Will I be happy in Australia?
Packing up all your belongings, selling off your items and making a big move to another country is never easy. It is very normal to wonder: “Will I be happy in Australia?”
The truth is that you never know how happy you are going to be until you have properly settled in and experienced Australia first hand, or at least visited Australia a couple of times.
However, if that’s not possible, you can get an idea of whether or not you’ll be happy in Australia by doing some research beforehand and employing ‘happy’ tactics once you’ve landed.
Will I be happy in Australia?
In order to help you gain some insight into the lifestyle and day to day living in Australia we suggest that you read our blog post on the qualify of life in Australia. We look at seven indexes as used by the Organisation for Economic Coorporation and Development (OECD) to measure qualify of life in countries:
- Income
- Working hours
- Education
- Sense of community
- Air and water quality
- Life satisfaction
- Life expectancy
The good news is that Australia scores high in each category. For instance, Australia’s average household net-adjusted disposable income per capita is USD4,122 higher than the OECD average. This while Australians work an average of 37 hours per year less than employees in other countries around the world.
Of course you can’t only rely on your surroundings to make you happy. Much of your happiness in Australia will depend on what you make of the situation and how you handle it.
Here are some tips that have worked for other immigrants:
How to be happy in Australia
- Be realistic about things and acknowledge that there may be things you don’t like about Australia.
- Focus on the positives.
- Remember why you immigrated.
- Make new friends and network.
- Stay in contact with your family and friends in other parts of the world.
- Be patient and keep in mind that it will take time to adjust to your new life in Australia.
- Remind yourself why you made the move when you are feeling low.
- Focus on the future.
- Enjoy all the benefits Australia offers. Think beaches and sunny days!
- Spend time outdoors and get the whole family involved in fun activities in your free time.
- Be open minded – about the new people, the new places and the new experiences.
It’s also important to be prepared for life in Australia to be different to what it was back home. Try not to compare one country to another, even though this be hard at first.
Appreciate that with time and patience, many expats have reported that they soon grew to love life in Australia. Even though it may not feel like home initially after time you and your family will learn to love Australia.