As mentioned in Under Construction, I hope you’ll join me as I navigate the re-entry stage in our repatriation journey. Every three months I share a series of ‘snapshot’ blog posts about the particulars of building a new life from scratch, filed under the post category Re-entry Reality. I look at everything from making a home, engaging socially, staying healthy, […]
Archive for the ‘Light Bulb Moments’ Category
Work? In Progress
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Emotional Resilience, Expat Transitions & Change, Identity, Light Bulb Moments, Re-entry Reality, Repatriation, Work, Writing, tagged business plan, business start-up, career change, consultancy, emotional resilience, excitement, expat, fear, global students, job change, repat, Repatriation, what I'm meant to do, work, writing, writing a nonfiction book on March 14, 2014 | 3 Comments »
As mentioned in Under Construction, I hope you’ll join me as I navigate the re-entry stage in our repatriation journey. Every three months I’ll share a series of ‘snapshot’ blog posts about the particulars of building a new life from scratch, filed under the post category Re-entry Reality. I’ll look at everything from making a home, engaging socially, staying healthy, […]
Respect the Squirrel
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Creativity, Emotional Resilience, Expat Transitions & Change, Light Bulb Moments, tagged achieving goals, achieving results, big picture, bird's eye view, brave, Brene Brown, courageous, curious, daring greatly, dream big, effort, focus, inquisitive, life lessons, meeting challenges, minutest of details, peanut butter jar, personal growth, professional development, recycling, resilience, singleness of purpose, squirrel, Squirrel Apocalypse, stay the course, strength, tenacity, time, vampires, walking dead, work, zombies on February 6, 2014 | 3 Comments »
A couple weeks ago, I was walking past our dining room window when something caught my eye. In the front yard was a squirrel. No news flash there as we live surrounded on several sides by woods. Squirrels and deer are regular visitors, along with the occasional raccoon, spotted owl and annoying woodpecker. But this […]
Refocusing Resolutions
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Transitions & Change, Family & Friends, Holidays, Identity, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, Repatriation, Writing, tagged 2013, 2014, being in the moment, bigger picture, blogging, building a life, change, creativity, cross-cultural, culture, daily resolutions, expat, global nomad, identity, larger view, mindfulness, New Year's Resolutions, reflection, reflective interlude, repat, Repatriation, resolution, TCK, transitions, writing on January 12, 2014 | 2 Comments »
In my latest blog post, Intermezzo, I wrote of taking stock of 2013, a year which for several reasons I’m glad to see in my rear view mirror. That’s not to say that many wonderful things didn’t happen last year, they did. But there were some unexpected challenges on top of some tough moments, and […]
Intermezzo
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Emotional Resilience, Expat Transitions & Change, Family & Friends, Holidays, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, Repatriation, Travel, Writing, tagged 'in the moment', 2013, Adapt and Thrive Across Cultures, being present, change, Christmas, continuous intentional observation without judgment, deaths, emotional resilience, expats, expectations, family, grieving, holidays, illusion of perfection, intermezzo, Jane Dean, Jo Parfitt, Lisa Hall, loss, mindfulness, mourning, New Year's, reflection, Repatriation, solitude, Summertime Publishing, The Emotionally Resilient Expat: Engage, transitions, travel, turbulence, turmoil, wanderlust, writing on January 6, 2014 | 6 Comments »
Over the past couple weeks, I’ve been taking it easy. Really easy. As in not doing much of anything other than what absolutely, positively needed to get done. For example, that time spent pulling together receipts, filling out reimbursement claims for our international health care provider, making photocopies of the entire stack and then standing […]
Run to Help
Posted in Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Emotional Resilience, Family & Friends, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, Netherlands, September 11th, United States, Writing, tagged 9/11, April 15th, bombings, Boston bombings, Boston Marathon, calm, emergency responders, explosions, injured, killed, little children, memories, National Guard, nauseous, police, run to help, September 11th, victims on April 16, 2013 | 8 Comments »
Last night I was all set to go with a humorous blog post today when Husband called down the stairs, telling me to turn to CNN. Something about a suspicious explosion in Boston. My heart sank just hearing the words. I turned the channel and together we sat, eyes glued to the television, listening to […]
3 Cs of Change
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Holidays, Light Bulb Moments, tagged 2013, blogging, centering, change, community, contemplation, creativity, emotional resilience, gratitude, Happy New Year, New Year's Eve, reflection, resolutions, writing on January 1, 2013 | 24 Comments »
I know that everyone is either partying hard, out and about and thus not reading blog posts, or already in bed. I’m not one to judge, so whatever floats your boat… Or you’ve been busy and only now are finding your way to reading this. So I’m going to keep it short and sweet. When you […]
Invisible Ink
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Change, Creativity, Emotional Resilience, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, Sandwich Generation, United States, Writing, tagged blog posts, blogging, book, cancer, children, creativity, dog, expat life, family, getting creative, illness, internet connectivity, living overseas, Oli, Panera Bread, parents, planning, plotting, posting on my blog, progress writing a book, Starbucks, surgery, travel, treatment, tumor, visiting, visiting family, wifi, writing on October 25, 2012 | 12 Comments »
It’s been almost three weeks to the day since my last post. Believe me, I know. It’s been weighing on my mind. Not in an ‘oh cr@p, I have to post something on that d@mn blog’ sort of way, because this blog has never been like that for me. It is a labor of love, […]
We Endure
Posted in Creativity, Family & Friends, Light Bulb Moments, September 11th, Work, Writing, tagged 9/11, artistry, beauty, birthday, creativity, endure, grief, joy, loss, pain, reflection, remembrance, September 11, sorrow, soul, tears, vulnerable, writing on September 11, 2012 | 14 Comments »
I had not planned to write today. As the day approached, I felt a gentle shroud of melancholy descend and wrap around my shoulders like a soft caress. I had a productive day yesterday, one in which I not only made good progress on a project, but also laid the groundwork for two new ones. One […]
The U-Bend of Happiness
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Global Issues, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, Sandwich Generation, Writing, tagged age, children, contentedness, crosscultural, culture, Economist, education level, Expat Focus, extroversion, global, happiest at beginning and end of our lives, happiness, introversion, marital status, parents, U-Bend of Happiness, U-Bend of Life, U-Bend of Wellbeing, unhappiest in middle of our lives, wellbeing, worldwide, writing on May 24, 2012 | 10 Comments »
It dawned on me the other day that when I do a post that includes a link to an article I’ve recently had published, some readers may think it screams ‘Yay me! Look at what I’ve done.’ That’s certainly not the intention, and I apologize if it appears that way. The thing is, I like […]
Career Break? Yes Please!
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Change, Expat Life, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, Travel, tagged blogging, burnout, career break, Career Break Secrets, Career Break Secrets Travel Show, career change, global nomad, Jeff Jung, laid off, Random Nomads, serial wanderer, The Displaced Nation, travel, travel writing, unemployed on May 17, 2012 | 8 Comments »
I’ve been a big fan of The Displaced Nation for quite some time now. How could I not, with a tagline of ‘A Land of Plenty for the Global Voyager,’ promising advice, opinions and yarns? One of my favorite features on the site is the interview series called Random Nomads. The questions posed aren’t your average ‘where […]
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 […]