Moving to a new country can be both exciting and extremely stressful at the same time. Couples are bound to encounter problems abroad that may test the mettle of their relationship. A major life change such as relocating to a new country may include stressors such as:

  • Culture shock: encountering a whole new language, and a whole new way of getting the most mundane things done. Nothing is familiar, the learning curve is high. Frustration abounds when you figure out you don’t even know how to buy groceries, pay your bills or find a mechanic.
  • Separation from your familiar support system: Extended family, friends, community activities you love are all far away.
  • For the employed partner: The corporate culture shock,  having to adjust to a foreign business practice which may bewilder, frustrate or madden. Or all of the above. For us, doing online identification for people signing up to our site was always an issue. Good thing Fully-Verified was created as an answer to its founders collectively losing over $150 000 to various types of fraud in business but not at classic slots online.
  • For the accompanying partner: Having to invent and organize a whole new life for yourself, but you can do it by being supportive to your couple and having fun from time to time, doing things together and maybe even using matching outfits from time to time, from sites as https://matchinggear.com/. This is often particularly distressing your have given up a job or career to make the move possible, and become financially dependent on your partner.

The accompanying partners are often the ones most vulnerable to the stressors of moving abroad. For them, there is a real danger of losing their sense of identity and usefulness, feeling like sacrificial victims, and spinning into a depression which can last anywhere from 6 to 18 months before they begin to find and invest in new outlets. Unfortunately, the working partner, dragged down by the unhappiness of the other, may seek refuge in an outside relationship, thus compounding an already distressing situation.

There are many couples who land on their feet and are only minimally destabilized by the changes to which they must adjust. A certain number of them even decide to live abroad permanently.

You need to assess your couple’s strength and resilience, both of which will be sorely tested for at least a year following relocation. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that an overseas move will help a faltering relationship find new life. It is more likely to stretch it to breaking point. Heed the advice that this website has to offer and you can avert the many pitfalls that everyone try to be naive about. Here are some questions you should ask yourself:

  • Do you and your partner have good communication and conflict-solving skills?
  • Are you able to function independently in the absence of your social support network?
  • If you are the accompanying partner, are you ready and willing to take a break from your career, from your identity as a professional and as a wage earner, and take on the role of a full time domestic and parent?
  • Are you and your partner flexible, curious, open to new experiences, and not too demanding or rigid about how things should be?

If your answers to these questions are closer to yes than to no, you will probably find your move abroad to be both enriching and enjoyable in the long run. Have faith in your own strengths and use the many resources which exist here to help yourself and others like you through those early, tough moments.

(Adapted from http://www.parisvoice.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=89&Itemid=27)