* Today's article was submitted by Julz (Julia Vitality) - we met last year in an online networking event & have since developed a budding friendship. Her article today speaks about finding your home, where ever that is. My brother's friend, and a few of our friends, have relocated to either Mexico or Vietnam and have found their home there. We relocated further into BC Canada and found our home there. Where ever your home is, make it yours, make it beautiful !
Julz is a very professional, organized, proactive personal growth advocate & a brand visibility / social media exposure mentor, serving conscious entrepreneurs.
Julia has a free gift for our readers ! She invites you to:
"Grab your Free Visibility cheat sheet http://PRJulz.com & check out my show http://PositiveImpact.TV."
Finding a New Home Country By Accident
When I reflect on the effect of being raised in a communist society, I’m divided. I did have a happy childhood, carefree and innocent, without worries of war, elections, or where the next paycheque is coming from. Mind you, that is from a very limited perspective of a child who was sheltered from reality and adult concerns. I gained a different perspective on life in the Soviet Union a few years after my family moved to Canada, and after I started asking questions and digging.
It appears that things were not as rosy as we were made to believe as kids. I learnt that my father was boxed into his scientific role without any prospect of promotion, and that my mother had no career potentials despite a PhD in chemistry. When the USSR fell apart and all their savings collapsed to a value of a quarter (25 cents), they were grasping for ways to provide a better future to their children, and themselves in a way. When they heard that Canada was a socialist country, they started making moves quietly, only announcing the final decision to us, the kids, when it was a done deal.
Uprooting us from our seemingly carefree life, they plucked us out of Ukraine and dumped us into Canada, swim or die. I still recall the huge language shock and the embarrassment of not being able to get off at my bus stop because I had no clue to press on the back doors’ handles for them to actually open. My discomfort served me well though. I did everything in my power to learn the language. I enrolled in a school meant for high-school dropouts who went back to school to get their diploma. I took grade 10, 11, and 12 English. I went through extreme embarrassment in my classes where everyone was a native speaker, but it was the best decision I ever made. It taught me that the best way to learn is just outside of your comfort zone, and when there’s no Plan B.
Fast forward 20+ years later, I did it again, this time out of my own will. I never really felt at home in Canada. I was itching to go to a place where I could utilize the concept of “geo-arbitrage”, and the pandemic presented the perfect opportunity to do so.
Well, it didn’t come overnight. I was studying investing principles, and geo-arbitrage was just one of them. It really appealed to me, and I started researching countries that could offer me that opportunity. When the real estate market in Canada was at its peak, I decided to take advantage of it, sell the house and make the jump. It took some time figuring out where I wanted to move, and I knew central or south America had a better chance than other countries due to being in the same general time zone with Toronto, and the perceived ease of learning Spanish versus, for example, an Asian language. Long story short, Mexico topped the list, although my heart was not really set on it. I thought, if I didn’t like it, I could always come back or try another place.
Fast forward 2 years, and I feel more at home in Mayan Riviera than I ever felt in 20 years in Canada. I don’t speak Spanish fluently, but enough to get by. I get a lot of encouragement to learn the language and a lot of validation from the locals for knowing as little as I do. With this level of English I would be undergoing constant embarrassment in Canada, a ‘mullti-cultural’ nation. But in reality, Mexicans are a lot more accepting of my limited Spanish, an obvious accent, and quite frequent use of Google Translate. They are happy I’m making an effort. They gave me a temporary residence status just for the fact that I love their country, the food, the music, and the culture. Of course, no place is perfect, and I could go on about Mexico’s flaws, and what can be improved. However, overall, I think it made me a better person in so many ways. Let me give you a few examples.
Everyone knows that latin cultures have little respect for time. I experienced it often, and to various degrees. At first full of frustration and a sense of entitlement, I was taught a valuable lesson about the gift of time. Now, if someone cancels an appointment last-minute, or simply doesn’t show up, I view it as a gift of time. I get to use this time for something else, something next on my to-do list. What a blessing! The rest will work itself out. The plumber will arrive eventually. The internet guy will come 3 hours later, but so what? Life goes on. You get an extra opportunity to be grateful for life, for living in paradise, for being surrounded by genuine loving and simple people, and for an opportunity to dip your feet into turquoise water and white sand if you take a few extra minutes of your busy day to allow yourself that opportunity.
Another lesson I had to take to heart, which may be hard for some germaphobes to swallow, was that street food is by far the most delicious. Yes, it could be put together by the hands with questionable cleanliness, and the open air setting may invite a few extra insects to the feast, but what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. And honestly, in the 2 years here, I have only gotten a serious food poisoning 2-3 times after eating at ‘fine-dining’ air conditioned establishments that pride themselves in food quality. So, live like a local, eat like a local…
Many associate Cancun to all-inclusive hotels and 5-star dining. Well, that’s just 2% of Cancun. The rest of the city with a population of almost 2-million is working class immigrants, yes, immigrants from all over Mexico, Latin America and the rest of the world. Cancun is only 40-50 years old with the majority of the population coming here from major cities in Mexico to escape the fast pace of life. They are attracted to the ‘big village’ style of living, yet civilized enough to serve all their needs for comfort and safety.
I could go on forever talking about valuable personal lessons moving to Mexico has taught me, but let me mention a few business benefits also. The slow pace of life is really conducive to the nomadic entrepreneur lifestyle. You have all the luxuries of life minutes away, yet, life itself is fundamentally so much more simple. When you see the landscape maintenance crew, for example, having great conversations and enjoying each other’s company despite blistering heat and long hours, you wonder, what makes these people so happy and content deep inside.
When I see a family celebrating their matriarch’s 90’s birthday and putting a slide show of her life for the family, mariachi’s singing till 1 AM, and tequila flowing freely for all the neighbours - it makes me think about the things in life that are truly valuable.
When I see women vendors on the beach with a newborn baby, and 2 years later, the same little girl is helping her mom sell woven trinkets with joy, coming up to tourists and locals alike, I am amazed how they keep going and wonder what their life at home like, and how can they find joy in such a menial task.
For me, Mexico is full of life lessons and deep truths. It’s a land of opportunity where real estate and business ownership is encouraged. It’s a land of deep-seeded family traditions are alongside emerging gay rights and blatant womanizing. It’s a place to be real, to fit in, to stand out, to pave my own way, to figure out what I stand for, to live on $1 a day, or on a million. It’s so diverse, rigid, yet allowing for differences, it really is an incredible place to discover who I am, what I stand for and what I will do to chase my dreams. Because, for me, in Mexico - it's all possible.
Thank you, Julz, for an excellent article about finding your home, no matter where that might be. :)
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