Embarking on a journey to a new city, state, or even a foreign land is a thrilling yet daunting experience. In this episode, you'll learn how to navigate the initial adjustment challenges to fostering a sense of belonging. Today, I'll be sharing three tips on how I personally overcame this challenge.
Let this be your compass for embracing change. Whether it's the practical aspects of setting up a new life or the emotional resilience required, you will be guided through creating your own transformative journey.
Tune in to gain practical insights that will not only help ease the transition but also empower you to thrive in your new environment.
Embarking on a journey to a new city, state, or even a foreign land is a thrilling yet daunting experience. In this episode, you'll learn how to navigate the initial adjustment challenges to fostering a sense of belonging. Today, I'll be sharing three tips on how I personally overcame this challenge.
Let this be your compass for embracing change. Whether it's the practical aspects of setting up a new life or the emotional resilience required, you will be guided through creating your own transformative journey.
Tune in to gain practical insights that will not only help ease the transition but also empower you to thrive in your new environment.
Welcome to self love and sweat the podcast, the place where you'll get inspired to live your life unapologetically, embrace your perfect imperfections, break down barriers and do what sets your soul on fire. I'm your host, Lunden Souza. Hey, have you grabbed your free self love and sweat monthly calendar? Yet this calendar is so amazing. It comes right in your inbox every single month to help you have a little nugget of wisdom, a sweaty workout, a mindset activity, just a little something, something to help keep you focused and motivated and keep that momentum towards your goals. So every day, when you get this calendar, you'll see a link that you can click that will lead to a podcast episode or a workout or something that will be very powerful and quick to read. And then you'll also see, on the top left corner of every single day, there's a little check box in the calendar and what that is is that's for your one thing. You can choose one thing every month, or it can be the same, something that you want to implement and make this something that you can easily implement, like daily meditation or getting a certain amount of steps or water, for example, and staying hydrated and even taking your supplements. This can be something if you want to get more regular doing a particular habit and routine, you can choose what that checkbox means. So if you want your self love and sweat free monthly calendar delivered right to your inbox every month on the first of the month, go to lifelikelunden. com/ calendar, fill out the form really quickly and you will have your calendar in your inbox within a few short minutes. That's lifelikelunden. com/ calendar. Go get yours for free and enjoy this episode.
Lunden Souza:
Hey, hey, welcome back to the podcast Happy today. Today we're going to talk about moving, moving somewhere new. I recently moved states and at one point I was living abroad, in Austria. So I've lived in different countries before and I just want to talk a little bit about moving somewhere else and ways to integrate even better, ways to deal with some of the feelings and just like the change that comes up. So maybe you're thinking about moving somewhere new, maybe you already have, maybe it was a choice or maybe it was because you, your job or, yeah, some other reason that you kind of had to, no matter, you know kind of what your curiosity is or what your situation is regarding moving somewhere new. I think this episode will be really helpful when it comes to change and, yeah, I just I really think about a lot of the times that I've moved somewhere new.
Lunden Souza:
I grew up in a small town in the central valley of California. When I was 17, I moved to Southern California to go to school at Long Beach State and then from there I moved abroad to Austria and then I moved back to California. I've done podcast episodes on a lot of those transitions, so I'll link them in the show notes. And now recently I moved from California to Utah and it's been such a lovely experience. It's such a great way to get to know yourself a little bit more.
Lunden Souza:
That change of environment can be exciting and it could also be, yeah, just new and different. And sometimes we can feel a little bit of discomfort in the different or just feel different when things are different, right. And so in this episode I just want to share a little bit more about my experience and also some yeah, just tips, some things that, like some of what I share today or what I will share today, people shared with me, right, like when I was moving and in transition, a lot. I spoke with other people who had been in a similar experience, and some of the advice that they gave me was really helpful for me as well. And so, yeah, whether, like I said, whether you're thinking about moving or you just have, even if it's a different city or a different state or a different country, I think that there's a lot that we can learn about ourselves when we switch our environment, and so that's kind of what I want to share today. So I just have some points that I wrote down that I thought would be valuable to share.
Lunden Souza:
The first one is really about getting clear and seeking clarity on where you want to move and what that kind of looks like. And for me, I had this feeling. I was like, okay, I'm craving a little bit of change, I want to be somewhere different. I want to be somewhere that I can be out in nature and I can just kind of explore the world a little bit in a new way. And so if you're thinking about moving, let's say this has nothing to do with a job relocation or something that would, let's say, like force you to move, but you're thinking, hmm, I want something different, I want a different environment. I remember I was thinking about this and kind of writing down where I wanted to be in terms of location, what I wanted to experience. But I was on a call with my coach that I meet with every Monday. I have a coach as well, my life coach and I was just like, yeah, I'm craving something new.
Lunden Souza:
I had just I had moved back to California from Austria in 2020 during the pandemic, and now it had been three years later 2023, when I was like, hmm, I don't know if I just came back to California, because that's where my family is and that's where I was before, but I think I want to be somewhere new and maybe you're feeling that too. You're just kind of craving that change, wanting to explore a different spot. And so I was getting you know. I was kind of like, okay, I want to be somewhere where I can hike, I, this is kind of what I want my place to look like, and just some of those details. And my coach was like, okay, well, let's dig deeper, like, what are you smelling in the morning? What are you feeling underneath your feet? What's you know, what do you see when you open up your eyes in the morning? And he really helped me dig a little bit deeper on some of those sensory experiences that I would want to experience.
Lunden Souza:
And I think sometimes we can get really attached to an outcome, Like maybe you're like, okay, I want to move to Los Angeles or I want to move to Australia, and it has to be those locations, and that's fine if you decide on a particular location. But for me it was really about more like self exploration, knowing I wanted to be somewhere new, but I hadn't really landed on a place specifically. And so it was funny because I was like, okay, I want to be somewhere where I can hike, be out in nature. And then, as he was, my coach was asking me more of you know, like probing, a little bit, more of like, okay, well, what do you really want to experience? What are you smelling, what are you seeing? And so I got, you know, I dove a little bit deeper and I was like, okay, I want to smell fresh air, I want to smell dirt. When I'm out, you know, hiking, I want that smell of coffee.
Lunden Souza:
In my place, where I'm living, I want to have my feet in water and I want there to be rocks underneath my feet and I want the water to be cold. You know, I want to see mountains, I want to feel with my hands trees and rocks, and I kind of want to be, like you know, in nature with all of my limbs, if that makes sense. I had these visions of me hiking but needing to use my hands a little bit to like crawl up, and I just got really really clear on that sensory experience. And so it was funny because I had thought about other locations too and I had almost decided on being in Arizona because I was like, okay, I like warm, I like there to be sun on my skin. That was another thing that I had written down as like I want there to be sunshine on my skin.
Lunden Souza:
And so I was thinking about going to Arizona, to Scottsdale, and I talked with a friend of mine who lives there, and I so appreciate her honesty because what she said to me she was like Lunden, I feel like it was summer when I decided to move, so at the time of recording this it's the end of August. So I was kind of looking around and she was like, if you choose Arizona, this is going to be like the worst time, because it's so hot during the summer we have these like sand storms and it gets really hot. You're not going to be able to enjoy a lot of those experiences during these months. If anything, you would like you know the other months of the year. So I totally appreciated that honesty and I was like, okay, you know I'm not going to be attached to that location, let me just get a little bit more clear on where I want to be, start to feel in some of these feelings and when I had that list of sensory experiences, I would meditate on it, close my eyes, imagine what it would feel like to be in the place that I knew was right for me. And after a few Google searches and things like that, utah kept coming up. And it was so cool because After I was kind of like starting to settle on Utah, I was like, okay, yeah, this is great.
Lunden Souza:
I realized two of my close friends from my childhood actually live there and live really close. So it was kind of just a confirmation of like, oh yeah, that was a good choice. Now would I need other people to be there in order for it to feel congruent for me? Probably not. I've moved other places before where I didn't know anyone or whatever, but it just was like that little inkling that that was right, and so that's kind of the first point I want to share is like, if you have that feeling that you want to move, that you want to change your environment, get really clear on what that feels like in all of your senses, right. What are you seeing? What are you hearing, what are you smelling, what are you tasting, what are you feeling, kind of all those experiences? Another thing I had wrote down on my list was like I want to hear the wind kind of whistling through the trees and I want to hear birds, right. So it was very clear for me I wanted to be somewhere where nature was easily accessible. I didn't want to be in a city, I didn't want to be somewhere where there was a lot of yeah, just kind of a lot of hustle and bustle. I wanted that to be a different sensory experience for me, and so I think that's really valuable. Sometimes we think, oh, I want to move to this location or it has to look like this or it has to be that way, and so if that's the case and you're kind of choosing where you want to go next, get really clear on those sensory experiences. Now, let's say you're moving because your job is switching right, or maybe your partner's job is switching and so you're moving with them.
Lunden Souza:
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Lunden Souza:
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Lunden Souza:
Even if that location is not necessarily your choice, maybe you're excited about it. Maybe you're not. Get really clear on those sensory experiences as well. In the best case scenario, in this location, what are you seeing, what are you hearing, what are you smelling, what are you tasting? What are you feeling? In that best case scenario, because you don't want to go into that space, like not wanting to be there, right, it's nice to really get acclimated to some of those feelings that you want to feel ahead of the experience, and I think sometimes we can get caught up on, like, just things outside of us. And I think when we tune into that inner world of like, okay, what do I want to see, what do I want to smell, what do I want to taste. What do I want to hear, what do I really want? To embody an experience in this new location and start to feel that a little bit. That's really heart opening, I feel, and it just kind of allows you to shine even more where you are and it allows you to receive even more the beauty in that particular location. And it's been really cool because I'll go on these hikes here in Utah and anytime I see a stream that I can like put my feet in and have my feet in that cold water with the rocks underneath it. It's really a confirmation of a lot of those sensory experiences that I said I wanted before I actually had them, and so I think it's really cool to get that clarity and know what it feels like ahead of the experience.
Lunden Souza:
The next thing I want to talk about is, once you move somewhere new, it is a little bit of an adjustment, right, and especially, like I remember, when I moved abroad to Austria, that was a major adjustment because it was like a different country, really far away from my family, a whole different language, right, it's a little bit different moving state to state, I think, just for me in particular, because, yeah, now I'm much closer if I want to go visit my family. People in California and Utah speak English, so it's not that much of a change in terms of some of those like necessity things. But at the same time, it's different and somebody told me this before I moved to Austria, and I think about this a lot and I want to share it with you too is, they said don't trust how you feel for a year. Maybe you love it and you think you want to stay there forever. Maybe you hate it, and after two months you're like, oh my gosh, I want to go back or whatever.
Lunden Souza:
Give it a year, give it all four seasons, so that you can really immerse yourself into your new world, into your new space. And I remember when I moved to Austria, it really was at about that one year mark that I really started to feel at home, that I started to feel like I had all the resources necessary, that I had my routine and flow. That felt good. And so even now here that I'm in Utah, I really love it, I'm super excited to be here. But I keep telling myself OK, Lunden, give it a year, start to really pay attention to what's going on throughout all different seasons.
Lunden Souza:
There was, of course, snow in Austria and there's also snow in Utah, and so I'm kind of gearing up my mindset for the winter, because I'm such a person that loves to be out in the sun, I love warm climates and all the things, but I'm kind of like I think that there's enough amazingness in Utah that can kind of balance out maybe some of those colder months in winter. I'm also kind of reminding myself oh, there's a lot of activities you can still do in winter. There's some snow activities that I could learn. I've tried to ski in snowboard before when I lived in Austria. I'm not sure if that's something I'm going to try again while I'm here, let's see. But just in general, there's a lot of gifts to unpack throughout different seasons, a lot of things to explore.
Lunden Souza:
And so, yeah, trusting or not trusting how you feel for about a year or just like, I don't want to say not trusting yourself, right, but giving yourself that time to really decide hey, is this for me, is this not for me? And maybe at the end of the year you decide OK, this isn't for me, I'm going to move whatever. And if you're in a position where it's like, ok, I didn't choose to move here, but I'm going to be open to being here for a year, ok, and I'm going to be open to what that might look like, and maybe after a year you don't actually get to leave. Maybe it's your job, maybe it's something where it's a little bit more of a sense of permanence. So if that's you, just don't buy in too much to how you feel in the beginning.
Lunden Souza:
I remember when I first moved to Austria and even when I first moved here to Utah, I just felt emotional, right. I was like you know I'm a crier. I'll just admit it, I process a lot through tears. Sometimes I just feel like, oh, I just need to get it out, I need to cry, I need to feel, and I remember a lot of those experiences when I moved to Austria and also when I moved here. In fact, one of my friends from my hometown that lives here in Utah as well, she said to me oh gosh, the person that I picked up from the airport when you moved here is night and day different to the person that you are now, because at first I was a little bit nervous. I was just had gone through a lot of things in my personal life and I just was ready to come here and kind of land a little bit and be in nature and kind of explore a little bit, and so it's really nice to have friends like that that will remind you of that. Hey, when you got here it was hard, I could tell, I could see it in your eyes, I could see it in how you show up, and now it's very different. You must be feeling even better. So, even if it feels a little bit challenging when you move somewhere in the beginning, give it a year and really lean into that time frame. I felt like that was really good advice that I got from somebody when I was moving to Austria and that's something I definitely brought with me when I moved to Utah. So that's kind of.
Lunden Souza:
The second point is just give it a year, really get clear about where you want to be, your sensory experiences and your best possible scenario, and then give it a year. Give yourself time to adjust and time to lean into this new experience and try not to judge it too much until it's been a year and kind of check in with yourself after it's been a year. I've only been here in Utah for like less than two months and I'm already like super excited to be here. I'm like I want to stay here forever. I want to get a house here in this neighborhood where I'm living, and at the same time I want to make sure that I am being, I want to say, realistic in terms of giving myself that time to really decide, and so I just kind of keep myself in check that way where I'm kind of like give it a year, Lunden, give it a year.
Lunden Souza:
The next point is get connected with others. I say that from deep personal experience because I'm really introverted and if I really really allowed my autopilot to take over, I would just hang out alone all the time. I would just hang out by myself, talk to myself, stay by myself, do everything by myself. But I know that that's not why we're here. I know that humans are wired for connection and that we can allow our gifts to blossom even more our own and then by interacting with others, like there's an, there's a energetic component to my interaction with other people, right, just like their interaction with me and what we're able to bring out in one another. And so going out and getting connected with others is so important, and for me I'm not going out to like bars and clubs because, like, that's not what I like to do. I don't want to go out and engage with people that are not living a lifestyle that like I want to be living personally. Right, nothing wrong with it, it's just like that's not my vibe.
Lunden Souza:
I like people who like to meditate, who like to work out and things like that, and so, for me, what I did initially is I went and joined a gym. It's called Hot Works. I love it. It's like an infrared sauna workout. I really have gotten to know the employees and the people that work there. I've gone to some of their events. They'll have like little events inside of their locations where other people will come and we can connect and meet. And it's nice because when I go in there, I'm having conversations with other people who like to work out, who like to sweat, who like to take care of their health and well-being, and like those are my kind of people, you know. And then I think it's also, you know, for me personally. I work online, I work from home.
Lunden Souza:
But what I did when I lived in California, when I moved back from Austria, and what I did here when I moved to Utah, is I got a part-time job. So when I was living in California, I got a part-time job working as a physical therapist assistant. This allowed me to utilize skills I already had from fitness and movement and things like that, but learn it in a new way. Right, I had a very clear understanding of fitness in terms of our physical fitness and the way to tone and shape different muscles and things like that to look a certain way. But when I was working at the physical therapist I learned rehabilitation exercise. I learned you know the power of a lunge when you're rebuilding your knee after knee replacement surgery, for something like that. So it was really cool to keep learning and to get myself in an environment where I was like leaving my house, going somewhere a few days a week, learning something new, developing new skills and utilizing kind of my previous experience, but also getting a completely new experience, which I thought was so fun and so wonderful. I really enjoyed that.
Lunden Souza:
And now here in Utah I got a part-time job working at a facility where we work with students that on their brain function, on their right and left hemisphere brain function, and getting the right and left hemisphere of the brain strengthened and also collaborating with one another. And so that's been really awesome because, in my work as a life coach and NLP practitioner, I'm learning about the brain a lot. I'm learning about ways that our brain can actually change and grow and develop new skills, strengthen new skills, and so this is a great opportunity for me to utilize what I already know and gain even more experience. On top of that, I'm surrounding myself with wonderful people who are doing that too, and so I just really know that about myself. I'm more of a recluse. I'm friendly, of course, and I love to share, but sometimes I realize, oh, it's been a few weeks since I've engaged with somebody or talked with someone on the phone or went and did something with friends, and if I didn't catch myself, I probably my autopilot would just be like Lunden Solo Souza, just on my own doing my thing. But it's been really awesome to show up a few days a week at this new part time job here in Utah. I have wonderful colleagues and just wonderful people that that work there, that are just excited about you know, helping these students, and I'm learning so much, which has been so beautiful.
Lunden Souza:
So get connected when you move somewhere new. Get connected with others right. Get connected with others that are doing things that you want to be doing or interested in. What you are interested in or are going to help teach you and take you to different levels, right? I think that's something that is powerful is that connection? And maybe you're like me, maybe you're like not a giant people person, or you are, but you like to have that time to decompress and recharge your batteries alone, and that's okay, right. But I think getting connected with others is so powerful and so profound when you're, you know, moving somewhere new and when you're trying to get to know new people, and it's a little bit uncomfortable for me. It really is, I'll just be honest To put myself out there to just say yes to social things, and sometimes I say no. Sometimes it's important to be like, okay, no, I'm actually at my band with let's connect next week or whatever, and so getting connected with others who are doing things that you want to be doing, who are doing things that you like to do, that are fostering health and well-being, both mindset and your internal well-being, also your physical well-being and it's cool because you meet a lot of people that maybe you wouldn't have met otherwise when you start to connect and put yourself out there, and so, yeah, those are three points that have really helped me.
Lunden Souza:
The first one, like I said, getting clear on the sensory experience and why you're choosing a particular location and just marinating in that. And if it's your choice, then marinating in that a lot. So when you make your choice, it's an alignment. And let's say it wasn't your choice, it just happened because of a job or whatever. Okay, that's fine, but in your best possible world, no limits. What is that sensory experience that you want to call in? What are the? You know, what are you seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting? And get an alignment with that before you get there, before the experience, right, so that way you can remind yourself that feeling that you want to feel when you're in this new location.
Lunden Souza:
The second one give it a year. Really, give it all the seasons, if you can. Maybe you're moving somewhere for you know a temporary amount of time three to six months, whatever. Okay, that's cool. But if this is something you're considering to be like your new home or your new permanence or whatever, give it a year. Allow yourself to process, allow yourself to go through all the feels, allow yourself to feel, you know, a little uncomfortable, a little bit unsure, maybe a little bit insecure. Allow yourself to lean in a little bit more throughout that year. It's really cool to see, to look back, especially like I think about when I lived in Austria and I looked back at when I first moved there. Compared to a year later, it's just like a world of difference. So just give yourself time.
Lunden Souza:
And then the third one is get connected. Like I said, get connected with others. Make sure that you're putting yourself in environments with others that are fostering health and well-being and being in love with life. Those are the types of people that I like to be around, ones that are looking to up level their own lives, the ones that are looking to make an impact in other people's lives, who have their eyes open for opportunity to give, to serve. Those are the types of people that I like to be around too, and it's really cool because you get to know different types of personalities, people from different walks of life, age group, all those things.
Lunden Souza:
So if you just recently moved or you're considering moving or, yeah, just kind of in your mind, you're craving a change, I really feel like those are three power points that will help you on your journey to finding your new home, but also finding home within you too. It's one thing to change our environment, but it's also helpful when we're able to kind of adjust our internal environment and do different things that can elicit that congruence and being like, okay, I feel good where I'm at, with myself here, and when I look out and open my eyes into this world of my new home. I like that too. So good luck if you're moving or if you're thinking about it, and if you want to continue the conversation about moving and other experiences like that, whether it's abroad or to a different state, I'm always happy to chat and share some of those challenging experiences or advice or whatever. You can always shoot me a DM on Instagram.
Lunden Souza:
I'm @lifelikelunden and, yeah, thank you for being here on this episode and we'll see you at the next one. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Self Love and Sweat the podcast. Hey, do me a favor Wherever you're listening to this podcast, give us a review. This really helps a lot and share this with a friend. I'm only one person and with your help, we can really spread the message of self love and sweat and change more lives all around the world. I'm Lunden Souza, reminding you that you deserve a life full of passion, presence and purpose, fueled by self love and sweat. This podcast is a hit spot Austria production.
