Editor’s Note: This is the first in what I envision as an ongoing series of looks at why I left the United States.  And why I heartily recommend others take a long, hard, serious look at doing the same.

Greetings from Belize.

An old saw is:

“Nothing makes you appreciate the US – more than a vacation abroad.”

I am now living almost the exact opposite:

“Nothing makes you happier to not live in the US – than to not live in the US.”

It’s one thing to dip your toe in a foreign culture for a week or two – knowing you’re returning to the only life you’ve ever actually known.

It’s another to immerse yourself in a foreign culture – as a part of your becoming a part of it.

The former doesn’t change your mindset even a little.  The latter fundamentally transforms it. (more…)