It’s been a little over a year since I created this blog to write about my experiences travelling and living abroad. This blog is only my most recent endeavour with online blogging as well as writing in general. I remember one subject back when I was at university, we had to create a blog post each week. This ended up being a major assessment for that subject. That may have been where my love for blogging and writing on the internet started.

Blogging, writing, and being creative in general can be really good for us as expats. Not only is it a source of inspiration for us, but blogs can also act as a source of information for curious readers too. How many times have you gone online to research something and found that there was already somebody on a blog who had those same questions and experiences as you? Whenever my wife and I are planning to travel we always find travel bloggers who have already done the miles. It’s a great way to peer into their lives as well as prepare for our own journey.

If you’re thinking ‘Maybe I should write about my experiences’, I am going to give you 5 reasons to encourage you along this path. This particular article isn’t about creating a money making platform. My focus is more about how you can grow as a person through writing and being present online.

Writing is a form of artistic expression and creativity, even if you’re just writing about your day-to-day stuff. So when we write, we are engaging an important part of our brain and even soul. That is to say, finding something creative to do can subtly add a lot of value into your life.

It’s somewhere to collect your thoughts

Leading off from my last point, let’s assume that you don’t want to be known online for your writing, commenting, or photos. There’s still a lot of benefit in keeping your thoughts and experiences in written form. After all, keeping journals and diaries has been a thing ever since we could get out hands on pieces of paper. Nowadays you have all kinds of options for being present online; this includes blogging but you may also find that writing as a fictional character or using a site like Tumblr is better for your needs. It’s all about what you like to use and what helps get those creative juices flowing.

Living as an expat you will have many feelings that you may not always be able to voice out. You might be feeling a lot of frustration, anger, anxiety, or exhaustion at different points in your life.

It can feel like there’s no-one there to listen to you when you’re always on the move or when the things you’re upset about cannot be changed. Writing is a healthy way not only to express what’s on your mind, but you might also find you can resolve whatever these issues are and bring yourself some inner peace.

For a while I was worried my blog might turn into ‘what scam did I get hit with next?’ because in our first few months in Turkiye it was something I couldn’t avoid. However writing about my experiences both helped me vent my frustration as well as come to terms with my feelings.

Finding your voice and becoming confident

When we read about writing we often hear about voice, we’re drawn to authors who write with a strong voice. A clear and unique voice might often be the reason why one writer, presenter, or celebrity is more popular than the other. Even if they’re saying the exact same thing! It’s one of those things I think people will be able to identify in others but it can be really hard to develop in yourself. There’s a lot of advice about how to improve your voice out there. However, the only real way to internalise that advice is through practice, feedback, and exposure.

Finding your voice and being heard is especially important for those of us expats who are considered ‘trailing spouses’. It’s all too easy for us to sometimes hide behind our partner’s shadow. However both partners in a relationship, and everyone in general, have their own voice with important opinions and experiences.

If you would like to read more about some of the expectations that go along with being a husband who follows their expat wife, check this article out over here.

Writing will help you define the topics you are passionate about. It’s also a way to practise talking about those topics by crafting what you want to say and how. This can be a major confidence boost for expats since you are able to own your space through writing.

You’re not alone in your writing

If you don’t write, it’s easy to think that you don’t have a voice or that it doesn’t matter. Likewise you might also feel like you are the only person who has these thoughts and emotions running through your head. However if you are thinking about a problem, it’s likely someone else is too.

Blogging is a great way to see what ideas are out there, and find supportive communities. Your writing may also be just what someone else was looking for.

As technology changes, we always hear about other ‘older’ forms of expression dying or falling out of use. Similarly, with things like YouTube and podcasting being so popular you might think that blogging was going the way of the dinosaur. It’s not true though, while other forms of media might be gaining popularity there is still a great need for written content online. If I want information fast, I will probably go to YouTube first. However as I’m doing my research I find that written posts can do things that video isn’t always able to do. So don’t worry; there’s still a need for your thoughts and your blog.

This blog, for example, came from the fact that I wanted information about being a ‘trailing spouse’. However the majority of articles were written from a female perspective. This information was useful, and in most aspects our experiences are the same, however I felt that I might be able to provide a slightly different angle. There are so many specific niches out there. I’ve seen expats write about parenting, grandparenting, budgeting, fashion and all kinds of things. There are so many variables that make our lives different that your own voice and opinion is unique.

Creating and joining a community

Just like you are not alone in terms of wanting to read about and write about content you love; you are also not alone when it comes to who wants to interact with you. One of the best parts about the internet is it’s ability to grow communities around otherwise niche topics.

Back in high school you may have been the only person interested in fantasy fiction or punk rock. Thanks to the internet though, you can find other people to bond with over what you love. Should you choose to make your writing public you might very well find a supportive group who wants to share your ideas and welcome you in. At least, that’s what I’ve found in both the expatriate and writer’s communities.

For expats, and especially the spouses, it can be hard to find people to relate with when you are overseas. I have written about the importance of having a group of like-minded individuals to be with; you can check that article out here.

Many organisations do try and assist spouses by creating things like ladies group or expat wives groups. Since my blog is called The Nomadic Husband, you may already be able to see that wasn’t exactly the group for me. Through this platform, I’ve been able to speak directly to people who share both similar mindsets and experiences as me.

Writing as a way to practise creativity

Lastly, I wanted to share something about creativity. Writing is a form of artistic expression and creativity, even if you’re just writing about your day-to-day stuff.

So when we write, we are engaging an important part of our brain and even soul. That is to say, finding something creative to do can subtly add a lot of value into your life.

As an aspiring writer myself I regularly tune into Joanna Penn’s podcasts about writing. In an interview called “Rediscover Your Creative Free Spirit” the topic became a bit more cerebral as they discussed how important having a creative outlet can be.

This is something you don’t necessarily need to make money from. It’s just that the act of being creative often leads to being creative in different fields of your life too. Meaning that through some deep creative bond, what you write might also affect your painting, or your music. And vice versa.

I feel like the creative pursuits can often be viewed as either “a childish hobby” or “a side hustle”. But they often have benefits for their own sakes. Here is an article I wrote recently, about the benefits of reading fiction as an expat. I highly recommend you check it out!

For me personally, I love to write. I try and do it every day if I can. But I’m not always writing about nomadic and expatriate stuff. Sometimes I dabble in poetry and I really like to express myself through fiction as well. Writing, like any other creative endeavour, requires practice and training. So the end goal is not necessarily for all my writing to be published. Rather the writing can be an end goal in itself; writing for the sake of enjoyment and self improvement. This is tricky to remember since it’s so easy these days to want to make money off our creative hobbies. Yet sometimes all we need is to have someone read our work and provide feedback for us to improve. Sometimes the most important part about writing is just the act of writing itself. My hope is that these different forms of writing will be able to affect and improve each other; and that I become a stronger writer through it all.