Upon my reflection of my first full year in France I thought I would record a video on how I survived living on my own. 8 key points on how I managed it and something for anyone to use if planning on doing the same. Let me know what you think of the 8 and if you would add anything.
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Hey everyone welcome back to the channel as some of you may know this is the start of my second season in France so I thought the idea of today’s video would be a quick guide and some tips on what I learned on Surviving my
First year living in a different foreign country being a cyclist I hope you guys enjoy I’ve come up with eight ideas that I think are crucial in how I survived last year and what I’m going to use again this year just for a background for some people that don’t
Know I’m currently 19 years old so last year I was 18 when I had this new Step In My Life um and living on my own being one part of it and also racing my bike um so yeah here’s what they
Are number one I’d say is one of the most important things I’ve learned and that I’ve since been a back here tried getting into as quick as possible is getting into a routine um when I’m here in France it’s very easy the only thing I’m doing is riding my bikes it’s
Very easy to lose track of time and waste a lot of time so what I try and do is have structure to my day in terms of getting up at a similar time every morning going to bed at
A similar time riding my bike at a similar time and eating my meals at a similar time just so everything’s a bit more structured uh and have a bit more going on where when I first came over last year I was riding my bike I was training well but because I
Didn’t have that structure in every day I was wasting a lot of time uh and not being very productive my second Point again this is more for being in a foreign country is learning the lingo um I before coming to France I knew very little French uh and it’s something that well
I’ve worked on a lot and I wish to continue to work on um but it wasn’t really until again last year a few weeks in that I realized how much of a problem this would be uh this is being around
My team and races but also again day-to-day life over here wherever you go whatever country it’s really crucial uh to have that lingo and the language with you um as it will make your life a lot easier for socializing making friends in shops asking questions um and I think is
Something really important for anyone thinking of doing something like this my third point and something I wish I did a bit more last year but I’m also definitely going to focus on this year is take every opportunity that given to me I did this quite well last year with things like the island
Games um that was an amazing experience for me and it was nice to race back home uh but this also is not just in racing but travel um opportunity I had last year was to go to London uh for the sports
Aid athlete welcoming event which was really good again another opportunity I’m really happy I did um but then the example where I wish I’d done a bit more was in April last year I was planning
On going back home to gery uh and on the way I ended up getting stuck in the other island of Jersey uh and this wasn’t planned land uh and at the time I saw it was a real negative uh and all
I was focused on was um being oh I want to go to gy want to go to gery really looking back on it now I wish I appreciated that opportunity a bit more um I was able to ride my bike uh in Jersey
And explore the island a bit uh and just socialize a bit more which was nice to do um I sort of wish I’d just done a bit more of it and not seen it as at a negative at the time and actually
A positive yes I wasn’t expecting it to happen but it happened and I should have used it a bit better um and seeing the good point number four like I said earlier um is about my free time when I’m
Not riding my bike over here I have a lot of free time that can easily be wasted uh and my fourth point is utilizing this free time and making the most most of it uh I’ve really tried um working
On things like the YouTube channel editing stuff um graphic design things just like reading books um and it’s not just sitting around and watching Netflix all day because as good as that is what is it bringing me uh I feel like I need more plans in life if the cycling never works out
Um which I feel like by creating opportunities and utilizing this free time to learn new things and skills is a perfect way to use it uh so that I’ve got these backup plans for the future if uh stuff
Doesn’t work out and also think it’s important to pick things that you want to enjoy um because you’re not going to be persistent with stuff if you’re not enjoying it whereas YouTube channel when I’m in that grind and I’m uploading videos I’ve really enjoyed it um and I hope to continue
This and also in my free time this year learn new things and continue growing my skills off the bike Point number five this is again both of something on and off the bike living over here is expecting and accepting knockbacks um I realized last year this is something I
Wasn’t really expecting was um it was so hard when I had a difficult race or a bad race or a bad day to talk to anyone in that sort of way I know I have my family on a touch of
A button over a phone but living on my own over here actually just talking to someone through it uh and explaining things is something I really struggled with um it’s it was difficult whereas back home if I have a problem I can talk to a mate or a family member like that
No problem in person and I can talk through it where over here it’s it’s a bit more of a struggle this is something I hope to change this year well I hope to improve on by being
More open and talking to my family when I’ve had a bad day or a bad race um but it’s definitely something for people to expect if they’re ever going to come out to a different country not be
By their family uh is to yeah it’s the the hard times are even harder when you’re living on your own because there’s no one there to comfort and support you um so just be prepared for
That my sixth point is really similar to the last point is uh keeping focus and aiming towards goals I think something that I’ve changed this year which I didn’t really do last year very well was setting myself goals which then helps my last point of the difficult points if I’ve got
Something to aim for and Achieve for I’ve got light at the end of tunnel and an objective to work towards um and I think this is very important uh in terms this is more of my
Racing side of things um by having that event coming up I know I have to put the work in and their timing to hopefully be at my best level for that race uh so this is something I’m looking at
Aiming on to do more this year is I’ve selected specific races throughout the season um that I’m going to focus on and have my main goals and targets which will hopefully get me better results Point number seven which again can link to the last point of focusing I think is learning to
Switch off again this is something I’ve learned from last year I didn’t do do it very well and I hope to do more this year is learning after aiming for an objective or having a long period
Of racing to switch off I’m very lucky that home for me is only a 2hour boat away I know lots of other Riders racing in Europe or people living away from home this is a lot longer and it’s a
Lot more difficult um so when I did take these trips home last year I did go home but I didn’t switch off completely I always had racing and riding my bike and training in the back of my
Mind and I think this year um something I want to do is when I do go home is completely switch off don’t even think about the bike just for a couple days at a time just to really refresh the brain
Uh enjoy being around the family again because obviously I don’t have that all the time when I am over here in France um and I think this will be very crucial in order to be fresh and motivated
To get going to then achieve the next goals that I’ve got coming up um by being completely refreshed and my last point point8 is appreciating every day I’ve got here um I think this is something that obviously I’m very lucky to be in the opportunity that I am uh to be living on
My own um living in France doing what I’ve always dreamed of of riding and racing my bike something that really opened my eyes to this mall um was having all of last year and then being able to
Do it again this year uh speaking to a lot of my mates over the winter back home in gery uh it was very interesting about how much they are enjoying their lives and how happy they are since
Leaving school and being in office jobs uh and it really made me grateful for what I’ve got uh and trying to achieve this dream that I have um I really I’ve got nothing to complain about in
What I do um I’ve got it very easy uh and I cannot be more grateful um and even just the small things every day getting up and riding my bike is all I have to think about and I’m
Very grateful for that there you go guys go there are my personal eight points and what I think you need to live on a foreign country on your own as an athlete let me guys know what you think
Of them and if you agree with me um I hope you have enjoyed this video please give it a thumbs up if you haven’t already and also subscribe to my channel and I’ll see you guys in the next one oh
1 Comment
nice video love the advice about doing something outside cycling it’s really important