Ready to Escape Your Fate?
Inside the latest issue of International Living: real stories, real costs, real escapes.
There’s an article creating a buzz on social media by a woman writing for The New York Times.
It’s all about “heterofatalism.” (Stay with me… you’ll see where this is going.)
What is “heterofatalism,” you may well wonder? As I did.
Well, it’s the idea that men have become so terrible, women don’t want anything to do with us anymore.
The author, who left her husband—with whom she was in an open marriage—because she fell for another man, who then didn’t want to commit to her, comments at length on how modern men seem crippled by anxiety and indecision. The article is full of big terms like “nonmonogamy,” “hermeneutic labor,” and “normative male alexithymia.”
Far be it from me to comment on any of that. Very far out of my wheelhouse.
But I was struck by one overriding thought as I read this highly entertaining piece: God, life today is so complicated. Hard to know what to want.
It would almost make you long for the days when the pathways before us seemed so much simpler: Stay with the same partner forever… 2.5 kids… a few post-work years where you’ve time to fish… death.
It would almost make you long for it.
You won’t find us at International Living pining for a time when our worlds were smaller, our options fewer.
Indeed, in the very first issue of IL in 1979, our founder, Bill Bonner, railed against “chauvinism.” Specifically, “national chauvinism”—what we might call, loving only one country—which “is both costly and confining.”
Bill promised that a mission of IL would be to, “help you adjust to a rapidly changing world.”
We’ve always been about the future: The better life ahead of you.
We’ve always been small-l libertarians; there are lots of different ways of living all across this fine planet. We’ll show you a bunch of them. You do you.
No doubt: The options out there in the world today can seem overwhelming… some of them aren’t great… it’s hard to choose…
If the choices for who to date, or the next step in life to take, seem overwhelming… take a step back.
Yes, you have many more options today… but there’s no need to become a fatalist…
When you have a clear idea of what’s important to you, it’s a lot easier to sort through all those options and grab the ones that make sense for you.
And that brings me neatly to the folks we’re writing about in this month’s issue of International Living… folks who figured out exactly what they wanted and just went for it.
I’m thinking of Nikki Young and her husband, who realized they could live their dream of an ocean-side life “now” rather than later—if they thought outside the box. They bought land in a quiet community in Belize for $27,000—and put up a tiny home for less than one-fourth what it would cost back in Canada. (And their property taxes in Belize? $11 a year.) With the option to work remotely, they didn’t need to be tied to their old lives. Read their full story—how they did it, the cost breakdown, and Nikki’s advice if you want to follow in their footsteps—right here.
I’m thinking of Cepee Tabibian, IL’s Spain Correspondent, whose cover story this month takes her back to a distinctly “Cuban” corner of Spain—what might be the country’s last authentically Spanish seaside city. Cepee’s life today, where she has the freedom to explore all corners of Spain and beyond, came about after she “cracked the code” for living her overseas dream, after she hit 35. She now helps other women over 30 do the same.
I’m thinking of David Hammond, who, after decades spent captaining boats and selling real estate, bought an apartment in Montevideo, the cultured capital of Uruguay, for $26,000… and soon discovered he liked city living even better than his previous life by the beach. In this issue, David takes you on a walking tour of the very best of Montevideo’s 62 neighborhoods. (Uruguay, in case you’re wondering, has a larger middle class—in terms of its population—than the US, and it’s easy to become a resident or to do business. It’s such a safe haven, it’s even been called South America’s own Switzerland.)
I’m thinking of Rachel Devlin, IL’s Thailand contributor. For her article this month, Rachel took a trip 700 years back in time to a forgotten city, and stared into the face of the Buddha—who stared back. Rachel’s not sure yet if she’s found exactly the serenity she’s been looking for—but at least she’s still looking… Keeping the dream alive. Read her meditations on a day-trip to Ayutthaya, once the capital of ancient Siam, right here.
“Keeping the dream alive”… that might be good shorthand for our core mission at IL: Giving you the tools you need to keep your overseas dream alive—and make it happen. Helping you sort through the absolute cornucopia of options out there.
We’re the opposite of fatalists here at International Living—whether it’s “heterofatalism” or any other kind…
The world’s full of the stuff that you want—a lower cost life; a more exciting retirement; even finding love? (more on that soon)—but you do have to figure out what you really want… and know where to go to get it.
Editor’s Note: If you’ve been dreaming of a better life overseas, this is where to start.
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