The Sophie's Choice of Living Abroad

The impossible decision Tereza made between family and the life she built abroad.

Everyone faces tough choices in life, but for expats, those choices often come with an extra layer of complexity—choosing between the life you’ve built abroad and being there for the people you love back home.

For Tereza, this decision wasn’t just theoretical; it was real, emotional, and life-changing. From the Czech Republic to Austria, New Zealand, and now Australia, her journey has been filled with unexpected lessons, hard-won wisdom, and a mindset shift that changed everything.

💖 Where are you from? Czech Republic

💖 Where have you lived abroad & where do you live now?

I lived in Austria briefly, then 6 years in New Zealand and now moving to Australia!

💖 What’s one thing living abroad has taught you about yourself?

To carry my home within me <3 It took a couple of years for me to find that inner peace, but I learned how to feel safe and supported in my own body, how to give myself a hug, how to be proud. While this might sound like a red flag of hyperindependence, I feel calmer than I used to when I relied on other people to give me those feelings.

💖 Have you ever had a moment where you thought about moving back? Why or why not?

I did. It was during COVID when Europe was a hot mess and New Zealand was pretty much a paradise with closed borders. My sister had a wedding in 2021 and was expecting her baby soon after that, and I was faced with a bit of a Sophie's choice - either be at my sister's wedding, see my nephew and then suffer the pandemic with the rest of my loved ones and leave New Zealand forever (there was no way of coming back once you’ve left at that time) or stay on this Island I truly loved and miss two of the most important days in my sister's life. There was also a weird feeling that "I should suffer with them". I decided to stay in New Zealand. And while it was truly one of the hardest decisions in my life, it was the right one.

💖 What’s a local phrase or slang word you’ve totally embraced?

She'll be right. As someone who used to think about trillion possibilities of future events, I totally embraced this saying and learned how to let things unfold.

💖📲 Interested in connecting with this broad abroad? Follow Tereza on LinkedIn!

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A word from the HBIC (Head Broad in Charge) 😛

Hey, broads!

How are we feeling about this new format—breaking out the Subscriber Spotlight into its own newsletter?

From the very start of this project, I knew I wanted to give other women a platform to share their stories of life abroad. As the newsletter grew, it only felt right to pass the proverbial mic and bring their experiences center stage. I've been connecting with incredible expat women—both IRL and online—who are eager to share their journeys. I’m so grateful for their openness and honored to bring their stories to this Substack community. My sincerest wish is to bring their stories to life in a way that truly reflects their experiences.

Don’t worry, you’ll still get plenty of my writing, but I wanted to mix things up and create a more dynamic, multi-way conversation. As always, I’d love your feedback—reply to this email or send me a Substack DM with any thoughts or suggestions for future newsletters!

That’s it for this edition.

Now, I’d love to hear from you 👉 Have you ever had to make an impossible choice between the life you built abroad and the people you love back home? Drop your thoughts in the comments!

Catch ya next week!

Muah 💋
Juvi