How to deal with stress when moving to Costa Rica

The best way to not be stressed is to turn off your judgment and not let things "get to you"  that seem crazy from your gringo point of view.

"Accept what is without complaint or judgment."

Now, if you can do that, you're golden. If someone would explain to me how to accomplish that, I'd be forever indebted. LOL.

Most of us will find ourselves stressing, to some degree, about  the way Ticos do things, from driving, to running everything from banking to hardware stores to health care in terms of waiting in lines, etc.

If you can manage to know, going in to this adventure, that things are going to be quite different in ways you never imagined, and see it as an adventure and opportunity to learn to accept these different ways, then you will do better than many.

But for many gringos it is not easy to accept the Tico culture and bureaucracies.

What a great question!  There were many things that led to my initial stresses here in Costa Rica that I brought with me not that they can be directly attributed to Costa Rica.  I'm sure that most of us moving to Costa Rica experience a good deal of stress about why we left our home country and decided to come here.  I had actually moved to Costa Rica and then learned that 1) my daughter needed a double lung transplant and 2) my Mother was dying from leukemia.  If there is such a thing as stress overload I had it.  Anyway, there are things that you can do to help yourself and by doing so these will help others.  Here's my list: (not in any particular order)
1) Do your best to control sugar intake.
2) Do your best to control caffeine intake.
3) Do your best to control salt intake.
4) Practice meditation
5) Watch your thoughts.  What you are thinking is certainly creating what you feel.  Recognize what is causing you issues and change it.
6) Be grateful.  I make it a practice to write down at least 5 things I'm grateful for each day.
7)Accept that Costa Rica may not have all the resources you are used to.
8) Connect to nature.
9) Get outside if you can.  Leave your house or apartment.  Take a nice walk.  Breathe deeply.
10) Practice living in the now.

Durphym wrote:

What a great question!  There were many things that led to my initial stresses here in Costa Rica that I brought with me not that they can be directly attributed to Costa Rica.  I'm sure that most of us moving to Costa Rica experience a good deal of stress about why we left our home country and decided to come here.  I had actually moved to Costa Rica and then learned that 1) my daughter needed a double lung transplant and 2) my Mother was dying from leukemia.  If there is such a thing as stress overload I had it.  Anyway, there are things that you can do to help yourself and by doing so these will help others.  Here's my list: (not in any particular order)
1) Do your best to control sugar intake.
2) Do your best to control caffeine intake.
3) Do your best to control salt intake.
4) Practice meditation
5) Watch your thoughts.  What you are thinking is certainly creating what you feel.  Recognize what is causing you issues and change it.
6) Be grateful.  I make it a practice to write down at least 5 things I'm grateful for each day.
7)Accept that Costa Rica may not have all the resources you are used to.
8) Connect to nature.
9) Get outside if you can.  Leave your house or apartment.  Take a nice walk.  Breathe deeply.
10) Practice living in the now.

Basically a good list but :
I know too much salt and almost any sugar are bad for the body, but are salt and sugar bad for stress?
Number 7 is a biggie!

well. sunshines
bite the bit , have a tissue for your issue
shop local , find the local fruit lady . buy some cute garlic / lichees and chocolate pods
eat raw uncontaminated nourishing food , to stay super healthy .
dont  go and poison yourself  on the genetically modified oil  products , its weaponised (that means third generation  is sterile)
I thought South Africa was bad , but its a generic copy of. junk food here ,
note most restaurants fry in it .observe  the mad oil products in the supermarket ,
but don't. buy it,
and Nutella has. gmo oil in it . btw
I know I'm walking amongst ghosts , as the population is chubbing out already
its an IQ TEST  for the whole world .

so source your coconut oil to fry in  , one little detail. that will take you out
the rest you can figure out .

but I do love the place so far , I LOVE THE SWEAT . the ground water. tastes nice and volcanic . enjoy coconut water.

dont litter . rather be an example of. keeping a pristine world
its fun and as for a rainbow nation , its pretty rocking
and I'm happy to contrabute  my work to  this reality.

its a labour of love , plant fruit forests right now .
I still sleep next to a machetty , as I'm still paranoid  and stressed  from the stress of south Africa
but hell  thats not. a problem , the locals are getting use to me.
which is how humans  acquaint , no. rush

its beer and tattoos for some , 
for me  its clean. the planet and plant  edible forests
so there is more abundance for everyone.

peace out
Rainbird

rainbirds wrote:

well. sunshines
bite the bit , have a tissue for your issue
shop local , find the local fruit lady . buy some cute garlic / lichees and chocolate pods
eat raw uncontaminated nourishing food , to stay super healthy .
dont  go and poison yourself  on the genetically modified oil  products , its weaponised (that means third generation  is sterile)
I thought South Africa was bad , but its a generic copy of. junk food here ,
note most restaurants fry in it .observe  the mad oil products in the supermarket ,
but don't. buy it,
and Nutella has. gmo oil in it . btw
I know I'm walking amongst ghosts , as the population is chubbing out already
its an IQ TEST  for the whole world .

so source your coconut oil to fry in  , one little detail. that will take you out
the rest you can figure out .

but I do love the place so far , I LOVE THE SWEAT . the ground water. tastes nice and volcanic . enjoy coconut water.

dont litter . rather be an example of. keeping a pristine world
its fun and as for a rainbow nation , its pretty rocking
and I'm happy to contrabute  my work to  this reality.

its a labour of love , plant fruit forests right now .
I still sleep next to a machetty , as I'm still paranoid  and stressed  from the stress of south Africa
but hell  thats not. a problem , the locals are getting use to me.
which is how humans  acquaint , no. rush

its beer and tattoos for some , 
for me  its clean. the planet and plant  edible forests
so there is more abundance for everyone.

peace out
Rainbird

Hola Rainbird,

Welcome to Expat.com!

I have a friend who's still living in SA and from her many stories, I can see how moving here could be quite a culture shock.  It will be good when you no longer feel the need for the "bedside machete."  😳

I guess that I'm in the minority here.  I don't remember feeling any stress at all moving here.  I find going back to visit in the States much more stressful.  There is of course a cultural adjustment in relocating to any country, but that is just expected.

- Expat Dave
Expat.com Team Member