After her first international relocation, expat partner Nina Fahrner-Strasser managed to transplant her career. But then she started to wonder if she had another calling in life.
Moment of truth
“In 2014, we moved from our home in Austria to Germany. I didn’t think about reinventing my career and I quickly found a similar job to what I had been doing in Vienna,” says Nina, formerly an executive business assistant at Brau Union Österreich in Linz and Sitel Group (Berlin). She now lives in Monza. “It was when we relocated to the Netherlands that I started to believe that I have strengths that could be used elsewhere. I also realised that my old job no longer fulfilled me…”
Pause to reflect
“The break I took (when relocating) gave me a chance to pause and reflect on myself. I should stress that this was not an easy period. Indeed, it was a challenging time (until I came to the conclusion that I wanted to start something totally new),” says Nina. “Even when I eventually came to the realisation that I wanted to study psychology, I hesitated about going ‘back to school’, especially as studying psychology takes a number of years. I was also worried that learning becomes more challenging with age, as so many people assume…”
Best decision ever
“But my inner voice was loud enough. It told me to be brave and just start. And it was the best decision I ever made. Besides my studies, I was working as a dog walker, so I had a classic student life in my mid-thirties!” says Nina. “I have just submitted my master’s thesis and I will continue my education in autumn to become a psychotherapist. The next step will be trying to find an international job as a psychologist. My big dream is to find something that would allow me to combine my professional experiences as well as experiences of relocation and being an expat partner.”
Trust the process!
“It’s funny to think that I might not be on this path, if I had stayed in Austria, where I would have continued with my previous career. You take a chance when you move abroad and there is always going to be uncertainty about what you will do. But I think we have to accept that every adventure comes with challenges. Now I am very excited to see what life brings next!”
Photo: Nina studying at home
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