Moving can be a big step even if in the same city, not to mention relocating to a new country or oceans away. The latter is what TikToker Amber Tiffeny did, when she left her home in the UK and headed for the US.
Nearly three years later, Amber discussed her experience in a TikTok video, revealing why she considers the US a much better place to live than the UK, and went viral with it. Scroll down to find the video below.
Some people favor living in the US over staying in their home country
Image credits: Jonathan Meyer / Pexels (not the actual photo)
"Moving from the UK changed my quality of life"
Image credits: amberrtiffeny
Hi, my name is Amber Tiffeny, and I moved to America when I was 17 turning 18 years old. I’m 20 now, so I’ve been living here for nearly 3 years. And when I tell you in like almost 3 years, my whole lifestyle has changed, like everything has just changed.
Moving to America improved my quality of life. I started wanting more for myself. I just started being around people who are more uplifting and business savvy.
Image credits: amberrtiffeny
I feel like, I hate to be one of those people, but the UK is bad vibes for real. I don’t know what it is about UK people, why they can’t seem to support each other, but the American girlies over here, one thing they’re gonna do is support. One thing they’re gonna do is motivate. One thing they’re gonna do is uplift.
Besides the people, just like my whole mindset has changed. I moved here and I started wanting more for myself. I guess it’s really just your environment. I started thinking that “Oh my gosh, there is so much more I can achieve even while I still am young.”
Image credits: amberrtiffeny
Mind you, I did not want to move from the UK. Okay, I love the UK, still do, because I was so comfortable.
I had all of my friends there. I had all of my family there, and I didn’t want to move. I was like, “No, people can move here. I’m not moving.” That is literally how I was. Growth takes place in mysterious ways, and me moving to America during that time was the best decision for my life.
Image credits: Jason Toevs / Pexels (not the actual photo)
Image credits: amberrtiffeny
I honestly thank God, because me, I was gonna hop on a plane and take myself back to the UK, but God had other plans.
So if you are thinking of moving out of the UK and you’ve been looking for a sign, let this be your sign, okay? Let this be your sign. Don’t be scared. You have nothing to be scared of.
UK don’t want to see you thrive. That’s the people. That’s the government. That’s just really how it is.
Image credits: amberrtiffeny
Also, please do not come and bash me. This is just my personal experience. I’m just sharing my journey with the fellow girlies who have been thinking that they do want to move out of the UK.
This has been my take on it.This has been my experience and I hope this gives you the little push that you needed to move.
Image credits: Vlada Karpovich / Pexels (not the actual photo)
Amber’s video was viewed nearly 430k times on TikTok
Millions of people move abroad every year
Image credits: Gustavo Fring / Pexels (not the actual photo)
For one reason or another, large numbers of people each year leave their countries of origin seeking to create a home for themselves elsewhere. Data from 2020 reveals that as many as 281 million people, adding up to roughly 3.6% of the global population, live outside of the country where they were born.
While nowadays meeting a foreigner living miles away from their homeland is arguably not that surprising, just a few decades ago, it was far less common. Back in 1990, for instance, the estimated number of international migrants was reportedly 128 million lower than that in 2020.
Both the UK and the US are no exceptions; with people’s constant relocation, millions of them are flooding in and out of both countries for long-term settlement someplace other than their motherland. Statistics show that in the UK, the overall net migration seemed to add to the size of the population, though—over the course of a year ending in June of 2022, an estimated 504,000 more people were arriving long-term to the UK than departing.
As for the US, according to Pew Research Center’s data, more than a million immigrants arrive in the country each year, which resulted in them accounting for 13.7% of the US population back in 2020. Just a couple of years prior, in 2018, the US foreign-born population reached a record 44.8 million.
While each person has their own reasons for relocating, work-related ones seem to be among the most common
Image credits: Nate Johnston / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
While the reasons for moving differ with each person, some are seemingly more common than others. According to a research commissioned by AXA – Global Healthcare, the majority of people who have moved overseas did it for work-related reasons: nearly a third of them sought better career opportunities, and roughly one-in-five were looking for better pay and benefits or a better work-life balance.
Some people, however, moved their entire lives elsewhere solely because of their adventurous spirit; 18% of respondents moved abroad in pursuit of new adventure, while 13% did it because they have always wanted to live in the place they eventually ended up moving to.
The research delved deeper not only into why people decided to move, but how it made them feel in the long run as well, and found that the majority of them—67% to be exact—believe the experience has had a positive effect on them.
When asked how moving elsewhere has changed them, respondents shared that it made them feel more confident, happier, ambitious, productive, and relaxed, which is what Amber pointed out in her video, too. For the TikToker, moving from the UK to the US made her want more for herself and improved her quality of life; however, fellow netizens shared varying opinions on the matter in the comments section.
Fellow TikTokers shared varying opinions on both living in the US and the UK
