My 3 years in London (UK)

This month, we completed?3 years in London.

As?this paper?on Living Abroad says,

A fairly common reaction of expatriates is to undergo an initial phase of “culture shock” — the “anxiety that results from losing all of our familiar signs and symbols of social intercourse’’. It is plausible that if people never overcome this anxiety, living abroad would likely be an alienating and bewildering experience that prevents them from developing a clear sense of self and reaping the range of benefits that come with it.

We came 6 months before Covid hit the world. These last 3 years have been an eye opener.

I learned a lot in these years and figured I would publish this list. This is in no particular order:

• Trust can not be earned. It has to be given but can also easily be lost.
• You can unlearn something or teach yourself anything really fast as long you are ready to spend some time building a framework around it.
• Writing is Thinking. It is something which everyone should get better at, not to communicate, but to clarify their thoughts.
• The narrative more often than not is even more important than the product. Societies that prioritise teaching reading and storytelling to kids, will continue to win, as long as they continue to keep telling better stories.
• Learn how to sell, more importantly, how to sell your story.
• You will only get what you will ask.
• In western countries, wealthy people often eat fresher food and are more often healthy and less obese. In India, it is the other way around.
• Stop living in your head and stop ranting about the fact how great your country is. Even if it is, no one wants to hear that. There is a reason you are in a different country. Live in the present. Learn “how” of it from kids.
• It doesn’t matter which part of the world you are in. You can still do the same things, just in a different way.
• There is no better joy than reading a book to your kid at night.
• Have a hobby which has nothing to do with your job. Enjoy it as passionately as you do your job.
• People don’t do new mistakes. People make the same mistakes in a new way. Read political history and biographies and hopefully, you will prevent these mistakes.
• Prioritise your health over everything else. The second priority should be family and you already know it.
• Don’t go around looking for the right decisions. They are unicorns. Take a decision and work hard to make it right, while iteratively learning from your mistakes.
• Make Goals. Write them down. Discuss it with people who matter. Put a timeline to them. There is power in speaking and writing what you want to achieve. You will miss most of them. You will achieve few, the ones you most badly wanted. Repeat the cycle.
• Execution rigour & discipline will help you overcome most of the other challenges. Most others won’t have this.
• Call home often. Tell your parents you love them.
• Autumns and Winters are beautiful, no matter what anyone says.
• The days, in the beginning, are usually longer to overcome; the years later will go by and you won’t realise. Make each day count.

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Originally published at?ankurdinesh.medium.com