For 11 months, my husband, Adam, and I made daily choices grounded in our intention to relocate our family to the Netherlands. As you can, imagine there were a lot of pieces to put together – some obvious, some less so. Before taking any steps we fleshed out our vision of the future and agreed on the non-negotiables that would make this vision a reality.
Our Vision for pursuing the expat dream centered around 2 key factors: finding a school system and community capable of supporting the children’s individual needs, and the ability to maintain our family’s lifestyle while pursuing work that aligns with our deeper purpose. We identified two international schools in The Hague and Amsterdam that fit factor #1 on paper. We also learned of a way to establish ourselves as temporary residents through the DAFT (Dutch-American Friendship Treaty). Under the guidelines of this treaty, I could incorporate myself as a sole proprietor in the Netherlands, offering business coaching services worldwide. One of the main reasons for my shift into becoming a full-time coach is that my business is no longer based on my geographic location. My clients come from anywhere in the world, and I build my work life into living and traveling abroad. The DAFT also allows Adam to find work in the Netherlands and gives our whole family access to Dutch social services like healthcare and education (among many other things) for up to 2 years. This satisfied factor #2.
We visualized trading in our 2 cars, along with the large weekly gas expense and annual maintenance, for bikes and public transport. We fleshed out the pros and cons of drastically downsizing our housing from a 2-story, 4000 sq ft home in the country to a compact apartment with little privacy in the heart of a city. This would require a big mindset shift for each and every one of us.
We visualized engaging with a diverse community of other expats or immigrants, hearing multiple languages, smelling the aroma of cuisines from the 4 corners of the world within walking distance of our doorstep; city streets drenched in culture and history, with seagulls flying overhead and boats sailing on canals.
When our bones ache from the chill of Winter, we would have the means to take a short plane or train ride to the
Mediterranean. All while being able to work, create, study, and play together.
I know it may sound overly romanticized or idyllic. But for us, every year since the kids were babies, we’ve dipped a figurative toe into the cafe culture of Dutch society. We’ve befriended families and neighbors and witnessed a different way of life that offers something for our family to experience that would be incredibly difficult to replicate in the mountains of Western North Carolina. And quite frankly, prohibitively expensive if we chose to relocate within our US borders at this time.
This trade-off comes at a cost; however. As well as some risk. There is no guarantee that we 4 incredibly different people, in different life stages, will all adjust well to this shift. I’ll get into that in later posts. For now, I want to begin at the beginning of our journey, and all we are living as we pack and close up the boxes of our belongings and hang our hats for the last time (for now!) in our cherished and beloved home of 16 years.
