What is a slowmad? We are not expats, because we are not going back to our origin country at any point. We are not nomads, because we stay long term in the countries we choose. We are not immigrants, because we know we are only visiting that country temporarily. We are slowmads, which are slow nomads. My family has lived in Dominican Republic for one year, Japan for 2.5 years, and Portugal for 1.5 years. Could you see yourself becoming a slowmad? 🆘🇺🇸 #TikTokEncyclopediaContest
@nomadveronicaTranscript
I've been feeling more and more confident with using this term, slow-mad on my page because that's what I call myself. I call myself a slow-mad, and some of you are wondering what the heck is that? And that is because there's this whole debate in the moving abroad space about what to call ourselves. People do not like that some people call themselves expats, an expat being someone who leaves from their country of origin and is there in the new country temporarily. That's for most commonly people who are moving because they're like diplomats or military members living in these foreign countries temporarily. So in those spaces where you're just going to live there for two or three year assignment, most of those people are calling themselves expats. But on this app, people do not like that word. They want everyone to call themselves immigrants. An immigrant is someone who moves to a country and is intending to stay there forever. They're going to acclimate, they're going to move all of their money, they're going to learn the language. An immigrant is someone who is planning to stay in that country. I am neither of those things. I am not out of the country temporarily because I'm not going to go back to the United States. And I am not currently integrating into the countries that I have lived in so far, which have been Dominican Republic, Japan, or Portugal. Right now I call myself a slow-mad. Because I am not a nomad, a nomad gives this idea that maybe you're moving quite often. Maybe you're staying in hostels. It has a younger connotation. Nomads are typically people who have a higher pace of their moving. I am a slow-mad, which is a slow nomad because as we've lived in these different places, my kids went to school for a year in the Dominican Republic, at an international school. My kids went to two full school years in Japan, at an international school. My kids are now here in Portugal in their second full school year at an international school. This is my concept of what I call myself because I am none of these words. I am not an expert, I am not an immigrant, I am not a nomad, I am a slow-mad. We do intend to move on from Portugal to a new country. Not sure where yet, but my living concept is called a slow-mad. I hope that helps you understand why I'm starting to use that word more and more to describe my situation and it also describes lots of other family situations that do similar things to me where they move based on the school year and they live their longish term but they are definitely not nomads, not immigrants and not experts. that helps.
Download Transcript
Related Videos
If picking a new country was as easy as comparing crime statistics and educational outcomes, than obviously that country would be overrun with expats. The best countries to move to are not one size fits all. Before you get your hopes up about any particular country, I suggest you take a step back. Determine your visa eligibility first. Some countries are trying to attract retirees. Other countries are welcoming digital nomads. And there are countries only looking for wealthy expats. Your income type and amount will determine what countries will take you. Schedule your exit plan call if you’re ready to stop daydreaming and start packing. #creatorsearchinsights
You say you want to leave America for another country, but you never do. Here is exactly where you can go, an island paradise with friendly English speaking people and no paperwork required. Yet, you still won’t go. We’ve gotta change your mindset about leaving America. It’s not healthy to just keep saying you want to leave but never doing what you say you want. You can absolutely move to another country and I will show you how. 🆘🇺🇸 #TikTokEncyclopediaContest #creatorsearchinsights
There are a lot of people who love the idea of moving abroad. There are fewer people who are actually ready to make it happen. If you have been stuck researching how to move abroad from the US, how to leave America, where to live overseas, or how to move abroad with kids, but you still do not have a plan, this page is for you. A lot of smart people get trapped in analysis paralysis. They keep consuming more content because it feels productive. But more information does not always create movement. Sometimes it just creates more confusion. You do not need fifty more tabs open. You need the right order of steps. You need a strategy that fits your life. You need someone who understands how to move from vague dream to actual plan. I help Americans who are tired of researching moving abroad and ready to start taking action. Follow if you want practical guidance, realistic next steps, and a clear path toward living abroad. 🆘🇺🇸
The life you've built in America isn't the life you wanted. It's the life you could scrape together under constraints of: wages that don't cover basics, healthcare tied to employment, housing costs consuming half your income, constant financial stress, survival mode as default state. You didn't choose misery. You chose best option available within impossible constraints. But those constraints are geographic. Change geography, change constraints, change what's possible. The apartment you can barely afford in America becomes the nice place with breathing room abroad. The paycheck that barely covers survival in America becomes the income that allows saving abroad. The constant stress about one emergency destroying you financially becomes manageable situation where emergencies are expensive but not catastrophic. Same income. Same skills. Same person. Different location. Completely different life. You're not stuck because you lack resources. You're stuck because resources you have don't work in location you're in. Move those resources to location where they work better, and you're not stuck anymore. But moving requires: tolerating uncertainty about how things will work out, being uncomfortable while figuring out new systems, releasing familiar patterns even when familiar is miserable, trusting you can build better life from scratch. Most people choose familiar misery over unfamiliar uncertainty. Devil you know feels safer than devil you don't, even when devil you know is grinding you down. This is why people stay in: jobs they hate, relationships that don't work, locations that don't serve them, lives that feel like slow suffocation. Because at least they know how to survive current misery. Unknown is terrifying even when unknown might be better. But what if you're not choosing between misery and uncertainty? What if you're choosing between: familiar misery that will continue indefinitely, or temporary uncertainty that leads to actually building life you want? When you're in survival mode, you're making choices based on: what's cheapest, what's fastest, what gets you through next month, what keeps crisis at bay. Not what you actually want. What you can manage given constraints. Those choices compound into life that doesn't reflect your preferences. Reflects what you could piece together while drowning. But when you move somewhere your income works better, you're not in survival mode anymore. You have breathing room to choose based on: what you actually want, what serves your family, what creates life you're proud of. That's not small difference. That's the difference between life you're enduring and life you're choosing. Living in America isn't default you're stuck with. It's choice you're making every day by not choosing differently. And choosing differently is available to you. Link in bio for people ready to choose. What would you choose if survival wasn't consuming all your energy? 🆘🇺🇸