Saturday, 16 August 2014

Big girls don't cry

I have been contemplating whether to right this post for a while now. I thought that maybe, just maybe writing about this topic may help me deal with it, you know move on, find one of the many things in my life that I can rejoice about.

My most popular post is the top 5 things about living in Singapore, so why not do the opposite and write about the hardest things about living away from home and the ways I have been coping?!
This last month the whole ‘living in another country’ thing has really set in. I have found myself struggling with so many aspects of living in another country which to be completely honest, I thought I had been passed by now.

I think it is the friendship aspect which has been the hardest for me to deal with. I honestly have made the most wonderful  and kindest friends here in Singapore; it is such a HUGE blessing, but being in a country where I literally only know a handful of people and have only known them for six or so months, makes me feel pretty lonely sometimes. It’s hard because I just wish I had friends here like in Australia that I had known for years upon years. A close network of friends who just knew pretty much everything about me. This was something I really didn’t think would affect me when I moved here.

How I cope with this is still something I am working on. I suppose the easiest way to deal with it is to know that I will have the chance to visit people and to take each day at a time. I find that I am ALWAYS thinking ahead and how each of my actions will dictate my future. There is nothing wrong with this, but I just cannot let it consume me to the point that I forget about the moment; we all need to live in the PRESENT. I need to be embracing where my life is, and the new doors that have opened and ARE opening living away from my home country.

Something I also struggle with (which is both a positive and negative) is having friends of many different races besides my own. I love speaking and interacting with people from all these countries, but the only Australian people I know here, hilariously, are my family. I suppose it is only normal to miss being around people from your culture and what I am trying to say is not racist in any way! As I said, this is only starting to affect me recently as I see people around Uni including Singaporean groups, Vietnamese groups and often Russian groups of people who are surrounded by these familiarities that I have not yet been able to experience.

How I deal with this, is similar to what I said above, but I really enjoy reminding myself of the many benefits that come from having friends from other cultures. My mind has grown, my horizons have broadened, I have been awakened and I have met people and had discussions that I never would have been able to if I was living my usual, predictable life in Australia. I am living an absolute adventure and I need to value that. 

I started this blog in order to share my experiences, and this is something I am going through at the moment, something I assume is only natural.  There are of course other things I struggle with living here including how everywhere is so busy and the lack of open spaces, but I have realised there is so much more to life than this. As you can probably tell, my struggles in the big scheme of things really are only minor. This is something which I really do need to focus on. I have learnt that it is most important, that in order to move forward, you must embrace these unpredictable moments in life, as they are where the greatest lessons can be learnt.


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