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- 12 Tips to Avoid Expat Burnout in Latin America
In my experience, people I have met who travel down here for the first time tend to love it or hate it after experiencing expat burnout in Latin America
When I first visited Colombia while studying abroad, I loved every second of it
And it was like that for perhaps the first year or two
In which most expats tend to have a “honeymoon” phase with the country they are living in
Although most of them will notice the bad qualities of the country they are living in…
For some reason, they just don’t seem to care about those qualities at first or seem to not pay much attention to them
However, that ends eventually…
As it did for me and everyone else I know who has traveled to spend significant time in Latin America
And one thing that tends to send expats back to their home country to live there instead of here is usually they experience expat burnout in Latin America and don’t want to spend any more time here
Some of the stuff that might cause expat burnout in Latin America include….
The inefficiency of just about anything here
Living in a completely new culture where some cultural differences just don’t make sense to you
Being discriminated against in special cases for being a foreigner
The contamination and pollution that exists more commonly here
Language difficulties
And those are just a few of the things that might irritate you while living down here
And having been burned out quite a few times while living down here, I have had my own thoughts about moving back to the US
However, when I consider how much nicer my life is here than in the US
And how much interest I have in Latin America and Colombia specifically
I just never move back because I love my life here despite occasionally feeling expat burnout in Latin America
So how can you do that?
If you wish to spend significant time anywhere in Latin America, you are going to need to know how to reduce the impact that expat burnout in Latin America has on you
And here are some of my tips….
Tip 1: Take Occasional Time Off
It’s important that you leave the country you are living in to go elsewhere from time to time
That could mean the occasional trip to go on vacation to a completely new country for a few weeks
However, I always use this trip to go back home
It’s important to remember where you came from and to not forget your roots
And for me, this means visiting family and friends again
Which is always nice by itself
However, you will also be in your home country again in your own culture with your own native language
Where everything is familiar
That is always a breath of fresh air that helps me relax change up my life for a bit
I’d recommend about a month of living back in your home country once every 6 months
Tip 2: Make Friends with Other Foreigners
While living in Latin America, you are going to miss hanging out with people who are like you
Who come from the same country and culture and speak your native language
For that reason…
I’d recommend trying to find other foreigners who are from your home country to be friends with
People who understand what you are talking about and can relate to
This makes living down here much easier
The only warning I would have to this is to not only hang out with other foreigners
Living in Latin America, I’d encourage you to break out of your bubble also and make friends with locals also
Tip 3: Make Friends with Local People
Expanding what was just mentioned, you should also make friends with local people here also in Latin America.
Making friends in general can be nice for having people to just talk with and not feel so lonely
Which loneliness can be a big issue for some foreigners, especially people who travel so often from place to place
So having some friends can be nice for just having someone to drink a beer with and talk about whatever
And furthermore…
Some of these local people can also help explain why some things are the way they are
Which can help you understand and perhaps appreciate more some of the things that cause you a burn out here
The only other advice I would give on this matter is to not be overly critical when talking with a local person about their country
Because some of them will take it too personally and be offended
So just be a little careful…
With your words with some of them who are overly nationalistic or defensive of their country
But overall, it’s quite easy sometimes making friends in Colombia or Latin America more broadly as described in another article I wrote
And as described in this article, sometimes making friends can lead to meeting new Colombian girls to have fun with
Tip 4: Find Hobbies You Enjoy
This one is simple.
Just find something you enjoy that can take your time and thoughts away about some of the stuff that you don’t like about living down here
For example, I greatly enjoy playing the guitar, working out and hiking mountains or trails
Both of which are nice and make me happy
Which helps me forget about some of the negatives and avoids burnout to some degree
And hopefully your hobbies can involve self-improvement — such as working out — which I have described as being important in another article
Tip 5: Be Realistic and Fair in your Analysis of Life Here
You have to understand that not everything is going to be perfect
I have met folks who are overly critical about everything
Not just Latin America
The type of folks who you can give a million dollars to for free
And they would complain about how now they are stressed by the fact that they don’t know what to do with a million dollars
And they only see the negative
Try not to be like that and be realistic and fair in your analysis of some of the issues here
Nothing is going to be perfect….
Except maybe a nice bacon hamburger
That’s about as perfect as anything will ever be
Tip 6: Compare Your Situation to Alternatives
Always think about what your life would be like in other scenarios
This is absolutely critical for improving your life in general
You always want to evaluate what options you have in life and which ones would be best for you
And in evaluating your alternatives in life, you may come to the conclusion that living in Latin America is much better foryou than living back in your home country
Or perhaps you will conclude that the opposite is true
Whatever works best for you
But for me personally, doing this makes me realize how much nicer my life is here in Colombia than in the US
And that always makes me reach the logical conclusion that my problems here are not that important when life is good here
Tip 7: Appreciate What You Got
This goes well with the last point.
In evaluating your life here, you may realize that you get a lot of benefits for living in Latin America
In short, you should appreciate what you do have in life
And in doing so, it will help you remember the positive
As said before, sometimes people are overly negative about their life situation without putting any attention to the positives in their life
By focusing again on those positives, it will put everything into context and make you remember that life isn’t so bad here despite the negatives
Tip 8: Find Solutions to Your Problems
Instead of always complaining about your problems when living down here, try to identity the problems and come up with logical solutions.
In doing so, you can reduce the problems that you have living in Latin America and can enjoy life here better with a reduced likelihood of reaching burnout
For example…
I always hated how most people show up late to everything here
It always annoyed me
One solution I had to this problem was simply tell everyone to show up earlier than I actually wanted
So if I wanted to have a date with a chick at 4:30, I’d tell her 4:00 or 4:15 based on how late I’d think she would be
Problem solved.
Tip 9: Utilize the Internet
If you are experiencing burnout because of your lack of time in your own culture with the things you enjoy back home…
Utilize the internet.
Every once in a while I miss things that are back home
Like the music you would here up there
Granted…
I like some Latin music like Salsa but it’s not what I grew up with
And maybe movies as well
Plus talking with family and friends
The internet helps alleviate all of that in which you can enjoy some of the cultural things back home like music and movies
And you can talk with your family and friends over the internet as well
Helping you enjoy what you grew up with while away and reducing burnout from missing what is at home
Tip 10: Understand the Culture Better and Learn Spanish
In my experience, people are much more likely to be burned out when they don’t try to learn the local culture or learn Spanish.
Your life here will be much worse if you don’t learn some Spanish
So many missed opportunities
So many friends you can’t make
Among other things you will lose
So make sure to learn Spanish with some of the books available online or at least get a translator to help you out while down here
And understanding the culture better helps you understand why some things are the way they are
Tip 11: Self-Improvement
Always focus on self-improvement as mentioned elsewhere on this website
This is not just a tip for avoiding burnout in Latin America, this is a life tip in general
But by focusing on self improvement when it comes to money, success with dating, working out and more
It will make you feel better about yourself and more positive in life in general
Which helps you balance that positivity with the negativity of some of the problems of living in Latin America
Helping you reduce the burnout you may experience here
Tip 12: Reasons Beyond Girls and Cheap Living
Finally, you are going to want to have reasons for living here that are beyond “easy and sexy” women and the cheap cost of living down here
From what I noticed, the people who live down here just because of those reasons tend to always go back home eventually
So pick a Latin American country where you really enjoy their culture, history or something else
Something that really interests you
So you will have more reason to live down here
Because as I have written about in another important article, foreigners who live in Colombia only because of the women and cheap cost of living usually leave at some point
For me personally, I love the history of Colombia and also Colombian music in general
And that makes me appreciate life down here more as well
So make sure to get a good travel book to Colombia or perhaps a book that exposes you to some of the best Colombian literature
Final Thoughts
With these tips, hopefully you can live a nice life in Latin America and avoid burnout.
Hopefully this article was helpful and leave any comments below if you have questions or insight you want to provide yourself.
Thanks and take care
Hasta luego parceros,
Seth
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