Everybody Needs to Decide Their Line in the Sand
As the saying goes, it’s better to be a year too early than a day too late, which is especially relevant when it comes to leaving a place heading in an authoritarian direction.
I’m motivated to write this after long discussions with my friends about relocating from their Western country to another more suited to their budget, lifestyle, politics & interests (Want to learn more? You should contact–> Open Door Consultancy). Despite preparing quite sound arguments I believe, I remain unsuccessful in compelling them to take action to leave & seek better avenues in their retirement years.
What’s even more interesting is that my older friends are fully aware of the destructive policies and wholeheartedly disagree with the economic, cultural, moral, political and educational direction their country is headed. They literally feel like strangers in their hometowns.
Now perhaps they do not understand the real dangers of socialistic policy, even so, it’s still certainly true that they’re not disillusioned by the ‘state of the state’ you could say.
But—why are they not jumping to leave?
Consider how many people left the famine in Ireland in the 19th century, an estimated ¼ Irish. Or how many Italian immigrants came over to North & South America throughout the 20th century, the Hungarians who left communism in the 50s, the Germans who left for Argentina and Paraguay, the list goes on indefinitely throughout history with diaspora everywhere. But—consider how many had stayed. The forgotten ones.
When it comes to military conscription, police-state surveillance, censorship, increased taxes, lack of freedoms there really is the smoker’s mindset of “I’ll never get cancer; sure that happens, but not to me” that inhibits people from picking up and relocating. To mitigate any cognitive dissonance, the mind comes up with justifications to believe such ideas. You can either change your ideas or your behaviour and if your behaviour is already committed, it’s much easier to change your ideas & beliefs. This is one justification why I believe people may be reluctant to leave.
Another reason I suspect why people throw their hands up in the air is the day-to-day effect (I’m not sure if this has a coined term). It’s easy to notice someone who has gained weight if you hadn’t seen them for 6-12 months, but day-to day becomes far more challenging. The same goes for your eye sight. If you could see how your eyes deteriorated by comparing dates, perhaps you’d head to the optometrist– but day-to-day it’s virtual impossible to notice gradual declines. This is how the state erodes one’s freedom, responsibility and liberty in life—they know this–so its gradual. This explains the feeling of shock when people suddenly wake up and ask “What happened to our country!?”
It’s easy to say “Well, it doesn’t look like Niger outside, things must be okay still” but miss the big picture of which direction the place is headed.
I’m extremely grateful that my great-grandparents had the fortitude and courage to have left so they could have enabled the future generations a life of freedom and prosperity. As I reflect upon their lives, the stories of others and my own [who chose to relocate, too], I come to the realization that each one of us had a common denominator; a threshold. This may have been a pre-determined rule, a financial pressure, or just a gut-feeling but it was a breaking point that if such an event were to happen it would trigger one to leave and seek new beginnings.
This threshold could have been declaration of war or its aftermath, issues with food supply, restrictions of freedom, higher taxes, any coercion, military drafts, diseases or simply ambitions in life for wealth, adventure and fame. Furthermore, this mental threshold is easier to obtain if one has a set of principles, beliefs or a philosophical standpoint to guide them. Needless to say, my friends did not have such a threshold in place.
What do you believe the likelihood is that someone will stress over all the details, laws, taxes, events, travel, papers, forms, etc. etc. if they are not intrinsically motivated to leave? It’s much easier to do nothing if you’re not guided by your own set of rules & responsibilities.
I believe it’s very, very difficult to pick up and relocate without having established this mental line in the sand for you and your family. Having that mental framework, or pre-determined threshold allows you to remain resilient and to prepare now for a plan B to relocate & protect your wealth.
So I ask you now:
What is your threshold?
#StayOnTheBall folks!
Like my great grandparents seeking freedom and opportunity–so will a new generation of citizens–but this time it will not be towards “Western” nations. It will be to new destinations (Feel free to send me an email on our Contact page to discuss).
