Stress – ooh this scary word that everyone denies. Stress can show itself in various forms – running around like a headless chicken, shouting at people, venting, crying. But it can also come out in the form of backing down, detaching yourself from the situation, acting like nothing happens. Although it does.
We experience stress in situations when we are faced with something challenging, where we don’t believe we’ve got enough resources to deal with it. These can be situations that are threatening, challenging or very emotional.
Are you thinking about moving abroad? Are you in the process of moving? Have you moved recently? Do you want to know what to expect?
Do you sometimes wonder what others think about you? Or why won’t they just get what you mean? Don’t worry, you’re not the only one. I’ve got an exercise that can help you make sense of it!
Do you categorize and stereotype? Probably yes, because it is simply how our brain works. But don’t let it be the only lens you use on yourself and others.
You moved abroad. You experience all these various different (weird?) things. People tell you to adapt to the new culture. You feel uncomfortable, not even sure if you are you anymore. Everyone else around you seems to know better what you should do, how you should adapt, how quickly you should do it (surely if […]
Recently I started wondering whether there are some common personality traits that would define an expat or would allow us to predict the possibility of different people going abroad. I don’t know the definite answer to this nor I have done any quantitative research about it, but I have been observing myself and my fellow expats […]
So you’ve now had the days when you loved the new city or country you moved in to. You’ve also been through some tough times where you just wanted to go home and never come back to this weird and intimidating place. After the whole spectrum of (completely normal!) emotions that you’ve experienced there should […]
So you’ve spent a couple of weeks, maybe even months enjoying yourself and saying all the good things about your new home. There’s a high chance you will go back to those feelings. Really! Before that happens though you might need to face the downside of moving abroad: Da Culture Shock.
No, no, it’s not going to be a post about marriage, don’t worry. Many smart books describe how the phases of the culture shock run, that there are four (you can find them under various names, but the idea behind them is the same): Honeymoon stage, Frustration stage, Adjustment stage and Acceptance stage.