Our generation seems to be infested with the travel bug. You probably know at least a handful of people who are always seemingly on vacation. Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat are filled with pictures of exotic places and your friends experiencing the most amazing things. Older generations look down upon us and shake their heads because instead of purchasing a house or settling down, we are more likely to travel or put the money towards other non-materialistic experiences. While most of us have gone on at least one vacation that has taken us outside the country, I would say take it step further.

Pack your suitcase and move abroad. Many of us dream about this but only a few actually take this big leap of faith. You don’t necessarily need to move somewhere and live there for the rest of your life but the experience of living somewhere else will shape you and enrich you in more ways than you ever thought possible. Whether you want to be able to stroll along the Seine and polish up your French or you want to reconnect with nature by moving to Laos, there are a million and one reasons why this is something you should definitely do.

It can be really overwhelming to not only make the decision to get up and leave but also to start your new life. Everything you thought you knew about yourself or the way things work up until this point, will most likely not apply to this new chapter in your life. While especially the beginning will have you question why you ever thought this was a good idea, you are more homesick than you have fingers to count on and the new environment you find yourself in is more than questionable in certain aspects, you will realize that after time you are adapting and changing.

The challenges you face by starting all over somewhere new and foreign will give you a better understanding of yourself. You will be thrown into situations that you need to figure out without any support. A new language might factor into that even in combination with a new place of work. You will have to find new friends and create your social life all over. Even small things like how do I get to the nearest grocery store, or how do I make a doctor's appointment might be a challenge.

Everyone who has ever lived abroad will tell you that it simply takes time. That might not seem like the greatest advice but it is by far the best one. After six months of living in a new country, you will have created a new routine for yourself and can barely remember the struggles in the beginning. You will have overcome all the difficulties and you will have changed in the process of it as well.

You will learn how far you can push yourself and what you are truly capable of. You will create memories you could have never imagined even in your wildest dreams. You will have expanded your horizon, met incredible people, tasted the most amazing food and you will have stories to tell your grandchildren one day.

You only have this one life and if you really want to live it, there's no better way to do it then by moving abroad.