This is what happens when the retirement wheel goes flat.
After 27 years of teaching in Atlanta, QUEEN D MICHELE realized her pension wouldn’t fund the life she actually wanted.
Instead of grinding into her 70s, she moved to Mexico’s Lake Chapala, trading headlines and hesitation for routine, community, and room to think.
In this episode of Foreign Radio, we talk practicals—visas, safety, and research—and internals—ego vs. soul, and how distance changes what you notice about home.
Queen also shares how moving to Mexico sparked a spiritual awakening, leading to a trip to Guinea-Bissau, where she reconnected with her ancestry, and why she’s building a consciousness-forward curriculum for Gen Alpha.
If you’re weighing a move—or just craving a life that fits—this one’s for you.
What You’ll Hear
* Why “work, pay bills, repeat” isn’t a retirement plan
* Mexico safety: lived reality vs. scary headlines
* Soft landings: expat hubs, research, and recon alternatives
* Mexican visas, immigration and the luck variable (and how to avoid relying on it)
* Importance vs. pitfalls of the ego. “Ego has a general purpose, but it’s not the general.”
* How distance creates space for inner work
* Gen Alpha, phones, and a missing class: mindfulness, agency, choices
* Ancestry, repatriation, and breaking generational patterns
* Visualization as a starter move (imagine → act)
* The simple rule for moving abroad: don’t bring “home systems” with you
Show Notes
* Queen’s pivot: 27 years in classrooms → a pension that covered rent → side hustles → the choice to exit the wheel rather than ride it into old age.
* Expat life in Lake Chapala as a strategic landing: short flight from Atlanta, spring climate, built-in expat community—why “soft landing” reduces friction and fear.
* Media vs. boots-on-the-ground truth: how safety in Mexico actually feels day-to-day, and why local expat groups beat cable news for decision data.
* Visas and Mexican Immigration process: do the research early; control what you can so you don’t depend on “stars aligning.”
* Mindset shift: how ego is useful and a hindrance. Why living “inside out” beats “outside in” any day of the week.
* Parenting abroad: more nature, fewer screens; why direct contact with the world matters for Gen Alpha; reflections on Simo’s experience living in Belize.
* 52 Insights for Gen Alpha: the importance of practical SEL skills—mindfulness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, conscious decision-making for Generation Alpha.
* Ancestry and identity: an African DNA trail to Guinea-Bissau, stepping into an ancestral village, and the idea that healing can move up the bloodline.
* Don’t import the fortress: blending with the host culture instead of trying to replicate your old life behind gates.
* First step for fence-sitters: visualize a day in the new place—then backfill the logistics that make it real.
More About Queen
Queen D. Michele is an educator, author, and nonprofit founder who left a 27-year teaching career in Atlanta to build a life abroad in Mexico. Her work sits at the intersection of practical relocation and inner change: navigating Mexican visas, safety, and community while also making space for the inward shift that a slower, simpler routine can unlock.
After tracing her maternal African bloodline to Guinea-Bissau and visiting her ancestral village, Queen launched projects focused on generational healing and a consciousness-forward curriculum for Gen Alpha.
She writes on Substack and at FulaAmerican.org about life abroad, identity, and choosing a life that fits.
Episode Recorded remotely on October 14, 2025 (Simo D in Belize and Queen in Chiapas, Mexico)
Episode Recorded remotely on October 14, 2025 (Simo D in Belize and Queen in Chiapas, Mexico)
Links
* Exodus Summit: https://exodussummit2025.heysummit.com/
* Jerry Brown Travels (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/@JerryBrownTravels
* African Ancestry: https://www.africanancestry.com/
* Queen’s Substack: https://substack.com/@queendmichele1
* FulaAmerican: https://www.fulaamerican.org
* Instagram: @fulaamerican
Simo’s Substack runs on curiosity, reflection, and subscriber support. If you find value in these conversations, consider becoming a subscriber, especially a paid one. It’s the best way to keep this work going and show that this content matters.
If you enjoy this podcast, you might also like the A Foreign Perspective, Foreigner501, Foreign Tales, the Lili Art Blog, or my award-winning book Home in Good Hands.
If you’d like to support this Substack and help me keep creating stories and essays about life abroad, consider subscribing, sharing, or buying me a coffee. And to those who already have—thank you. Your support means the world.
