Comments on: Expat guilt, living abroad, freelancing to freedom

By: 10 Things To Consider If You Want To Move To Spain - Notes from Spain: Travel, Living in Spain, Podcasts, Forum and Photos

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 11:20:49 +0000

[...] Are you leaving people behind that you will feel guilty about? Do you have responsibilities at home you really might feel bad about running away from? This isn’t the case for everyone, but where possible I highly recommend tying up any loose ends before you go that might tug at your conscience later. Or getting work here that frees you up to pop back often… [...]

By: Maria S.

Maria S. — Fri, 02 May 2008 21:28:38 +0000

There were times when I felt guilty for having packed up and left. But yet I could not have stayed either.
One sibling – of four – made charges that I was lucky not to be around to care for ailing parents. A hard chore to do, I know, but I had no one to leave my own young children with to run home and help.
And then, the ones left behind, tell us how lucky we are to have gone places. Of course, from their view point, our trials are unknown. But yet, I would always tell them it was not luck, but sheer determination which got me where I am now.

By: steve

steve — Fri, 02 May 2008 21:14:09 +0000

Ben, that was a great post. For the past 10 years I’ve been trying to come up with a way to move abroad. I think I’m afraid to pull the trigger because of friends and familyand also monetary reasons. I’m very scared I’m going to wake up one day and realized I should have gone with my instincts. i guess I’m still kind of young so I’ll see what I can do!

Thanks again
Steve

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 02 May 2008 18:26:52 +0000

1993 – Sign painter in London, but plastic computer lettering catching up fast. Sitting in Macdonalds Victoria Station. The only free newspaper left was the Manchester Guardian Appointments. (Teachers etc.) Then . . An article on how British bar owners survive the winter. A photo of a menu board – British breakfast! Sunday lunch! My fist came down on impulse. “BINGO” People turned and frowned. (Another drunk!)

Did a Laurie Lee and hitched hiked. Sleeping on building sites and eventually on Fuengirola beach for a month. Hit a lucky time. No plastic lettering! The only signwriter in town. Everyone getting ready for summer.

Ha! Ha! Guess what? Plastic lettering has caught up again! Digital indeed!

Back to square one !!

Took 15 years though . .

By: Ben

Ben — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 20:34:31 +0000

Good advice… I did go a bit mad at first working at home… and now quite often from two many hours of computer!

By: Geoff Harrison

Geoff Harrison — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 17:34:23 +0000

I also make my living from the Internet now, having finally managed to extricate myself from the London rat race and move to Barcelona 2 years ago. The matter of motivation was never issue when I was in London and dreaming of life in the sun, and I always managed to find time to develop the website even though I also had a full-time job. However what I didn’t foresee was that having realised the dream of moving to Spain and working for myself, the motivation to carry on spending hours every day sitting at home in front of a PC completely evaporated and was very hard to re-capture (of course financial reality eventually kicks in and that brings its own motivation!).

If you’re a self-employed person moving to Spain to carry on your business, I would seriously consider renting a desk in a communal office at least for a few hours a day. Not that expensive, a great way to meet people, and it will instil enough routine in your daily life to help you resist at least some of the distractions that life in Spain offers.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 09:09:25 +0000

@BrianA
Maybe you should add 2 other factors: without the influx of Northern Europeans, without a huge injection of European Union cash, and without a strong desire on behalf of the Spanish to change post-dictatorship, modern Spain would not be the prosperous place it is.

Your Northern European point will be tested in the next few years as property prices tumble.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 09:01:24 +0000

Ben, I agree that the book has some interesting ideas but they need to be put into context. I wish I had written it $$$

I do think that sometimes Spain gets a raw deal on the expat front. Maybe I should add Fuengirola to your Worst of Spain listing.

By: Ben

Ben — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 07:42:14 +0000

@Andrew – I agree, the title of the book is ridiculous, I’m sure the author does far more than 4 hours a week, but it does have some very interesting ideas on how to work for yourself and be far more efficient and productive. I think it is worth reading – everyone can get something out of it.

@Jill – I agree, I’m all for people supporting themselves!

By: BrianA

BrianA — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 06:53:07 +0000

@Jill – without the influx of Northern Europeans modern Spain would not be the prosperous place it is. It is the Spanish who in the main have built the housing in areas that Spaniards do not generally want to live in so they should not be too surprised if they fill up with foreigners!
@Ben – what you say is an argument for self employment anywhere. Unfortunately not everyone has your drive & skills, but even so they should give the alternatives a try rather than spend the rest of their lives regretting possible missed opportunities. Another possible route is contract working, where you go abroad as a worker for someone else. That worked for me.