Where do I belong?
Moving home after living abroad is something we don’t talk about often enough. Mostly because we assume that it’s an easy and joyful process. If you are an expat and currently planning a big move home – this vlog is for you.
I’ll explain why moving home can be challenging, how living abroad changes you, and introduce you to a metaphor that will make the process so much smoother!
I first learned about the difficulties of repatriation when supporting my clients who were shocked at the difficulties they encountered adjusting to moving home. After years spent abroad, they expected repatriation to be a wonderful new chapter. They were ready to finally go back where they belong and connect to the people around them.
Sadly, that reality of moving home turned out to be quite the opposite. They were surprised and saddened by the fact that they did not feel the same – they did connect so easily with old friends and they actually did not fit in quite as well as they have expected. They were starting to wonder: “Where do I belong?”
Are you a triangle?
I can speak from my own experience – living abroad and interacting with different cultures – changed me. It shaped me into a person that I am now. As a result, it expanded my horizons and widened my perspective.
My home country and its people have also changed. While I was away, time did not standstill. Everything and everybody changes. Therefore assuming that you are going to find exactly what you had left is wrong.
The triangle metaphor is one I use with clients and it helped me with my own repatriation as well. If you’ve lived abroad, chances are you’d identify as a triangle yourself, but find out by watching the video below, where I explain it more in-depth.
I hope this video will help you change your perspective about how living abroad may have changed you, and give you a new way to define what it means to feel good being back at home. It might even give you an entirely new sense of belonging.
