Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Transitions & Change, Identity, Life Balance, Repatriation, Writing, tagged #MyGlobalLife LinkUp, blogging, building a life, career, change, choice, community, connection, expat, gift, identity, loss, needs, opportunity, priorities, re-entry transition, re-imagining, redefining, reinvention, repat, Repatriation, SmallPlanetStudio, values, vulnerability, wants, writing on March 28, 2014 | 4 Comments »
Lately I’ve been doing a fair bit of writing on re-entry transition because, well, I’m several months into repatriation after four years in the Netherlands. I do so not simply because it’s what is foremost in my thoughts and daily actions, but also to understand. Writing about repatriation helps me grasp significance, identify patterns, comprehend […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Global Issues, Identity, Repatriation, Third Culture Kids (TCKs), Expat Teens, Travel, tagged 'unexpected angels', Beijing, comings and goings, connections, crisis, emergencies, expatriate life, expats, Families in Global Transition, FIGT conference, grief, helping each other, identity, intercultural transitions, Kuala Lumpur, leaving, loss, Malaysia Airlines flight #370, mobility, sanctuary, saying goodbye, turmoil on March 26, 2014 | Leave a Comment »
In the early days of missing Malaysian Airlines Flight #370, I had no intention of writing about it. The tale of how 239 people boarded an airplane in Kuala Lumpur but never made it to Beijing is a sad, troubling one. The last thing I want to do is add to the grief, frustration and […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Expats A to Z, Identity, Repatriation, tagged adult Third Culture Kid, ATCK, change, cross-cultural, culture shock, expat, expatriate life, identity, identity congruence, leaving, loss, patience, repatriate, TCK, Third Culture Kid, thrive, transitions, who we are on January 20, 2014 | 6 Comments »
Time for another entry under Expats A to Z, a series of posts about the little things that can make a difference in how we approach some of the challenges and experiences of expatriate – and repatriate – life. I’m talking about those qualities and traits we can nurture within us not only to simply survive, but thrive amid […]
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 […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Emotional Resilience, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Netherlands, Repatriation, Sandwich Generation, Travel, United States, Writing, tagged building a new life, dying, elderly parents, emotional resilience, entry, expat life, involvement, leaving, loss, Netherlands, re-involvement, Repatriation, solace, sorrow, terminal cancer, The Hague, transition, transition stages on September 28, 2013 | 2 Comments »
Glancing at the calendar this morning, I realized it’s been almost three months since leaving the Netherlands. Twelve weeks from when I strapped myself into my assigned airline seat, Daughter to my right, our pets Oli and Ava beneath us in the acclimatized pet cargo hold. Eighty nine days since I watched the plane rise […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Identity, Repatriation, tagged deciding when to leave, expat, expatriate life, grief, leaving friends, list of pros and cons, living across cultures, loss, Mattel's Magic 8 Ball, moving, Repatriation, saying goodbye, stay or go, taking leave on September 20, 2013 | 4 Comments »
Over the years, storytellers and screenwriters have been perpetuating a myth which many of us have bought into. The fallacy is that the hardest part of moving – be it across town, across country or across the world – lies in the decision itself. Hours spent wrestling with what ifs? and how abouts? followed by a sleepless night […]
Posted in Blogging, Change, Emotional Resilience, Expat Transitions & Change, September 11th, Writing, tagged bonds, change, colleagues, destruction, friends, healing, loss, moving, pain, people, reflection, remembrance, September 11th, terror, transitions, writing on September 11, 2013 | 2 Comments »
Behind the scenes I’ve been working on a number of posts about what’s been going on and what I’ve been up to these past weeks and months. It’s been a whirlwind of motion, a cacophony of change, some tough moments scattered among positive and uplifting ones, along with the more mundane. (Is there ever a […]
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 […]
Posted in Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Doing What I Can to Help, Emotional Resilience, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Global Issues, tagged change, depression, emotional resilience, expat life, living abroad, loss, Mayo Clinic, sadness, transitions, WebMD, writing on September 29, 2011 | 16 Comments »
During the summer I was approached by an editor at a new site, AdaptingAbroad.com, to write two companion articles on expats and emotional resilience. The first article was to focus on what expats may risk if they find themselves lacking in emotional resilience.* I agreed, and found the experience particularly stimulating because I tend to write from […]
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