At over 90,000 words, it's the biggest edition yet.
I include an extensive guide that explores how to immigrate into this country and get a job here. I look at the faint, glimmering light of hope that is creeping over the country as its people are vaccinated, and to the opportunities that will again skyrocket heavenward when Ireland re-opens for business.
Once again, I try to answer those questions friends have posed to me over the years: Tom, why did you immigrate to Ireland? How did you become a citizen? How did you get a job there?
And the big one: Can I do that, too?
The answer to the last question is the most challenging. The short answer is: Yes. But the process is much more complicated than one simple word. Which is why I wrote the book in the first place.
This is the final edition of A Survivor's Guide to Living in Ireland. After all the years of writing it, I guess I've finally run out of things to say. Too, this head of mine isn't as young as it once. It's time to move on, just as the world is moving on.
To all those who have purchased past editions of A Survivor's Guide to Living in Ireland (and there are over twenty thousand of you), please know how grateful I am.
To those of you who are looking for an easy read about a nutty Yank's wild journeys in Ireland over the past 39 years, I hope you buy a copy of this 2021 edition.
And to everyone else: living the life of an expatriate has been one hellofa crazy ride. Recently, someone asked me if I'd do it again. The truthful answer is, probably not. It was far more work than I could have imagined.
Yet, though I didn't know it when I first moved here, I was given an immense gift. I've learned that living in a country different from your birth is a tremendous opportunity. Circumstances that are part of an immigrant's experience push you to perform to your very best. You're constantly reaching farther and higher because no one is there to catch you should you fall.
You're on your own, and you learn that the only one you can rely on is the person inside.
I didn't always succeed. Often, I failed miserably. I probably would have made much more money had I never ventured to a country so different from that of my birth. But I know that had I stayed in America, I would never have tried my hand at so many different things to make a living for my family - from weighbridge salesman to writer; owner of a marketing agency to operations director of leased offices company, to the owner of a 'Tent Camping' site resting next to an amazingly beautiful Atlantic Bay. I was forced to learn. Either that, or perish.
I chose the former and decided to survive.
Being an immigrant isn't easy. In fact, it's damned hard. (Think about THAT when you read about a family of immigrants trying to cross a U.S. border river to make a new life). But, it is also incredibly rewarding. And I'm not talking about the pocketbook definition of that word.
'Rewarding', as in learning to realize the innate goodness of people because you've met so many; 'rewarding', as in learning that even when you want to give up and drown yourself because you can't earn a proper crust, you discover that you are stronger than you thought because you'll keep trying; 'rewarding', as in waking up one day after 39 years of expatriate life, and finally understanding that the challenges you've encountered have also taught you many valuable lessons. You'll smile a bit, realizing that your struggle has burnished your soul with the heat of fear and heartache, transforming at last to hope and a bit of joyful triumph.
'Rewarding', as you suddenly realize that the decision you made to stay here was the right one, after all.
To all those who yearn for the life of an expatriate, I wish you well. I also stress how carefully you should plan your journey. If you don't, you might bite off more than you can chew.
Mind you, I never planned and looked what happened to me?
A Survivor's Guide to Living in Ireland, 2021 Edition is out now on Amazon. Just click here.
(If the link doesn't work, go to: https://www.amazon.com/Survivors-Guide-Living-Ireland-2021-ebook/dp/B08YRP3Z9N/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=a+survivor%27s+guide+to+living+in+ireland+2021&qid=1615887557&s=books&sr=1-1)
My best to all.
Tom
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