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Each city, each country teaches us a different way of life. There are some positive and some negative and some cultural lessons. Living the city one will absorb the good and the bad. What helps is that when you move you leave behind the negatives and take the positives along.

I have had the opportunity to live in 3 countries in the last 5 years, with very diverse cultures. Here I share with you my learning from each of them.

The status quo for me was India, the only country I had lived in for almost 3 decades of my life. Although I had lived in different cities across the county and each had its own nuisances but it is not as different as moving to a completely new county. 

I was exposed to different “facets” of independence as I travelled. Living in Mumbai in India, I considered myself as an independent person I was confident about traveling alone around the city and taking care of most aspects of my daily life. But this definition of independence changed when we moved to the United States. What I had not realized how much we were dependent on our domestic helper who did all the cooking, laundry and cleaning around the house. This is not very common in the western world. Although it was overwhelming at the beginning it was also an opportunity for me to learn cooking and explore cooking dishes that seemed almost impossible to cook which was again an eye opener. Once we become comfortable with the western lifestyle, we slowly found ourselves being a lot more materialistic and being engulfed by the discounts. We had packages delivered everyday with things we probably didn’t even need. While we were still enjoying our online shopping experience it was time to head back east again. This time the destination was Hong Kong.

The biggest shock we got here was the limited amount of space that is there in the apartments is just hard to imagine. This is when every tiny package seemed to be effort to accommodate in the apartment. The limited space forces you to shift from consumerism to minimalism. But, owning limited stuff leads to different peace of mind. We have been shopping less but its been difficult to let go of the things we already own. Hoping we will get to the optimum level soon.  While space is a limited the people in Asia are a lot more flexible. Compared to the west where everything is process oriented which makes it hard to be flexible. Each has its pros and cons and takes a bit of time to appreciate it. Having worked in both environments I try to strike a balance that works best for me and my profession.

We all have our individual experiences, whether good or bad its always worth it. Opens up our mind and broadens our thinking. Keep traveling, keep exploring !!!