Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend the annual Families in Global Transition conference (aka on Twitter as #FIGT2013). The theme this year was ‘Cultural Integration and the Illusion of Closeness.’ It was, in a word, exhilarating. Inspiring. Tremendous. Thought-provoking. Reassuring. Okay, it was many words, all those and more. Two thought-laden days dedicated to exchanging [...]
Archive for the ‘Identity’ Category
Top Ten Reasons Why #FIGT2013 Rocked
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Authors (Other), Blogging, Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Authors, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Global Issues, Identity, Repatriation, Third Culture Kids (TCKs), Expat Teens, Writing, tagged Ann Baker Cottrell, Anne Copeland, Apple Gidley, call to action, Colleen Reichrath-Smith, creative, cross-cultural, Cultural Integration and the Illusion of Closeness, cultural intelligence, culture, culture shock, doers, Duncan Westwood, Elizabeth Vennekens-Kelly, emotional intelligence, emotional resilience, expat life, expatriate life, expatriation, experiences, Families in Global Transitions, FIGT, FIGT 2013, ideas, innovative, insight, intercultural, international, Janet Bennett, Jo Parfitt, Judy Rickatson, Julia Simens, Kathleen Gamble, Katia Vachlos, Kilian Kroll, Laura J. Stephens, Leila Buck, living abroad, Maria Foley, networking, Norm Viss, perspective, Pico Iyer, projects, Rachel Yates, Rebecca Grappo, Repatriation, research, Ruth Van Reken, social intelligence, TCKs, topics, transition process, Trisha Carter on March 30, 2013 | 4 Comments »
Riveting Expat Reads: An Inconvenient Posting
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Emotional Resilience, Expat Authors, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Identity, Repatriation, Riveting Expat Reads, Writing, tagged adrift, An Inconvenient Posting: An Expat Wife's Memoir of Lost Identity, anxiety, blogging, book, Brit in Texas, cross-cultural, culture shock, depression, depressive episode, downward spiral, emotional resilience, emotionally healthy, expat life, expat transitions, grieving loss, Houston, identity, journaling, Laura J. Stephens, loneliness, mental health, pain, positive mental health, recovery, recuperation, Repatriation, self-care, Summertime Publishing, therapist, therapy, writing on January 10, 2013 | 8 Comments »
We’re already into double digits (gasp!) in January, and fortunately my New Year’s resolutions for 2013 are going swimmingly. I say this because I want you to know that I have not neglected you, my Adventurer community. (See how neatly I just tied you back to one of my resolutions? Impressive, I know.) It’s just that I’m recently [...]
Riveting Expat Reads: Expat Life, Slice by Slice
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Authors, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Identity, Repatriation, Riveting Expat Reads, Sandwich Generation, Third Culture Kids (TCKs), Expat Teens, Travel, Work, Writing, tagged Apple Gidley, blogging, continents, culture shock, cultures, expat books, expat life, Expat Life: Slice by Slice, expatriate life, expatriation, global living, globalization, languages, living abroad, living cross-culturally, living overseas, memoir, post-colonization, Repatriation, Riveting Expat Reads, TCKs, technology, Third Culture Kids, transition, travel, writing on November 29, 2012 | 8 Comments »
Time again for another Riveting Expat Read in which I shine the spotlight on a new (or new to me) book in this varied and rapidly growing niche. There has been a slow but steadily expanding upsurge in books written by and for expats/global nomads/TCKs which examine life lived cross-culturally, and we are all the richer [...]
Riveting Expat Reads: Forced to Fly (2nd. ed.)
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Emotional Resilience, Expat Authors, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Family & Friends, Forced to Fly (2nd ed.) Book, Identity, Repatriation, Riveting Expat Reads, Travel, Writing, tagged Adventures in Expat Land, Apple Gidley, Bitten by Spain, creativity, culture clash, culture shock, Deborah Fletcher, emotional resilience, empathy, Expat Apple, expat life, expat transitions, Forced to Fly, Forced to Fly: An Anthology of Writing That Will Make You See the Funny Side of Living Abroad, funny stories, going abroad, humor, I Was an Expat Wife, identity, innovation, Jack Scott, Jo Parfitt, laughter, Linda A Janssen, living abroad, living overseas, Maria Foley, Niamh Ni Bhroin, Perking the Pansies, Repatriation, Riveting Expat Reads, Robin Pascoe, Summertime Publishing, The Singing Warrior, travel, wordgeyser on October 5, 2012 | 10 Comments »
It is an exciting day here in Expat Land: we’re madly flapping our wings for take-off, determined to catch the wind currents, achieve flight and soar. ‘What’s with the flight metaphors?’ you ask. ‘They’re flying left and right.’ Heh heh. Today marks the book launch of the second edition of Forced to Fly: An Anthology of Writings That Will Make [...]
Career Choice & Accompanying Partner Survey Says…
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Doing What I Can to Help, Expat Authors, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Identity, Life Balance, Riveting Expat Reads, Work, Writing, tagged accompanying partner, accompanying spouse, AccompanyingPartner.com, career choices, creativity, cross-cultural coaching, culture, EMMA 2012 award, EMMA 2012 Shortlisted Nominee, Evelyn Simpson, expat, expat coaching, expat transitions, expatriate community, Forum for Expatriate Management, global nomad, global relocation specialist, international, Louise Wiles, mobility specialist, organizations, overseas assignment, relocation, report, survey, trailing spouse, transnational employee, work opportunities, working abroad on September 27, 2012 | 4 Comments »
You know the old adage ‘two heads are better than one’? Well, during the summer when I learned that Evelyn Simpson (aka The Smart Expat) and Louise Wiles (aka Success Abroad Coaching) were joining forces to conduct the Career Choice & Accompanying Partner Survey, I knew this dynamic duo would be a formidable combination. I’m a fan of [...]
Riveting Expat Reads: Turning International
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Emotional Resilience, Expat Authors, Identity, Riveting Expat Reads, Writing, tagged alienation, author, blogging, Catherine Transler, connectedness, cross-cultural, emotional wellbeing, ExpatScience.com, identity, isolation, Kiva.org, loneliness, meditation, mindfulness, neuroscience, psychology, resilience, social networks, Turning International, Turning International: How to Find Happiness and Feel at Home in a New Culture, visualization, writing on September 15, 2012 | 6 Comments »
Last month I mentioned that I was catching up on reading in the broad genre of expat life stories. At the time I was hopping between four distinctly different books: a memoir sharing insights and experience for those considering a mid-life move abroad, another about the journey back from the dark side of depression, still another filled with sweeping [...]
Can You Hear the Sky Falling?
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Doing What I Can to Help, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Identity, tagged Beyonce, bias, bisexuality, Cold Play, coming out, fear, Frank Ocean, gay, glass ceiling, hatred, hip hop, homophobia, homosexuality, Independence Day, Jay Z, July 4th, manna from heaven, out of the closet, Russell Simmons, sky falling down, songwriter, stigma-smashing on July 5, 2012 | 12 Comments »
[Updated 8 July 2102] I know that I haven’t been posting much in the past two weeks, in large part due to the extended visit Daughter and I are making here in the US (see Sensory Overload for insights into the overwhelm of crossing back into the culture of ‘home’). This trip has many moving [...]
To Show That They Existed
Posted in Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Holidays, Identity, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, Sandwich Generation, tagged collective memory, culture, existence, expat life, Expatriate Archive Centre, expats, family, friends, hospital, illness, leave your footprint, legacy, love, making the world a better place, memories, mortality, Mother's Day, parents, remembrance, rootlessness on May 13, 2012 | 14 Comments »
Everyone wants to know, deep within, that their time on earth meant something to others. That their being here mattered. They mattered. It is human nature to want to leave your footprint on the world for others that come after you to see. For some, it is through their betterment of the immediate world around them. Think Mother [...]
In Their Own Voice: Intercultural Meaning in Everyday Stories
Posted in Authors (Other), Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Identity, Riveting Expat Reads, Writing, tagged Anne P. Copeland, change, cultural adjustments, cultural dimensions, cultural sensitivity, cultural transitions, culture shock, expat transitions, identity, In Their Own Voice: Intercultural Meaning in Everyday Stories, Marissa Lombardi, The Interchange Institute, writing on April 18, 2012 | 6 Comments »
Earlier this year I read what I can only describe as an incredibly uplifting book, but I am only now getting around to sharing it with you. Shame on me, because it is the kind of informative, thought-provoking book that stays on your mind long after you read it. Its name? In Their Own Voice: [...]
Stigma-Smashing, One by One
Posted in Blogging, Change, Doing What I Can to Help, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Identity, Repatriation, United States, Writing, tagged 2011 Global Relocation Trends Survey, anxiety, BringChange2Mind, celebrities, Chestnut Global Partners, Deborah Serani, depression, Expat Info Desk, Expatlogue, expats, mental health, mental illness, Michele Rubin, pain, PRWeb, Psychology Today, risk of mental illness, stigma, stress, suffering, The Truman Group, vulnerable on April 3, 2012 | 11 Comments »
In support of an effort by the group Bring Change 2 Mind to erase the stigma faced by those dealing with mental illness, my fellow expat blogger Aisha launched an ongoing series of posts on her site Expatlogue earlier this year entitled ’Breaking the Code of Silence’. Bravely sharing her own disturbing memories from younger days, the pain and suffering [...]
The Pain of Misconceptions
Posted in Blogging, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Life, Identity, tagged awkward, Borat, cultures, embarrassment, identity, International Day, Kazakhstan, misconceptions, national pride, preconceived notions, Sacha Baron Cohen on March 13, 2012 | 12 Comments »
The other evening Daughter and I were sitting in the family room, just relaxing together. I was reading a historical mystery written by a friend (more on that in another post) while Daughter was catching up on Facebook. ‘Wow, sometimes Kaia can really go off on a rant,’ she said, turning to me. ‘But you [...]
Riveting Expat Reads: Pivotal Moments, Turning Points
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Authors, Expat Life, Identity, Light Bulb Moments, Riveting Expat Reads, Turning Points Book, Writing, tagged aspirations, book launch, change, fear, identity, Jo Parfitt, Kate Cobb, light bulb moments, longings, regrets, transformation, Turning Points book, writing on November 1, 2011 | 22 Comments »
It’s finally here. Today is Tuesday, November 1st. As I mentioned a couple days ago in And What Might YOUR Turning Point Be?, today also happens to be the global book launch of Turning Points: 25 Inspiring Stories From Women Entrepreneurs Who Have Turned Their Careers and Their Lives Around. The book concept is the [...]
Expat Author Julia Simens: Writing My Book
Posted in Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Emotional Resilience, Expat Authors, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Identity, Riveting Expat Reads, Third Culture Kids (TCKs), Expat Teens, Writers on Writing, Writing, tagged author, Emotional Resilience and the Expat Child, expat, Julia Simens, Non-fiction, writing, Writing a Book on July 24, 2011 | 8 Comments »
Last month, some of you Adventurers may recall that I wrote about Julia Simens’ insightful book Emotional Resilience and the Expat Child. While interviewing Julia I had asked a few questions about how she went about writing her book. As someone in the early throes of trying to write a book, I can tell you that [...]
Riveting Expat Reads: Julia Simens’ Emotional Resilience and the Expat Child
Posted in Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Emotional Resilience, Expat Authors, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Identity, Riveting Expat Reads, Third Culture Kids (TCKs), Expat Teens, Writing, tagged child psychology, Doug Ota, Emotional Resilience and the Expat Child, emotions, expats, Gordon Neufeld, Julia Simens, rituals, six stages of attachment on June 13, 2011 | 6 Comments »
Today I’m interviewing Julia Simens, newly published author of the outstanding book Emotional Resilience and the Expat Child: Practical Tips and Storytelling Techniques That Will Strengthen the Global Family.* I’m going to come right out and tell you that I think highly of this book. I believe Julia has written a very important work that will [...]
Emotional Resilience in Expat Life: Part I
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Emotional Resilience, Expat Authors, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Identity, Life Balance, Riveting Expat Reads, Third Culture Kids (TCKs), Expat Teens, tagged Barbara Schaetti, David Pollock, emotional resilience, expats, identity, Robin Pascoe, Ruth Van Reken, Tina Quick on May 31, 2011 | 6 Comments »
Well here we go. As mentioned briefly in an earlier post, I’ve been busy working on a five-part series entitled ‘Emotional Resilience in Expat Life.’ The first article, ‘Identity and the Expat’ debuted today on I Am Expat. I’m sharing it with you here on my blog because I believe that emotional resilience is important to [...]
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