Change.

In the last ten years, I have lived in four countries and eight different states in the U.S. to play soccer. Every few months, I would relocate so that I was playing professional, or competitive, soccer year round. Some teams had shorter seasons than others depending on the level of the team and when I arrived in the season. A few days ago I moved to a foreign country, making it my fifth country in ten years.

I learned about things like culture shock and jet leg from my first experience living and playing in Italy. At times, living and playing in the U.S. posed its own challenges. For example, in Colorado I learned about acclimatizing due to the high altitude.

I have faced various challenges before, and immediately after, arriving to my new location regardless if it was in the U.S. or outside the U.S. There are countless challenges players face beyond the commonly reported challenges I mentioned above.

No matter how much I try and prepare for the next big move, there are always new challenges which I have to navigate. As I grow older, I have to navigate the challenges of my parents growing older and me not being close to home to help them. I have to navigate long distance relationships. When I am abroad, I have to quickly navigate the customs of a culture and how to speak with people and manage various power dynamics.

When I arrive to my new home, I have to navigate the personal boundaries and routines of teammates or my host family. I have to constantly remind myself that just because something makes sense to me, does not mean it makes sense to them. For example, today I rearranged the furniture of the apartment and the kitchen area so that we can optimize our space. While I thought this was an optimal use of space, it does not mean it was optimal for my roommate. When I moved the couch back a few feet so that it was against the wall rather than in the middle of the living room, I did not realize that it would be difficult for her to watch television because she had poor eyesight which is why it was so close to the television in the first place.

I learned that there is a great deal of stress on my body with each relocation. When I was in my early twenties, I tried to tell myself that if I simply anticipated every challenge I would face, that it would make the transition easier. I thought that if I could address my past run ins with my new host family and my new roommates upfront, that it would save me the stress later on. For example, I liked to establish (or at least inquire) cleaning rules for the dishes or asking my host family if they had any ground rules for living in their home. I do my best to try and learn from my past experiences to allow for a positive experience in the future. However, everyone is different and I can not control people’s reactions or responses to me.

The first few days moving to a new location are very exciting: meeting a new team, new coach, moving into my new home. But, there is also natural stress that players like myself face as well. So far, my club and coach have acknowledged the things that have caused me any amount of stress. Simply acknowledging the stress of a big move has brought me ease as I slowly grow more comfortable in my new home and new club.