ExpatYears:
How to Grow Into Your Best Self
While Living Abroad?

What to expect and why it matters
Our brains are perfectly equipped to remembering experiences and forming expectations based on past events. And then we are hard-wired to compare. We compare, label and categorize everything, our emotions get triggered based on these comparisons. Does it meet our expectations; is it better; is it worse?

Traveling and living abroad is something that teaches us to loosen our expectations, to look at them from a distance, not jumping straight into emotional reactions. But it doesn´t always happen automatically. You need to be mindful in order to learn, use and understand this skill, otherwise life abroad can be demanding.

This book is an introduction to traveling, moving and living abroad from the perspective of growth mindset. I want you to use your time abroad to the fullest and grow into the best version of yourself. You owe it to yourself and the world. You have been given the courage and the possibility to experience differences, other cultures, new points of view, novel environments and ways of doing things. It is a privilege. Let it mold you, don´t try to mold it. Use this privilege to your personal advantage - grow.

The book is based on a true story from my experience of moving and living the expatriate life in Brazil during 2012-2017. My inner search and attempt to determine the lessons that life abroad taught me and will continue to teach others. In my quest I draw on literature from fields such as traditional psychology, neuroscience, neuro linguistic programming (NLP), growth mindset, as well as yoga, law of attraction, new age spirituality and lives of inspirational and successful people.

There is no one theory of everything that could explain all of the human psyche. Life and the Universe is more complicated than that. Hence my attempt to draw ideas from different perspectives and principles. From perspectives that somehow connect with me. I fully understand that they might not reflect the world with total accuracy, but I also understand that each person has their own point of view and their own reality. There is no one reality. Your reality is largely based on your beliefs about the world. And guess what? It doesn´t matter if your beliefs are right or wrong, they influence you either way. They direct your life path. In the words of Henry Ford: “Whether you think you can, or you think you can't – you're right.

Stories - these are what move us. Others’ experiences are what inspire us when we need it. They soothe us when we feel alone and misunderstood. I´m opening up my life experience from living in Brazil, to serve as a reference, inspiration, soother, warning, learning point or however else it might connect with you. I´m showing and sharing the gorgeous city of Rio de Janeiro and my life with you through real life stories. It´s a travel book with a twist to popular science and self-help, with the aim to inspire you to travel, to move, to grow, to understand and use your brain to its fullest potential. Let´s move!

Every evening. Every god damn evening. When the sun starts to set, they appear. In downtown. Descending from the mountains. They want to escape from where the boxed brick houses don´t have windows. From where anguish and poverty surrounds all. From where human life costs less than a penny. And by the fall of darkness, they flood the streets of Rio de Janeiro. On every corner. Lurking for you.

Fears – those monsters, that stem from the stories we have heard and from the thoughts that swirl in our head, they ambush and limit our actions. Everywhere. Not only on the streets of the infamously criminal metropolis Rio de Janeiro. They clamp down on us also at home, while sitting on the couch. They stop us, make excuses, and drawing their efficiency from the countless millenniums of evolutionary development, keep us very effectively in our comfort zone. Since outside our comfort zone is where the danger lies. To our life. To our livelihood.
Even a thought of moving abroad causes great doubts, hesitations and fears in many. But we must walk that road in spite of fear. It will expand our world. We will come back stronger, more independent and more aware. Development only happens outside of our comfort zone. Life abroad is always a life outside of our comfort zone. Moreover, we can decide ourselves how far out we are prepared to wander. I suggest you to move fast and as far as your feet can carry. Because this is where the biggest victories await.

This book is about how to take the maximum out of our time as an expatriate. How to learn and blossom in new cultural settings. How to take advantage of unfamiliar environment to improve ourselves. It’s a book about my own experiences from moving, living and deciphering lessons during expatriation from North-Europe to Brazil. By incorporating traditional psychology, neuroscience and beliefs of successful people, I quest out to interpret everyday occurrences. You can take it as a travel book, or a bit more scientific approach to a travel book, or self-help book. Take it just the way, as it speaks to you. All I hope, is that this book will inspire you to travel, develop, think and overcome your fears.