I love the wind-whirl that comes with relocating.
One of my coping mechanisms in my 4 expatriations (so far) has been making a list of the exciting things I want to do on arrival and recruit the family to make theirs.
Restaurants, touristic attractions, vacations, neighboring countries, it is all so heart-pounding!
We spend hours on Google and social media looking for the next thing to do. The Lac Rose in Senegal, Lotus temple in Delhi, The National Mall in DC, Punta Cana!
However, not soon after comes that time when we are all settled down, spouse is back to the office and kids are at their new school and I have already made some friends (like the social butterfly I am) but I get that strange heart-sinking feeling in my gut that something is not quite right.
I keep that to myself because I want to be a supportive spouse, I want to be the rock for my children and to be very honest, I cannot pinpoint what it is, but you have been there too, probably, and you know exactly what I am talking about.
It is such a daunting, hard to explain feeling. I love it here, but I feel out of place and quite sincerely, I do not know what the future holds ahead.
During my last relocation I was lucky enough to come across Tools To Move and on a quiet morning at home, coffee in hand, I started navigating (and understanding a bit better) my expatriation and the feelings that came with it, while going through the website.
At first, I felt the information was not for me, since the first toolkits were about Preparation, and I considered myself “the master of the nomadic life”. But I quickly landed on Toolkit 4 and realized that’s where I was at, right then and there.
The resources, the information, the stories, they all resonated with me and made me realize that a relocation is not only a moment in time when we take a plane and say goodbye, but a constant transformative process that changes you, your family dynamic, your social and professional life and even the very own concept of who you are.
I am grateful to the WBFN team that worked so hard to provide us with such an invaluable FREE resource. It helped me not only understand what was happening to me and why but also to prepare and thrive all along.
Hope you will go check it out and enjoy the content as much as I did (and even shed a tear or two).
Being an expat is so similar to parenthood (but for the obvious differences): so fun and enriching but one of the hardest things I have ever done. And in the same way parenthood “takes a village”, expatriations call for Tools To Move.
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