I moved to East Africa 25 years ago. This was before the internet redefined our lives. It was the age of pay-by-the-byte-downloaded emails, expensive international phone calls, airmail paper letters, and no Amazon – unless we’re talking about the Amazon River. In Kenya, we experienced power and water outages and the occasional food item shortage when it was out of season – because who had money for expensive imports?
Since that time, I’ve lived in – both long and short-term – in two other countries. Living in a different country, with different expectations and challenges, teaches you a lot about how to survive.
You might say I am officially a First World Problem Survivor.
With COVID-19 inciting panic in the United States, I thought I’d share six lessons I learned from international living that helped me normalize my day-to-day.
FIRST: Understand your life
It’s easy to take things for granted in America, because things are easy. Forget something? Run to the store or Amazon 1-hour delivery it. Overseas, life isn’t that easy. You might have to travel a distance to a store, there might be a shortage or shops might close at 6 and you work until 5:30 p.m. (I’m looking at you, Eastcote).
You can take control by taking an audit of your life. How many rolls of toilet paper does your household use in a week? How long does a bottle of shampoo last? What spices are in your cabinet? What items – specifically – are in the freezer and fridge?
Getting a handle on what you use, how you use it and what you have will help you understand what it actually takes to run your household.
SECOND: Keep basics in stock
When you live in a time or place of uncertainty, things can go badly if you wait until you are out of something to restock. In our home, we always have 1-2 spares in stock. Not a huge supply, mind you. Just enough to keep going. For example, when I grab the last bottle of my favorite shampoo, I restock so there is a spare in the cabinet even though it takes me a couple of months to go through a bottle.
We take the same approach for items like toilet paper, tissues, paper towels and hand soap. When we get to the last six rolls of toilet paper, we restock. Last two rolls of paper towels? Restock.
You can also follow this approach for food. Figure out what food items your family will eat at any time. In our house that’s tacos, stir-fry, and beans or peanut butter on toast. As a result, I always have a 16-oz bag each of rice, pinto beans and black beans in the pantry. I also have a jar of peanut butter and bread (and ingredients to make a simple 3-ingredient bread because I like to bake). My freezer always has tortillas, ground beef, vegan “meat,” and a couple of our favorite Trader Joe’s frozen Asian stir-fry meals. You can guess what we do when we run low – we restock.
Always keep these in the pantry:
- Dehydrated milk (or a box of your favorite plant-based milk)
- Ground flaxseed (it’s good for you and you can use it as an egg substitute)
- Flour
- Sweetener (sugar, honey or your favorite substitute)
- Baking soda
- White vinegar
- Salt
THIRD: Keep things clean
Wash your hands. Do it early, often and be thorough – 20 seconds with soap and water.
Take off your shoes in your house to reduce dirt tracking (and germs).
Wash your vegetables and fruit – even the ones that come “prewashed” in bags. Use a teaspoon of vinegar and it will kill a lot of the gross stuff.
Simplify – you don’t have to purchase already-made cleaning products. There are an amazing number of effective cleaners you can make at home using common items like dish soap, vinegar, rubbing alcohol and water. You can add some essential oils for scent and other side benefits (honestly…I’m not in the essential oil pushing camp). A great resource is Melissa Maker of Clean My Space. Check out her website for more information. I’ve made my own since living overseas and it’s cheaper, more effective and (bonus) the base ingredients are simple to keep in stock in my home.
FOURTH: Find the fun
Whenever you think you have nothing in your home, play your own game of Chopped. What can you make with the ingredients you have on hand and nothing else? There are many websites that will generate recipes based on ingredients you input.
Laugh at your fails – and eat them anyway. Ask my husband about chocomole sometime.
Find some good memes on the internet and give yourself permission to laugh. There will come a time when everyone laughs about Great Toilet Paper Shortage of 2020. Might as well start laughing now.
Seriously, laughing reminds us outside forces don’t have to have control over our attitude. Things didn’t work out as you expected? Own the moment with a good laugh. Plus a deep belly laugh is a great way to trigger your body to release negative energy.
FIFTH: Build up patience
One of the worst parts of uncertainty is that everything seems to take longer. You wait in lines at the store, wait for information and, importantly, wait for things to return to normal.
Americans live in a seconds-matter world. But guess what? Crises don’t resolve in seconds– they are more like marathons.
Start building your patience muscle now. Take a book with you (physical or electronic) and read while you wait in line. Go for a walk. Unplug – looking at the same thing over and over won’t change what is in the moment.
And you just might want to adopt the Hayley Family mantra: Everything takes longer than you think it will. (So manage your expectations!)
SIXTH: Don’t panic
During the dry season in Kenya, the government shut our water off overnight and sometimes for a couple of days at a time. I knew the water would be shut off, I knew my attic water tank was full and had sufficient storage to get me through until the water came back on. Yet every time I heard the water lines cut off, I felt incredibly, painfully, can’t-think-of-anything-else thirsty. I was irrationally fearful I’d never have a drink of water again. But do you know what? The water always came back on. In the 25 years since my first water shut-off, I’ve drunk thousands of gallons of water.
What I’m saying is there’s no need to panic. Even though things are chaotic, crises don’t last forever – they never have. You just have to accept it takes time for things to go right again.