21 Nov 2024
Mental health
Expat Support Health Mental health

Think before you throw out the old

This time of the year, at the turning of the light and with the advent of a new year, we might raise a glass and say, “out with the old, in with the new”.  Leaving the old behind is certainly something that global nomads are particularly good at. The last few months have given me […]

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Expat Support General Counselling Health Mental health

Don’t pack your guilt

This is the time of year that many global nomads head home to their families. With expectations high on both sides, these visits can be a mixture of heaven and hell. Almost all expatriates feel some measure of guilt about the impact their life choices have on those who love and miss them ‘back home’. […]

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Community Expat Support Health Mental health

Holding it lightly

Lately I have found myself comparing the process of an international relocation to that of childbirth. You forget how intensive it is and how much it hurts. And so, months or years later you merrily embark on the adventure again. I’m sitting in my car outside yet another apartment, waiting to go in for a […]

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Expat Support Health Mental health

Surfing between the known and the unknown

I’ve just uploaded twenty mediocre and imperfect selfies to an artificial intelligence app. It promises to take this base material and turn it into professional gold; sixty headshots worthy of a LinkedIn listing. I am hoping AI will professionalize these slightly scruffy and big nosed ‘Lysannes’ into the therapist you’ve always dreamed of employing. It’s […]

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Scary mirror image representing anxiety and fear
Expat Support Health Mental health

Breaking free from toxic anxiety syndrome

Our inbuilt survival system doesn’t care whether you’re happy or sad. It just wants to keep you alive. And that’s hard work when we are floating in a collective fear-soup and our brains are overwhelmed. We have two smoke alarms in our brain. These ‘amygdala’ are constantly on the lookout for life-threatening danger. They don’t […]

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Expat Support Health Mental health

Navigating Life’s Transitions with Mental Well-being

Being in transit can be hard. I am letting go of one organised and happy existence, the result of hard work and adaptation, to once again move towards the unknown. I am heeding an inner call that trusts the process with more conviction than my own little ego-self feels right now. As I sit here, […]

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