February 2021 Archives

It’s Always the Right Time to Pursue Your Dream

“I feel like I have to rub stardust out of my eyes every day I wake up.” So says Lynn Roulo, who left a steady job as an accountant in San Francisco to start a life as a yoga instructor in Athens, Greece. You can bet she had some doubts along the way, but as the writer, Goethe, put it: “Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid.”

Starting a new life overseas—on the one hand, it comes with an element of the unknown. No matter how much research you might do in advance, you’re taking, at some level, a leap of faith. But I hope you’ll take a good measure of comfort from the fact that expats invariably say: I wish I’d done it sooner.

Take Kanell Lamont and Shannon Baker, both retired veterans who’ve reinvented themselves in Cuenca, Ecuador with their two adorable daughters.

I met them on the steps of Cuenca’s magnificent cathedral and we talked at a terrace café set in the courtyard that adjoins its heavy stone walls. Their energy was infectious, and their enthusiasm for the lifestyle and opportunity that is there for the taking in this sunny, comfortable, sophisticated city was sincere and inspiring.

It would be easy to dismiss Kanell and Shannon as naturally adventurous types, but the truth is, all kinds of people from all kinds of backgrounds find joy and satisfaction in creating new, more fulfilled lives overseas.

In this issue of International Living, you’ll find plenty of examples of plucky individuals and couples who clearly found a way to get past any fears they may have had, and grasped the life they once only dreamed of.

For IL Spain Correspondent Marsha Scarbrough, a single woman who moved to Madrid at the age of 70, life overseas is an absolute wonder. Her social calendar is packed, she’s surrounded by friends, and she’s somewhat puzzled when people tell her that they admire her courage for making the move. For Marsha, the rewards of her life in Spain far outweigh any trepidation she may have had, and the two chivalrous caballeros she’s befriended are just the icing on the cake.

The message here? Embrace the adventure. The rewards of a new life overseas are far too great to be squandered.