1. Write down why you are making this huge life change. Why the commitment to leave? Make sure your doing it for the right reasons. A bad breakup, even though a valid reason to want to put an ocean between you, may leave you with more unresolved issues that you just take with you abroad and that might ruin a lot of your experience. Don't make any massive life changes after an emotionally traumatic event.
2. Tell the people you love the most first and ask them to support you in your adventure despite there initial reactions. Not everyone will be happy your leaving, especially your family. Because lets face it whether you are Daddy's little girl or Mamas best friend, your parents don't want you out of site and in any danger. Your family probably loves you and wants to keep you safe. They cant do that when you are abroad.
3. Tell your friends last and try and include them in your adventure if you can. For example I held a garage sale for a lot of my personal belongings before I left and encouraged friends to join in to make a few dollars and had a social week planning and prepping with them. It gets them excited that you care enough to include them in your decisions. It also helps ease the transition of the conversations they want to have with you like. ARE YOU NUTS and BUT ILL MISS YOU YOUR MY BEST FRIEND!
4. Get ready for the haters. No matter how much someone loves you, they have there own desires and interests and feelings. When you tell someone you are dropping your life to live out a massive dream of yours Jealousy and Envy tend to rear there ugly heads like you have never seen before. I have watched peoples parents articulate there disdain in there son or daughter leaving simply because they wish they were doing it instead. Its hard to garner support from people that are unhappy with there own lives but don't have the strength to change there situations. For many as they get older, it will seem like it is too late.
5. Omg your travelling to where? You must be so rich! News flash. I am the poorest white girl you know. I worked two jobs 60 hours a week and still had an enormous amount of student loan and car loan debt that I am still paying off while I am abroad. I made the choice not to sell my car because to me this is an extended vacation, an adventure to gain experience, meet amazing people and culture myself. Not to give up my life entirely. So whilst I remain abroad, I pay those loans no matter what. If I need to skip 2 meals a day to afford that student loan payment. I will because that's my real life and when I get back home. Ill need that credit to own a home one day and so will you!
All of these things in mind. You have a lot of soul searching to do. Not just because you've decided to take the leap but because of all the decisions that lie ahead now that you have committed. You've done the research, you've slaved over your job or school for years and now its time to do something for you. Something to enrich you life and bring you forward as a cultured adult making it on your own.
Props, not a lot of people I know had the courage or support to do it and it is a huge undertaking when those things are not in place for you. But just know no matter where you go and what you do. All the better for you. Because money doesn't replace life experiences and memories that you take with you forever. YOLO my friends YOLO.
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