up? What is your morning routine like? What do you do about breakfast? Where do you go to work? What does your workspace look like? What temperature is it outside? What view do you have from your desk? Are you working from home? Are you working from the balcony? Are you sitting at a cafe? Maybe you'd like to work from a coworking space. If so, how do you get there? Is it close enough to walk? Do you ride your bike or a scooter? Do you own a car? What is your coworking space like? Is it quiet? Is it collaborative? Do you know the people who are there? What time of day do you start working? Morning, afternoon. How many hours a day do you work? When do you take your break? What do you do on your break? Is anyone with you? What do you eat for lunch? What time do you finish working?  

Kristin:    00:20:17    And what do you do after work? What do you need in your workspace? Do you need peace and quiet? Do you need to hop on some zoom calls? Do you need something inspiring around you to help you be creative? Maybe do some writing, some brainstorming. Where would you like to work? What type of environment would be most conducive to the work that you do? And then after work, what are you feeling up for? Is there a happy hour you can join? Perhaps an event with other expats, maybe a mastermind meetup or a dinner party. Maybe just feel like going for a stroll around town. Maybe go out and take some pictures with your new camera. Maybe you wanna go for a swim in the ocean, maybe head down to watch the sunset.  

Kristin:    00:21:19    You are living your dream life. What do you do when you close your laptop for the day? You are free. You have all the time in the world, all the freedom in the world. You can work from anywhere. Where do you work? When do you work? What do you do before and after you work? Who are you with when you work, or are you alone? Do you need that silence to focus? When you finish this recording, write down your thoughts in your journal or in your day in the life capture sheet, and then you can move to the next lesson.

Thank you so much for spending some time with me today. I hope that this visualization was helpful for you and made you think. And remember, you can go to travelingwithkristin.com/expatlife to download the PDFs that go with this lesson, as well as to watch the video. You can also apply for a one-hour relocation strategy. Call with me at travelingwithkristin.com/apply. Thanks for tuning in today, and see you again next week.