How Expats Can Manage Conflicts Better
Experiencing conflicts in family and friends as an expat? Moving abroad is one of the biggest steps you will ever take in your life. Building a life abroad in a new country is equal parts exhilarating and scary. Exhilarating because you’re going on an adventure and...
Overcome Procrastination in Expat Life through ACT
Procrastination is the act of delaying or postponing something that needs to be done, and it’s accompanied by feelings of guilt, anxiety, and stress. Procrastination can harm expatriates because it can interfere with their work, relationships, and overall...
The Closure Fallacy and How it Affects Expats
Many of us come to learn about the idea of closure at some point in our lives. Whether suffering through the end of a relationship, a tragic event or losing a loved one, we are advised to find “closure.” So, as we try to go about our grieving process, we...
Gaslighting and its Effects on Expat Couples
When someone is gaslighting in relationships, they say or do things to make others feel like the problem is their fault. Gaslighting is a common form of emotional abuse that can happen in any relationship, but it’s especially tough when the message must work...
Coping with Living Far Away from Aging Parents
Living far away from aging parents and family is never an easy process. Still, it’s one that many people must face at some point in their lives. For some, the day they leave home may come rather suddenly. And for others who have already left, it can be the...
How Living Abroad Affects Our Self-Esteem
In our home country, we knew what to expect, how to get around, and how to communicate. Until one day, we make the big decision to live in someone else’s native country, and even the simple things we thought we were masters of, like getting to the grocery store,...
Expat Funk vs. Expat Depression
Expat funk is a relatively new concept for me. It is a particular English language expression, and I suspect colleagues use it to make it more relatable to a broader audience. In psychology, we call it adaptive mood reaction, reactive sadness or fatigue—even...
Coping with Expat Guilt Living Abroad
Living in a foreign country is a beautiful experience. Yet, it can also trigger a wide range of emotions, from anxiety to expat guilt feelings that certain people or events may reinforce. This article will take you on a journey into what it means to experience guilt...
Expat Uprooting: Belonging Within Yourself
Moving abroad is a giant leap to take in life with many factors to consider. After all, when you leave your home, everything that’s familiar to you changes. A completely new environment means a new living space, friends, job, hobbies, means of transportation...
3 Reasons to Stop Comparing to Other Expats
Living abroad, it is almost inevitable that we start comparing to other expats. In our expat journey, we may ask ourselves… How can she have so many friends as I’ve been trying for so long, and nothing has happened? Why did she get a promotion if she is a...
Navigating Covid Fatigue and Reentry Anxiety as Expats
After more than one year, navigating the stress that covid fatigue has brought us, we finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Yet this light can blind us. That’s called reentry anxiety—the stress of coming back to everyday life. Expats had to deal with...
7 Things Expats Are Tired of Hearing (and what to say instead)
Learn what are the things that all expats are tired of hearing over and over again. If you’re an expat, I’m sure you are going to relate. And if you’re a friend, family or co-worker from an expat, please bear in mind and not say these seven phrases...
Stop Toxic Positivity Living Abroad
Toxic Positivity is a reality in our expat life. Phrases such as “Why can’t you just be happy?” or “At least you get to live abroad” are far from having a positive effect. On the contrary, it can be damaging because it disregards our...
Three Types of Loneliness and How They Impact Expats
Most of us can identify with what loneliness feels like. Whether it is a brief period of isolation or something more prolonged, a lack of social interaction can lead to mental health complications, such as depression and anxiety. Loneliness is especially a challenge...Subscribe to my YouTube Channel
