This page summary, takeaways, and transcript were generated
by AI from the video captions.
The video itself remains the source of truth.
Moving abroad, particularly to places like Thailand, offers unspoken benefits such as reduced social pressure, improved self-care opportunities, greater control over social interactions, access to affordable unique activities and food, and the experience of vibrant, safe Asian cities.
The video explores five often overlooked advantages of living abroad, moving beyond common discussions of dating or cost of living. One significant benefit is the reduced social pressure; unlike in one's home country where forced interactions with employers, spouses, or neighbors can be stressful, living abroad often means fewer obligatory relationships. This allows for more control over who you interact with, freeing you from difficult colleagues or strained personal connections tied to finances or location.
Another key advantage is the potential for improved health and well-being. Many people abroad find they lose weight due to less reliance on convenient, unhealthy foods, more time for cooking, and a reduction in work-related stress. The environment abroad can also motivate self-care, as better dating prospects or a desire to impress a partner encourage healthier habits. Furthermore, the feeling of being less judged, particularly in cultures like Thailand where superficial judgments about appearance or lifestyle are less prevalent, allows for greater personal freedom and reduced anxiety.
Living abroad also unlocks access to affordable unique activities and diverse cuisines. Experiences like daily Thai massages or regular snorkeling trips, which are prohibitively expensive at home, become feasible. Similarly, the abundance and affordability of authentic Asian food in places like Thailand far surpass what is typically available and affordable in Western countries. Finally, the video highlights the appeal of vibrant, safe, and dynamic Asian cities, which offer a better quality of life and value for money compared to many expensive and potentially stressful American cities, allowing residents to enjoy urban living without constant worry or financial strain.
The unspoken benefits of living in Thailand include reduced social pressure, allowing for more control over your interactions and freeing you from obligatory relationships. You'll also find increased opportunities for self-care and improved well-being due to less stress and more free time.
Living abroad reduces social pressure by giving you more control over your social circle, away from the obligatory relationships often found in your home country. This means fewer interactions with difficult colleagues or neighbors tied to work or financial obligations.
Yes, living in Thailand can improve health through reduced stress, more time for cooking healthy meals, and increased motivation for self-care, which can lead to weight loss and better overall well-being. The environment often encourages healthier choices and a desire to impress, further supporting health goals.
Thailand offers access to unique and affordable activities like daily Thai massages or regular snorkeling trips, which are often prohibitively expensive in Western countries. This accessibility significantly enhances the quality of life for residents.
Asian cities, including those in Thailand, often provide a more vibrant, safe, and affordable urban living experience compared to many Western cities. They offer a better value for money and a more enjoyable environment without the constant financial strain or worry.
Yes, many expats experience less judgment in cultures like Thailand, where superficial assessments of appearance or lifestyle are less prevalent. This cultural difference allows for greater personal freedom and reduced social anxiety.
Asian cities offer vibrancy, safety, and good value, providing a more enjoyable urban living experience compared to many Western cities. They often have better public transportation and a lower cost of living, allowing residents to enjoy city life without constant financial strain. The convenience and dynamic atmosphere contribute to a higher quality of life.
Living abroad can lead to better health choices due to reduced work-related stress and more free time for self-care. Many expats find they lose weight because they rely less on convenient, unhealthy foods and have more time for cooking. The environment abroad can also motivate healthier habits and a greater desire for self-care.
Yes, affordable unique activities become accessible when living abroad. Experiences like daily Thai massages or regular snorkeling trips, which might be prohibitively expensive in one's home country, become feasible. This enhances quality of life without a significant financial burden.
Yes, living abroad, particularly in cultures like Thailand, can mean experiencing less judgment from others. Superficial judgments about appearance or lifestyle may be less prevalent, allowing for greater personal freedom and reduced social anxiety. This can contribute to a more relaxed and enjoyable living experience.
Abroad, you gain more control over your social circle, reducing the need to tolerate difficult people due to work or financial obligations. This allows you to choose your interactions more freely, freeing you from stressful relationships tied to your location or employment. It offers a chance to build a more positive and supportive network.
0:01 Hey, YouTube. Alex here, and in this video, I want to talk about five unspoken benefits of living abroad. A lot of people talk about the dating aspect, or they talk about the cost of living, but I thought I'd talk about some things that I don't think people talk about as much.
0:21 The first one is not having to get along with people. I'll put a qualifier on this: generally, if we want to settle down somewhere, we find many of the local people to be pretty agreeable and easy to get along with. But in our home countries, we're often having to get along with people because I feel like we have a lot more forced interactions.
0:46 So, we make these commitments to employers or spouses where the relationship goes south, or neighbors where we bought a home, and we have to live in that area because that's what our budget entails. In effect, these can be wonderful. Some people have wonderful relationships with their spouse. Others get along great with their boss. So, it's not an absolute thing, but I think most of us have had jobs where we didn't like the boss.
1:26 Or for those of us who have been divorced, we didn't get along great with our spouse, but we were trying to make it work because of finances. It's expensive to leave a good job. It's expensive to get a divorce. For most of us, when we move abroad, we're no longer working, so there are no co-workers that we have to get along with.
1:48 We probably have better dating options. And so, if we find one person we don't really enjoy dating them, we can break it off and eventually go find someone else. If we don't like our neighborhood and we've budgeted appropriately, we can go and find a better neighborhood or a different condo or even relocate to a different city because we're not bound to a certain city for work or family obligations.
2:19 We can just go pick up and, hey, you know what? This other city seems cool. This other place seems cool. I'm going to go live over there. You have more control over who you need to get along with.
2:30 Where back home, a lot of us get more cemented in life to where we have to just make do with what we've got.
2:42 The next thing is you may be able to lose weight when you move abroad. A lot of people are surprised by this. They think, oh, you know what? I can eat whatever I want. I can drink whatever I want. But for a lot of us here in the US, I think this applies to a lot of single guys: we go for a lot of convenience foods. We prefer microwave meals. We prefer to grab a donut on the way to work. We have our sugary coffee.
3:11 It's a small prize, you could say, or benefit that's affordable for us to enjoy, and these things aren't really healthy. We also come home from work and we're too tired to go work out. We're too tired to exercise. We're stressed out from work. We stress eat.
3:30 When we're living abroad, all of a sudden we don't have a stressful job. We're not worried about all these financial pressures, and we have time to cook. We can be more selective about what we eat because we're not in such a hurry. Maybe we could even hire somebody to come in and cook meals for us.
3:47 Others may find, hey, look, these local restaurants are pretty affordable. If I want a salad in my home city, I'm going to spend 20 bucks. Where in this new city, I can go get a salad for five bucks. Much more accessible.
4:02 Other people may find, well, you know, when I was working 40, 50, 60 hours a week, I could not go to the gym. I simply did not have time to go to the gym every day. Where now, because I've got all this free time, I get up and go work out.
4:18 We may also have elements of life abroad that make us want to take care of ourselves. I think a lot of guys here in the US are unhappy, and they can even let themselves go to some extent because there's this low-grade unhappiness that they experience 24/7.
4:37 It's like, 'Ah, what's the point of working out? One exercise is not going to do anything for me anyway. Or what's the point of eating a salad? One salad is not going to do anything for me anyway. Or I don't have a girlfriend, so what does it really matter if I'm in shape or not?'
4:58 Or we go abroad and it's like, 'Man, the dating options are fantastic here. I want to be healthy.' Or we meet a special someone and we're thinking, 'Man, I want to be in shape and good health for my significant other to really get the most out of life living over here.'
5:14 The next one's going to be humorous to some Americans, but I don't feel quite as judged overseas. I cannot understand the local language in most of the places I go and like to spend time, even after I try. And I find that as a result, even if I'm getting judged, then it's not readily apparent to me.
5:38 Here in the US, people can be quite superficial. And I'm sure that's everywhere in the world. I found here people are making judgments about appearance. You need a haircut. You need to change your style. You need to lose weight. You need to gain weight. You need to dress less formally. You need to dress.
5:57 Every single criticism you can think of, I've heard directed at myself or at other people. And something that I like, and this is particularly true in Thailand, is that nobody comes up to me with this crap. Nobody's coming up to me telling me, 'Why aren't you dressed better?' Or 'You're dressed too formally.' Or 'You need to go get this done.' Or 'You need to do that.'
6:23 And it's nice to have that refreshing sense of I don't have to be formal. I find the United States is a very formal country in many ways. You don't really see people laughing and smiling near to the extent that you do in Southeast Asia.
6:39 And that's something that I love about Thailand in particular: a lot of people don't have this judgmental attitude. I've been around some people where they'll go through and judge every single person in their life. And then they complain about being lonely or being isolated.
7:00 And it's like, well, yeah. You're more concerned about the differences between you and other people than the similarities. And you don't bother to empathize with that person and try to understand where they're coming from. You just want to try to fix whatever it is you see wrong with them.
7:17 That's something that I find very refreshing about Thailand: nobody's coming up to me telling me, 'You need to do this.' Or 'You need to do that.' I'm sure that in every country there's some amount of judgment, but I find that it is far less outside the US.
7:35 And this isn't really something that I found a lot of expats talk about, but it is something that I enjoy a lot. And two, because you have to get along with people here for work or family, where you don't have to so much abroad.
7:50 If somebody's a jerk, I just don't have to see them anymore. There's been several folks when I've lived abroad that turned out to be jerks. I did not feel compelled to maintain a friendship with that person.
8:01 There are people who have a need for connection, but cannot satisfy their need for connection. This is much more true in the West than individualistic cultures than it is in the East, where people have similar beliefs or shared cultures or shared values.
8:18 Here, a lot of those people just end up isolated. And you still have to deal with them because you got to work, cuz you got to pay bills. People end up having to tolerate people that they otherwise would not tolerate because of obligations.
8:37 And I see this all over the country. It's not California specific. It's not Tennessee specific. I've seen this everywhere, where somebody will say, 'Well, I got to tolerate them cuz, you know, they pay half the rent.' Or 'I've got to tolerate them because where else am I going to get a good job?'
8:53 And it's unfortunate. Where I find in Thailand, a buddy of mine visited Thailand, and I asked him, 'What stuck out to you?' He's from here in the US. 'What stuck out to you more than anything else?' And he said, 'Well, I just noticed how well people work together.'
9:06 I noticed that people seemed to work together more effectively. Where here at work, it seems like we're always butting heads, people are always getting into drama with each other, and I just didn't notice that. Not to say it doesn't exist, but it seemed less present than here in the US.
9:25 I think some of that is because of the Buddhist culture, where people are often more live and let live, and generally more tolerant of differences.
9:37 This next one is going to be more familiar, but I still don't think it gets said enough, and that is unique activities that you could normally not afford back home. And Thai massage is a big one for me.
9:51 Where to get Thai massage here in California, I'm easily spending 70, 80, $100 with tip, but over there in Thailand, among my favorite countries in the world, I can get a massage just about every day and still maintain budget.
10:08 Now, for time's sake, I'm only doing it once a week 'cause I need time to recover. Typically, I feel sore after a strong Thai massage, and my muscles need time to recover, but I feel so much more flexible, and it's such a nice treat after a workout.
10:25 Over here, I'm probably not getting a massage very often. In fact, since I lived in Thailand, it's hard for me to stomach the prices here where over there, I feel far more flexible, and I feel lower stress for many reasons, but Thai massage is one of those.
10:39 Other people have talked about liking snorkeling. And if you don't live in Florida, then it's going to be expensive for you to go snorkeling. You're going to have to get on a plane, you're going to have to rent a car, and get a hotel room, and all this stuff, and that adds up.
10:56 Where if you're living in say Dumaguete, I used to go snorkeling in Dauin on a semi-regular basis. All I have to do is pay like a dollar and 25 cents equivalent to get on a jeepney, take it out to Dauin, go walk down to the water. I could go and see.
11:13 I could go and see all kinds of fish and coral, and maybe I had some lunch there in Dauin for I don't know, five or 10 bucks. Then at the end of the day, I could go get in a jeepney or a ride with a friend back to town. That was a snorkeling trip for like $10, maybe $15 equivalent.
11:34 So, that's something that's much more accessible and there's so many beautiful fish in the water there in Dauin and you're there with your friends. Where here, I don't know how many friends I could actually get off work at the same time as them and then also do they want to go snorkeling? They might want to just sit around and relax.
11:54 So, over there there's a lot of activities that you can do that are totally off the table here that you might want to do all the time when you live over there. For me personally, I like being able to live in some of these places that have very interesting geography, mountains or beaches that might otherwise not be as accessible.
12:18 If you want to live in a mountainous area or you want to live by the beach in the United States, it's very expensive and some of these places have no jobs. Like if I had millions and millions of dollars, I'd love to live on the central coast in California, but that happens to be a part of California where there are very, very few jobs and the cost of living is very high.
12:44 You're talking about at least a million dollars in most places to get a decent house and simultaneously, there's not much industry there that pays enough to live there. So, you mostly have well-to-do retirees. That's excellent for those people that have saved and invested and prepared, but if you're 30 or 40-something and you want to go live in a beach area then it's not going to be high on the possibility list for most of us.
13:14 The final thing on this point I'll mention is Asian food. I happen to enjoy Asian food. It's both expensive and tends to be hit or miss here in the States where when I was living in Chiang Mai, any night of the week I could have Japanese food, Korean food, Thai food, uh Malaysian food, any kind of cuisine I wanted, Chinese food from all over Asia was accessible in Chiang Rai.
13:40 There might be some regional dishes or rare picks that weren't available, but a lot of your mainstream food I could find there. Where here, I'm going to have to drive a fair distance and pay out the nose to really have a quality Asian food experience, or I could cook it at home.
14:01 But, if you don't know, a lot of Asian food tends to be labor-intensive, and it tends to have some maybe rare ingredients. So, it tends to be far more difficult to enjoy that kind of cuisine.
14:14 Anyway, let's move on to our final point. The fifth and final point here is going to be different than what a lot of people talk about online, but that is that I can live in the city, and I'll explain further.
14:26 American cities tend to be expensive. Some can be quite dangerous, and there tends to be a lot of stress in living in an American city because to live in most American cities, you need to work hard and make a lot of money. So, you might live there, but you're bouncing back and forth between the office and home, and your home in a big city tends to be small, and so it's not really that enjoyable.
14:54 I had a friend tell me, "Oh, I don't like living in cities. I don't like cities." And this individual had never been to Asia or really anywhere outside the United States. And I put it out, "I think you just don't like American cities. I think you don't like American cities because they tend to be expensive and can be dangerous.
15:15 Where if you had been to a Bangkok or you had been to a Seoul, like I went to last year, or Tokyo, a place I've never been, but I'd love to go, then you would probably have a different perception of cities.
15:27 A lot of these cities are very new and vibrant and dynamic. They take crime seriously, and they tend to also offer good value for money. They might not be the cheapest place you've ever been, but for what you're paying, I think you get pretty decent value.
15:47 You're going to eat in a clean space. You're not going to have vagrants outside. You're not going to have people arguing and fighting. And it's a generally a more optimistic place to enjoy time.
16:00 You're going to be able to have more economical food because real estate is not so controlled like it is in Western countries under built on purpose. I find Asian cities to be a lot of fun. You can go out and people watch. You can explore. You can try different districts.
16:21 You know that no matter what the hour is, then you're probably fine in most neighborhoods. Then you can really let your shoulders drop because in many American cities, I don't want to be in much of the city after dark. There might be some neighborhoods that are pretty nice, and maybe they're exceptionally known for safety, but I remember even in San Francisco, one of my co-workers, he explained to me, "Oh, yeah, you know, I got robbed. I was out. It was, you know, 11:00. No big deal."
16:56 I was like, "That's a big deal. I've never heard of any of my friends being robbed in any of the Asian cities that are well known for being a metropolis. I'm sure that they're not totally crime free, but it doesn't seem to be a major issue preventing enjoyment.
17:16 They also tend to have more late-night businesses and those are just not as common in the West right now. I don't know if that'll come back, but it's really nice to be able to go out and get a bowl of noodles at 1:00 in the morning at a fair price or order food delivery or even go out for certain holidays where it just seems so sleepy here post COVID.
17:40 You don't get that same vibrancy like when I was a kid we would go to raves in Nashville and you could be there until 6:00 a.m. It was a great time, but that's not as much of a thing anymore and that's something I love about being in Asia is that it seems like there's always something going on and there's always something to do and people are just out and about having fun.
18:06 So, let me know what you think down in the comments. Do you like cities or any of these true for you? I felt like they're different than some of the usual topics I hear about. Also, please give us a thumbs up if you enjoy this content and subscribe if you want to see more content like it and we'll see you soon. Bye-bye.
Follow the journey through expat life, travel experiences, and the realities of living abroad while exploring different places, cultures, and everyday life overseas.
