Today I give you a stunningly beautiful love poem – some of which the one you chose to travel the world with can say to you and some of which he probably can’t. If and when you struggle in your expat relationship, and most of us do, read it and know that somewhere, he probably [...]
Archive for the ‘Relationship Rescuers’ Category
The country of marriage
Posted in Relationship Rescuers on September 17, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Learning to love alone time
Posted in Relationship Rescuers on September 16, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
One of the somewhat surprising skills many expats develop during what can be a very lonely time, is the ability to enjoy their alone time. I was brought up with 6 brothers and sisters in a small house, got married, had kids of my own and was 39 years old before I ever had a [...]
Utter forgiveness
Posted in Relationship Rescuers on September 15, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Holding onto grudges, resentment and old stuff in a relationship is a harbinger of doom. Each small portion of a problem or situation that remains unresolved simply piles up on top of all the other old stuff and kind of eats away – at you. Letting things go is for some reason, a difficult skill for [...]
Defined decision-making
Posted in Relationship Rescuers on September 14, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
One thing that I have had to work on a lot over the years is decision-making. Always the easy going one, I was lulled into a false sense of “it is easier just to go with the flow’ – but actually it wasn’t. I found myself feeling more and more frustrated till I realized that [...]
Creative confidence
Posted in Relationship Rescuers on September 13, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Faking it till you make it is quite a skill. Whilst it does indeed sound deceptive, it has a multitude of advantages. Like all skills, if it is applied for good and never used to harm, then voila! Some skills we were born with, some we are taught, some we just have to figure out [...]
Resilience and recovery time
Posted in Relationship Rescuers on September 10, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
We often live on the edge of our stress levels as we negotiate our way through the quagmire of relationship challenges, as well as location ones. Being resilient enough to bounce back from set-back and hurt (and from being ignored for half an hour in the local store…) without any emotional baggage, frees up our [...]
Mirrors and magnifiers
Posted in Relationship Rescuers on September 9, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
I read somewhere once that the things we dislike in others are usually the things we dislike in ourselves. The reverse is also true in that the strengths we admire in others are usually the same ones we possess ourselves. Don’t believe me? Think about the things you admire in someone close to you and [...]
Empathy and Detachment
Posted in Relationship Rescuers on September 8, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Don’t you just love how opposites often need each other? Perhaps that is why we choose partners who appear to be completely different to ourselves… The notion of empathy and detachment has been one that is reinforced consistently in my life. They appear so different – almost diametrically opposed – however in so many ways [...]
Old and new habits
Posted in Relationship Rescuers on September 7, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Our closest relationships often take on the personality of our oldest pair of shoes. They get worn in, comfortable, no longer pinch around the toes and fit well all over. Then we start to notice cracks in the leather and each time we polish them they don’t come up as shiny as before, and we [...]
Relationship rescuers
Posted in Relationship Rescuers on September 6, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Every expat needs a skill-set, a toolbox full of personal attributes that they are constantly growing and developing. This skill-set is not totally different to one that would be advantageous to develop at home-home, and can really enhance our relationship with ourselves, those closest to us and our new neighbors. The relationship roadblocks we create [...]
