 Hey, welcome back to the channel. I'm excited that you're here. Hey, I was just having lunch and thinking about some things and I had all of these thoughts that I thought this would make a good video. So you're not going to want to miss the video today. We are going to talk about how moving abroad changes and solidifies your values. And so we're going to talk about some of the ones that I will not change anymore, that I have solidified certain things that I believe in that I will always do. Or at least I think I will until other things change my mind. And so you're not going to want to miss it today. If you haven't subscribed, please subscribe. I've just noticed recently that so many people watch my videos every week, but don't subscribe. And I think it's probably because some people don't always understand what that means. And so it's just, it doesn't cost anything. You're not committing to anything. If you subscribe, you just get like notifications of my when my new videos are out or when I go live or something like that. So if that's of interest to you, subscribe, but you're not going to want to miss this video. Here we go. Are you moving or traveling to New Zealand? Well, I have a resource for you that is going to be so helpful. I know that journey. I have done it firsthand. I've even done it twice. I understand what you're going through. It's so exciting, but so daunting at the same time. You have so many questions and have no idea exactly what to do about different situations, especially if you've never even been to this country. And so this resource is something that I have created is called the New Zealand training hub. And what it includes is video training on how to set up life here, understanding the culture, understanding how things work here. And so it gives you like that head start. So if you're a planner or someone that like kind of, there's enough new things that it would be nice to just understand how to do things in a new country. So if you are that person, this training hub is for you. Not only does it do all of those videos, but it has a community built in. So when you join the training hub, you get access to the community of people on the same journey as you. These people could be like your best friends, and they probably will because all of us have made a friend when we first moved here that we're kind of going through the same thing. And that's who we learned everything from, but they also didn't have someone like me helping them out with some video training. And in addition to that, you will have access to me every month. I'll do a live Q&A just to answer any questions that might not get answered in the training hub. You can also request additional trainings. There's really no reason to not check this out. So why does it make sense for an American to be talking about what life is like in New Zealand? Well, let me tell you why, because a New Zealander knows no different. And so it needs to be someone who has come into the culture and saying, oh, this is different. Now, I don't know everything. I only know my own experience, but I am a really good resource to say, hey, this is how they do this here. This is probably not how they do this in your country, or maybe it's different. And so you really need that outside person that knows the differences. So if you're moving or traveling to New Zealand, this training hub is for you. Check it out. So values, beliefs, things that you kind of put into practice saying, hey, this is who I am. This is what's important to me. They change. They change because when you move abroad, you realize a couple things. You realize number one, what your values are. So it isn't until your values butt up against somebody that thinks something differently or has a different way of doing something that you realize, hey, I want to do it this way. Why are you doing it this way? Or I've always said it this way and I didn't realize that there's another way of doing it. And so it isn't until then. So it's kind of like when you like first get married and you know, you both have two different like teeth brushing processes and you're like, why do you, you know, and you're like, you didn't realize that you valued it. You didn't realize that you were doing things a certain way until somebody else is doing it differently. And so this is why I believe like at least spending a year, really two years at least abroad helps you solidify a couple of things. It helps you understand who you are. It helps you kind of come at bat and what you've kind of grown up with, what you really believe. And then you have the opportunity to choose what it is that you're going to value and how you're going to move ahead in the future. And you don't really get that until you've moved out of what you've always known into something that's totally different. Now I moved to New Zealand from America and it's not that different. Like arguably like me going to Japan or other countries would speak completely different languages that just have really drastically different cultures, you know, would have been, you know, a lot bigger change. And so, and I realized that and I am interested in doing that someday. But with the ages of my kids, when I moved and there's lots of reasons why we chose what we did, but interesting to note, when I first moved to New Zealand, it was kind of like, yeah, this is like the same, but just a little bit different. But in reality, after living here for seven years, it's quite different that I, and I just did not realize that. And it isn't until you get kind of ingrained into a society and culture that you realize how many of your values are different. The way that you think about something, the way that you feel about something, the way that you perceive something of value is actually very different. And so today I thought I would go through some of these values and beliefs that I have decided as somebody, as I've grown, you get older, you get wiser, you have more experiences, but also living abroad. Like what specifically have I decided to say, Hey, I am going to pick up these values that they have here, because they're important to me now. Also, some values that you solidify that you've had from your culture or from growing up, that you're like, you know what, I've seen other ways of doing it. This is who I am. This is what I think is important. And this is how I think I should live my life. Number one, number one thing that I would say of value that I will not change, even if I go back and live in the US, and it's true when we did go back. So we, if you don't know, we lived in New Zealand for two years, we went back to the States for two years and now we've been here for five years. So seven years in New Zealand, I will never have less than a month of holiday a year. I will not go back to the workaholic lifestyle of Americans. The I get two weeks off, but really afraid to ask and really you're not allowed to have it kind of attitude. I won't do that. I won't do that again. And in fact, when we moved back after being here two years, we actually made that rule for ourselves and said, when my husband went to look for a job, he was like, I'm not accepting less than three weeks. And he just negotiated that from the beginning and just, you know, at the very least, like we've learned the importance of rest, the importance of things outside of work, the importance of being able to do the things that you want to do and explore the things that you want to do when you're at an age that you can. And so that number one, we will continue to take at least a month, if not more a year. And number two, number two, I will no longer make a decisions about my life and what I'm going to do or give advice to my children or whatever that are based in fear. Now, I don't think that people realize how much of the decisions and the way that people live in America is a lot based on fear. Fear is a really strong selling point in general for people. And I didn't realize until I stepped out of it how much of the things that I was doing and the decisions I was made was based on fear. It's kind of how a lot of things are set up. You know, if you kind of don't do XYZ, you won't get this, you know, healthcare, you're afraid to not have insurance because whatever. So you stay at a dead end job for like 20 years and you come into a different culture and a different way of looking at things and you realize, oh, I don't need to be afraid of these things. Now, there's a lot of things in the U.S. to be afraid of, but like they don't even like traveling. Like there's this when like you are deciding to go travel, you get the whole, okay, did you hear about the girl that got kidnapped? Did you hit, you know, this is constant fear around the unknown? I'm not sure where that comes from. Come below if you have some thoughts on that. But like the fear, the reasons for doing things out of fear are not okay. And you realize when you actually do something that maybe be scary or that, you know, you think, you know, then you know, then you know, you don't have to be afraid. So you need to try those things. You need to go out and do the hard things and you need to not live in fear and make decisions around fear. Number three, if I move back to the U.S., I will get health insurance because you need it for emergencies, but I will most likely not ever use it. Now, let me explain. I can speak to this because when I lived in New Zealand for two years, I moved back to the U.S. for two years and I had insurance through work, you know, like normal insurance, like, you know, covered the basics and normal co-pays and whatever. But what I noticed was that doctors don't want to deal with insurance companies and living abroad showed me that the idea of really kind of solidify the idea of like paying for services, like people are happy for you to pay for the service at the price that makes sense, that the market value is. And so what I did is I'd actually had quite a few health-related issues that I didn't normally have. Every doctor, every dentist, any pediatrician, anything with my kids, everything. I said, I have insurance. Here's my card because you kind of have to have that. I'd prefer not to use it. I'd prefer to just pay you directly and every single one of them didn't even hesitate. They're like, yes. And they all had their rights. They already knew what they would charge and they're always reasonable. $50 for this, $100 for this. If it was a specialist, yes. I'm happy to pay that. And they loved it because they get paid immediately. They don't know what happens in the U.S. is they have to build the insurance and they have to charge extra to make sure that they get enough money back to cover the... It's a whole thing. And then they get the rent, the co-pay from you. It's a whole thing. I don't know, like, I don't remember the whole way it goes about it. But the point is this, is that I didn't use it and I just said, hey, how about if I just pay you directly? Even when I had a procedure, how about I paid it directly? And it was all reasonable. And living in New Zealand, I was able to see what was reasonable. It gets very confusing in the U.S. because of the insurance, you don't know what a reasonable price is because it's so out of control. So yeah, if I move back to the U.S., I will get insurance, but I will probably not use it. Number four. Number four, I will definitely, for the rest of my life, look at time and money differently. 100%. When you're living in a different culture that is expensive, New Zealand's expensive, I'm not gonna sugarcoat it, it's expensive. But because it's not a consumerism society, you're forced to decide what it is that you're gonna spend your money on. And because of that, you solidify in your mind what you really value, what you really, what you really want, what you really need. And so that's helpful because I will always look at money differently because of that. And so it's good. Like when you travel, when you don't live in fear, when you see opportunities that you didn't see before, when you see all of the potential that's out there, you realize how little time we have here. And we realize that we need to spend the time now, like this whole concept of like, let's save all our money and everything that we want to do till we're 65, of which we may not be able to even do it at that age. What? Like the time is now. If you're thinking about making a move or doing something that you've been dreaming of doing, do it now. If there's anything we've learned from COVID is that you have no idea the world could explode tomorrow. You could hit a pandemic and then all of your options aren't gone. Do it now. This is the lesson. You do it now. And don't worry about the money. You'll never have enough money. Saving for what? Saving. Saving. The world is different now. The job market is different now. Being successful is not like physically having to go to work anymore. Half the time you can work from home. Could you do that till you're 75? Sure. You know, like just think about things differently. Think about the reason why you are doing something and making sure that it lines up with what you value and that you're not doing it out of fear. Self-awareness is key, guys. Be honest with yourself. Number five. Now, this is a value and maybe a skill that I developed as an American and something that I have come up against differently in different situations here in New Zealand. But it's the value of work ethic. I think that the work ethic in the U.S. is really strong. They overwork. They've gone too far with it. But the work ethic, the drive, the, yeah, just the vision and the passion for what they can do. I love that about Americans. And I see it sometimes in New Zealand. It's not like it doesn't exist. But that is a value that I had from growing up in the U.S., the how to work, how to create, how to, you know, just be confident in something and, yeah, that I'm keeping, that I can solidify that I have now, as you can see with how I've kind of changed my life. I've moved out of, I've quit my job and I'm working for myself, starting and running new companies and figuring it out. And what's nice about New Zealand is it gives you a very safe environment for doing that, the way that businesses are supported is much better here. And so it's a really great place to do that. But I notice that I get a lot of comments from my friends here like, oh, you know, I'm surprised that you're doing that or that, you know, and that's risky or, you know, it's very expensive to live here. I mean, all fair points, all fair points to be like, maybe I, you know, you know, but it's just this like, you know how to work hard and make it happen. Like, you know how to make it happen. And that I think I got to thank my American upbringing for. And last but not least, number six, I will always encourage friends and family to go and live and move abroad. I know I touched on this beginning, so I won't keep rehashing this, but you need to step out of the world that you know, you don't realize how much like living in with your, by your family and by the same, you know, your same town that you grew up in is affecting you and you haven't had a chance to be you and discover you and to figure out what is important to you. And so you kind of need to step out of that and spend some time away from the noise and just being very honest with yourself about who it is that I want to be. What is it that I value? Is there a different way of thinking about things? And I think that, you know, maybe it's just moving to a different city. Like, I don't know. You just sometimes just a change of environment will do you so good. And I will forever recommend that to my family, my friends, my children. You just, you discover a lot about yourself that you can't if you're just in the same place with very little change. So I hope you enjoyed this video. Comment below your thoughts on what some of the things I had to say and probably some things that I missed and some of the values that you've that you've developed or changed over time. I love to hear it. See you next week.