1 Year Later: Am I Still Happy I Moved To Dubai?

One year later, am I still have I decided to move to Dubai?

Short answer – yes.

If you want a longer answer with all my little thoughts, ideas, inspirations behind it then you may enjoy the following 🙂

American-Expat-Living -in-Dubai

Yes, I’m still happy 1 year ago I made the decision to pick up (throw away) all my stuff and move to Dubai. But not because Dubai is a magnificent place that I’ve fallen in love with, that is most definitely not the case – I’ll get more into that later.

But because I had to do something to get out of the place I was in. I hit a dead end in Austin. I was exhausted by the job I was in and felt a roadblock in my personal growth. Now, for most, this could have been solved by simply switching jobs.. Or changing the city I was living in, but for me, those options weren’t working. They weren’t enough.

One problem I felt can happen in the States is that once you fall into a job out of college you’re kind of stuck in that same type of job for the rest of your life.

For the lucky ones that land a job right away that they love then it’s cheers to you, you scored a big one.. For the unlucky ones that don’t love the jobs they fall into, then don’t worry, you’ll eventually be manufactured into liking it. Once a marketing person, always a marketing person. Because after all, that’s what you have experience in isn’t it? So that’s what you follow and stick to in order to move up the corporate money paying ladder.

This system was trying to come down on me like a hailstorm that wouldn’t let up and I hated it. I had to do something drastic, something to get some attention. I didn’t want to wake up 20 years later and think – what happened?

I had a great talk with one of my clients about this topic. He’s been living in Dubai for 10 years now but is British and spent much of his job as a sports broadcaster, traveling. When he found out I was from the States he told me to stick it out in Dubai for a little while longer. Gain some interesting experience to throw me off the regular path. He said in other countries, like Europe and the States, you don’t have a lot of career movement, and if you do it’s very difficult to achieve. You’re directed in one single path your whole life, that becomes your only option. The only way.

That’s exactly how I felt before I left. Stuck and suffocating. And ain’t nobody coming to save me. So, I came up with the plan to move to Dubai.

Would I have been happier picking a different destination? Probably. In all honesty, the Middle East wasn’t built for MissBassmaster. I’m probably a freakishly 180-degree turn opposite of this culture (Would be more if mathematically possible). And not for reasons that I know people want to jump to – Women having to be covered all the time, strict rules and regulations, living in the Muslim world.. blah blah blah. Really, none of those things bother me, it’s SO much more than all of that.

It’s the lack of emotional communication, the loss of value in education, entitlement, dirt cheap labor that the country relays on, lack of displays of affection… Being mean.

And to clarify, I’m not talking about Arabs. That wouldn’t be fair. Dubai is full of several different nationalities from this side of the earth, and I think the combination of them all equals the culture that is Dubai.

However, I know this location was on the roadmap for my life. It was already the plan. So I don’t regret choosing the destination, there were lessons I needed to learn from here.

Among many things, Dubai has taught me that money 100% can not buy happiness. Far far far from it. Far enough to call it opposite? I always thought I believed this statement but now I know without a hint of doubt. The things I miss the most from the United States costs nothing. The happiness, people, growth and feelings that I receive there can’t be bought.

I’m grateful these qualities were instilled in American’s. We woke up like this (<<< See what I did there). As cheese-ball as it sounds, it’s true and important to remember. Even when we’re super broke and we see the fancy houses, dresses, parties, and vacations. It’s not the best life part of life. I know this.

Now, if you have fancy dresses, houses and vacations + the kindness, love, family, and genuine emotions.. Well, then you really scored. Nice one. But from what I’ve seen, I think that’s a gold mine to achieve. And almost everyone that has money here thinks they have found the gold mine, they would read this post and smile to themselves thinking they have the fabulous combo of love + money. But they don’t. And they have no idea what they’re missing.

I’ve been struggling every day to focus on my hippie, kind, happy ways. Now that a year has gone by I think I’ve mastered the stay-focused-and-be-happy mindset, it has a lot to do with the people you surround yourself with… So I’ve been alone A LOT.

Just kidding. But I’ve learned that the company really is the key to happiness. Whether it’s 1 person or 100. It’s the people you’re around that make life enjoyable, no matter where you are. I’ve stayed focused on that and have really been able to enjoy and experience Dubai. Only took me about 6 months to figure out, but better late than never.

I know it was the right decision to move to Dubai and I know it was my path, my destination. I’m probably the biggest believer in the world of the saying “Everything happens for a reason”. It has proved true over and over and over again. I conquered Dubai <<< If you only knew the achievement that sentence carries.