Moving Abroad in Your Late 30s is Hard!
This weekend I moved abroad for the third time in my life. The first time I did it, it was to Hong Kong for my first video editor job and it was a very easy move. I was a broke 20-something waiting tables while interning at a Hollywood post-production company, and spending my nights mosh-pitting to LA's underground music scene with my brother and friends. Life was good, but I was excited for more travel and my first good job. I had only been to been to Asia at that point, but didn't give a damn and was gung-ho.
The second time I moved abroad, I was in my early 30s to Beijing. Before going, I was back in LA at a job I wasn't nuts about—but did my best to kick ass in my role while planning my escape. While I had a solid friend group and overall happy, I wanted to experience another country again. I had taken up Chinese language classes and really wanted to move to Taiwan, which had proved to be my favorite traveled-to country, but got a job offer for Beijing. I let the universe take me when it wanted me to be. I had visited Beijing twice before and remember that I saw a foreigner cycling around and I thought at the time it could be cool to live there.
Both were unforgettable experiences. And at the end of last year, I finally got a job offer in Taiwan and made the move this past weekend. But hot damn, moving in one's late 30s is the hardest move yet! It's about letting go of the comforts. My situation before moving? I had a remote job that I liked enough, but really loved my remote colleagues and team and was making good money. I had a great friend group, my first car (late-life newbie driver), and a comfortable routine. Not only that, but I've grown closer to my parents since Covid, especially my dad. On the other hand, I've always wanted to experience living in Taiwan and never let that go, with it being one of the reasons I completed my bachelors in recent years and always having Taipei editor jobs in my LinkedIn notifications. That want was enhanced especially after cycling the entire island in late-2024.
At the end of the day, I finally had to the chance to accomplish my current biggest goal in life OR regret not even showing up when I became the dog who finally caught his tail. On the flip side of my comforts, there were several factors on my side for moving: I'm still single, my parents are still healthy, and so far when I say I want to do something, I have worked to make it happen. And when I let the worries slide away, I do remember that I truly believe that breaking comfort zones and running towards hard things is always the best choice.
So while harder than the previous times before, I made the move this weekend, and it was surreal and awesome in visiting neighborhoods I hadn't been to in over 10 years and also stepping into the bar I partied at with cools folks in late-2024. I hope this time around while abroad, my parents visit me, as they've never left America.
Today was my first day at the new job and I met new colleagues born and raised in Taiwan, new colleagues who have have lived there 5-7 years, and colleagues who have lived there only 2 years. How long will I be here? I have no idea! But whether it's 1 year or 10, I'll end up where I have to end up and it feels pretty good, man.
First day at the new job—lots of onboarding reads, but the outlook view is good