No lie, moving overseas is an exhilarating yet emotionally challenging phase of life. Every expat goes through the phase of juggling with career and financial stability even while studying. This often makes them neglect their family and friends, which might bring distance in their relationship.
Regardless of the purpose for which one moves overseas, missing family and friends is the ultimate thing. If you’re also living abroad and struggling to maintain a healthy relationship with your family, don’t worry anymore!
To help you manage your family relationships as an expat, here are a number of things you can consider:
1. First, Prioritize Family Relationships
Living abroad is already transitional for you and your family. While you’re working on your new role overseas, your family will be handling the missing spot after you’ve left. Understandably, you cannot be available to them most of the time.
Still, you can try your best to prioritize your family relationships by managing your time. Be ready to be emotionally and financially available to your family to make more memories. This will increase your sense of belonging to your roots and improve your emotional connection.
2. Care for Your Elderly Parents
When it comes to managing your relationship as an expat, offering care to your elderly parents is another way to strengthen your bond. You can include your parents in your day-to-day life by creating a call schedule for them.
Ask them about their health updates on a regular basis to stay in touch. This way, you can offer emotional comfort to your elderly parents and keep track of their health as well.
3. Assist Them Financially
If you’re supporting your family financially, you need to ensure that you use the right and convenient way to transfer funds. Otherwise, it will be troublesome for your family. Some options can indeed be feasible for you but are also unavailable to your family.
For example, if you’re currently living in the USA and supporting your family in Canada, use a currency convertor tool such as Western Union, which offers real-time currency exchange rates for USD to CAD.
This way, your family will happily receive financial funds from you at the utmost convenience.
4. Incorporate Technology to Stay Connected
As technology evolves, the ways in which virtual connections are maintained transform. Now, not only can you be on a video call with your family back home, but you can also share screens to watch movies together.
You can explore the best applications available and assist your family to be onboard as well. This way, you can plan the best activities together and stay connected on a regular basis.
5. Nurture Your Bond
Living in a different time zone than your family is a real struggle. You have to keep checking their time and availability and yours to stay connected.
However, you can manage this successfully by scheduling some of the time that matches their availability. Try to mark special dates and events to celebrate occasions with your family and friends. This way, you can nurture your bond and strengthen your emotional connection.
