EXPATS, FOREIGNERS

Moving to a foreign country is a huge challenge, involving multiple aspects of life, and though experienced quite differently by children and by adults, it involves a shared core.

Feeling like a stranger, or foreigner, is an experience that I find fascinating, and I believe that in a way, being a foreigner in a different country touches upon the fact that we are in a very deep sense, strangers everywhere and all the time- to ourselves, with our loved ones, facing the world. In a way, part of why being a foreigner can be insufferable, is that we don’t like getting in touch with this experience very much, and in fact we put many efforts into escaping it. However, this is also why the expat experience is a once in a lifetime opportunity- to step out of context, and to experience a truly human experience. Maybe it is “too human” at times, and that is where therapy steps in to help us profit from the stimulating and enriching parts, and to grow from this place, while giving the space to the difficulties involved.