Individuals who live and work outside their home country often face unique challenges that can impact their mental health. 

Some common issues that expatriates may frequently experience include:

1. Culture shock: It means the experience of feeling disoriented and overwhelmed by a new cultural environment. 
2. Loneliness and isolation: Expatriates may struggle with those feelings, especially if they live in a foreign country without a strong support network. It could help individuals build connections and find support systems in their new environment.
3. Adapting to new work environments: Expatriates may face challenges in adapting to new work environments, such as differences in work culture or language barriers.
4. Family and relationship issues: Moving to a new country can strain family relationships and marriages. 
5. Stress and anxiety: May be experienced when adjusting to a new country and culture, and one tends to focus excessively on the uncertainty instead of the novelty and surprise day by day.

Suppose you find yourself in one of those situations. In that case, the first step is to become aware of the consequences you are experiencing and if it is directly related to one of those causes. Accepting how challenging living in a new country is, becomes another significant step toward overcoming the current difficulties. Individuals can receive support from many sources to seek guidance to help them overcome the challenges of living and working in a new country and build a fulfilling life in their new environment. For example, many groups on social media aim to support and share experiences with people in the described situations so that you can contact others in the same circumstances. Generally, organizations from each community encourage people from the same background to meet and feel at home. Given the case, you are struggling with difficulties preventing you from seeking help or contacting others. In that case, asking for professional service from your GP or a psychologist is always recommended.

–Patience: You cannot rush from one state to another. Learning the new codes, laws, and opportunities takes time, and it is ok if you are living a different life right now. Everything will come up.

–Courage: It is your chance to try things you have never done before. Feeling nervous, shy or uncertain when facing new scenarios and interacting with new people is expected. Avoid being negatively self-critical.

–Curiosity: Asking and collecting information about how the labour market works, how to get advantages of social benefits, how people make the most out of the city, which are the best options to spend your spare time, and so on, will help you to be connected and possibly relate with people of the same interests.

–Self-compassion: There will always be times when things don´t go as expected. Do not punish yourself or the world. Take the experience as an opportunity to learn, review what went wrong, and how you could have acted differently.

–Traveler mindset: Remember you went out of your comfort zone. You already count on plenty of virtues and skills that helped to change your reality as it used to be toward new challenges and adventure.

I hope you find it useful. If there is anything you would like to talk about or exchange, you are welcome to contact me. Best,

Guido Cataldo