Lisbet left Sweden bound for a one year job in Canada. Four years later she returned home to start her own project management company.

About Lisbet

Lisbet is half Swedish and half Canadian and grew up in Sweden. She has always had an itch to travel, see the world and learn about new places. In 2008 Lisbet spent a lot of time travelling before moving to Canada where she ended up staying for four years. In 2012 it was time for her to leave and return to Sweden.

Lisbet quit her day job in Sweden and had a plan to go be a ski bum in Whistler. But one month before leaving she got a job offer to be the area manager for a Swedish ski company based in Fernie, British Columbia. She took the job and planned to go for a season. Little did she know that she would fall in love with a town the lifestyle and stay for four years.

“How can I make something good out of this instead.”

— Lisbet Mellgren

When coming home...

Emotions and differences Lisbet faced - Felt lots of love from family and friends but part of her was telling her to leave and go somewhere new.
What had changed for Lisbet - Friends had started families and were at new stages of life. She felt most of the changes were in herself. Living in Canada took her to a new level of herself.
How Lisbet supported herself - Talk to other people, made new friends, enjoy her time where she was.
How her mindset had changed - Became more open and willing to do things. She felt more Canadian. She worried less and would try new opportunities and be more eager to take risks.
3 Lessons learned from travel and reverse culture shock

Not sweat the small things - have a mentality that things will work out and stay calm.
How to connect and learn from people that you normally wouldn’t not befriend.
Let go of the sense that having an ‘itch’ to change and move is not a negative thing but rather a positive t

Advise to herself for returning home - Stay calm and give yourself time to adjust and settle and ease back into life and work towards finding a new plan.