Who am I?

Have you ever stopped and wondered what your life was all about? Sound philosophical? Well, we spend so much time running around making sure our family settles in securely and comfortably, we tend to forget ourselves.

Stop and take ten minutes to think about your journey!

In relocating abroad we are neither the person we were before nor a blank slate. We are the product of our life-times experiences, cultural, familial and societal influences, our roles and attitude transported onto a new base of differing cultural and societal influences and evolving roles.

Here are a few questions to start you on the process of thinking about “Who you want to be?”

Think back to who you were, in your last location.

So, you left home feeling pretty clear on this one. You probably were a partner, perhaps a parent, daughter/son, brother/sister, friend, colleague, perhaps you also had a role in the local community and a career that gave you a title, something that defined you in some way, accountant, lawyer, manager, director, nurse, doctor….

So, who were you?

Write a paragraph about who you were. Think about your roles, your attitude, beliefs and what was important to you.

What changed when you relocated? Write a paragraph about how you and your roles have changed as a result of relocation.

How do you feel about this? In what ways are you comfortable and happy, and in what ways are you not?

What aspects of you/your roles are important for you to retain?

What themes come to you as you re-read what you have written so far? 

Who would you like to be in the future?