Expat Burnout: How to Recognize It and Recover

Living the Dream or Running on Empty? Understanding Expat Burnout

Moving abroad is often hyped up as an endless reel of Instagram-worthy cafés, cultural adventures, and career wins. But let’s be real—sometimes it’s just you, aggressively Googling how to ask for oat milk in another language while wondering if you made a horrible life decision. Expat burnout is real, and it’s sneaky.

A study by Maslach & Leiter (2016) found that burnout isn’t just stress—it’s chronic exhaustion, detachment, and feeling like even answering an email requires your soul to leave your body. For expats, juggling work stress, cultural confusion, and social isolation can turn a dream move into a slow-motion meltdown.

And no, doubling your espresso intake is not a sustainable solution. ☕🚨

Signs You Might Be Experiencing Expat Burnout

Burnout doesn’t always arrive with a dramatic breakdown. Sometimes it just slides into your life like a bad Tinder match—slowly sucking the joy out of everything. Research from Schaufeli et al. (2009) identifies three key signs:

1. Emotional Exhaustion

   • You’re running on fumes, and no amount of sleep or existential crisis management seems to fix it.

2. Depersonalization & Detachment

   • Your enthusiasm for work, people, and that cute bakery you once loved is officially meh.

3. Reduced Personal Accomplishment

   • You doubt your own competence, even though you’ve somehow managed to survive in a country where you still can’t figure out how to pay your utilities.

Additional red flags include:

• Chronic fatigue

• Frequent headaches or digestive issues (burnout loves to mess with your gut, just for fun!)

• Social avoidance (leaving texts on read because answering feels like a full-time job)

• Sudden urge to quit everything and become a hermit in the mountains 🏔️

If you’re nodding along, congratulations—you might be in burnout territory. Time to grab your metaphorical suitcase and unpack some solutions.

Why Expats Are at Higher Risk of Burnout

Burnout can hit anyone, but expats get a VIP pass to the stress train. Here’s why:

1. High-Pressure Work Environments

• Many expats relocate for dream jobs—only to find out their dream includes 80-hour weeks and a boss who emails at midnight (Hofstede, 2001).

2. Cultural Adjustment Stress

• Acculturative stress is a real thing, and it’s tied to expat mental health struggles (Berry, 2005).

• Daily tasks that were once easy (grocery shopping, banking, ordering food) suddenly feel like high-stakes survival challenges.

3. Social Isolation & Lack of Support

• Making friends as an adult is already hard. Now try doing it in a different language, without your usual social safety net (Selmer, 2011).

• Studies show that expats with weaker social networks experience higher stress levels (Cohen & Wills, 1985).

How to Recover from Expat Burnout

Burnout doesn’t disappear with a weekend spa trip (though, let’s be honest, that wouldn’t hurt). Here’s what actually works:

1. Recognize & Acknowledge Burnout

• Step one: admit you’re exhausted. Self-awareness reduces stress reactivity (Gross, 2002).

• Journaling your stress triggers can clarify patterns (and is a great excuse to buy a fancy notebook you’ll probably only half-fill).

2. Set Boundaries & Prioritize Work-Life Balance

• Reducing work hours and enforcing actual work-life separation helps (Maslach et al., 2001).

• Learn to say “no” without guilt—especially if your boss thinks “urgent” means right now at 2 AM.

3. Reconnect with Social Support Networks

• Strong social ties = less stress (Cohen & Wills, 1985).

• Find your people: expat groups, local meetups, or a friend who doesn’t judge when you panic-order the wrong food.

4. Engage in Stress-Reduction Techniques

• Meditation, yoga, or breathwork can physically reduce stress hormones (Davidson et al., 2003).

• Exercise helps reset your nervous system (Salmon, 2001). Also, rage-walking is free therapy.

5. Seek Professional Counseling

• Therapy isn’t just for crisis moments—it’s for preventing them, too.

• If in-person therapy is tricky, online therapy for expats is an option (and much better than venting to your plants). 🌱

Final Thoughts: Thriving Beyond Burnout

Burnout isn’t a personality flaw—it’s a warning sign from your brain. The good news? You can recover.

If you’re an expat struggling with burnout, Studio Therapeia offers counseling tailored to your unique challenges. Book a session today and start reclaiming your energy before you officially turn into a human-shaped anxiety puddle. ☕

References

• Berry, J. W. (2005). Acculturation: Living successfully in two cultures. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 29(6), 697-712.

• Cohen, S., & Wills, T. A. (1985). Stress, social support, and the buffering hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 98(2), 310-357.

• Davidson, R. J., et al. (2003). Alterations in brain and immune function produced by mindfulness meditation. Psychosomatic Medicine, 65(4), 564-570.

• Gross, J. J. (2002). Emotion regulation: Affective, cognitive, and social consequences. Psychophysiology, 39(3), 281-291.

• Maslach, C., & Leiter, M. P. (2016). Understanding the burnout experience: Recent research and its implications for psychiatry. World Psychiatry, 15(2), 103-111.

• Richardson, K. M., & Rothstein, H. R. (2008). Effects of occupational stress management intervention programs. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 13(1), 69-93.

• Salmon, P. (2001). Effects of physical exercise on anxiety, depression, and sensitivity to stress. Clinical Psychology Review, 21(1), 33-61.

• Schaufeli, W. B., Leiter, M. P., & Maslach, C. (2009). Burnout: 35 years of research and practice. Career Development International, 14(3), 204-220.

• Selmer, J. (2011). Expatriate social adjustment. Journal of Global Mobility, 1(2), 231-251.