The Expat Mom Podcast

Getting your stuff pared down to a weight or space allotment for a move can feel daunting.  And then there is figuring out what to bring in suitcases, air shipments, sea shipments and what to put in storage!  Once you get to your destination, you're faced with "stuff" again, and trying to decide where to put it all.   Lisa Crawford, an experienced expat mom, shares some easy, practi...

For many expat families, stuff + moving = stress.  Families often have weight limits or financial restrictions on how much they can move.  And at the same time they have lots of items that are important to them and may tell a story about their lives.  This can create some stress leading up to a move about how to organize and prepare for the move.  My guest today is an organization and parenting ex...

Most people expect going abroad to be hard, but they don’t expect returning home to be as challenging.  In particular, they often underestimate the challenge kids will have re-adjusting.  While meaning to be helpful there are eight common mistakes parents make that actually make readjusting harder for kids.  Today on the podcast we look at each of these mistakes and discuss a healthier approach to...

There are some intentional things we can do to help adjust our mindsets, and help ourselves move through the stages of culture shock with more speed, more confidence, and less frustration.  In part 2 of our culture shock series, we’ll cover 3 tools you and your family can use as you transition to another country.   These tools apply whether this is your first overseas assignment or your 12th.   In...

There are five stages of culture shock when we move to another country.  Understanding the can help us normalize our experience, blame ourselves less and help us realize it won’t last forever! This is part 1 of the culture-shock series.  On the podcast this week you’ll learn:  Why we experience culture shock The 5 different stages of culture shock Common timelines when experience culture shock  Wh...

You've probably heard the buzzwords "self-care" and "awareness" in podcasts, magazines, and self-help books.  But they can refer to such a large range of things.  Today on the podcast, my guest helps define "self-care" in a fresh way and offers an equation you can use to determine how to choose and benefit from self-care.  She defines "awareness" and gi...

Have you ever eaten one of those twisty donuts at the bakery?  Our thoughts are a bit like those donuts.  They get twisted and distorted.  Of course we don't mean to make them this way.  It just happens as we have life experiences, our biology is imperfect, we have families who model imperfect ways of thinking and being.  The problem with distorted thinking is that it often causes us to feel...

Each of us has an on-going dialogue in our minds.  Did you know you can listen to yourself think?  Today on the podcast, we're discussing how powerful our mental dialogue is in how we feel.  And...how to get some leverage over our dialogue, especially when we're feeling stuck or in a low place.  On the podcast you'll learn: How many thoughts we have each day!  Why paying attention t...

Most of us believe that happiness is superior to other emotions.  But is it?   Many of us if given the option would love to feel happy all the time--at least we THINK we would.  But are there benefits to negative emotions?  And does trying to be happier actually lead to feeling happier?   Today on the podcast, we address some of these questions.  And I share part of my journey with emotional healt...

Just like we have different seasons in our weather, our marriages have different seasons too.  In marriage, spring is characterized by hope, warmth, and excitement about the possibilities of the relationship, while winter is characterized by coldness, harshness and uncertainty about the future.  We often enter winter when we’ve been hurt or disappointed by our spouse.  All 4 seasons of marriage ca...

We often assume the way we see our spouse is simply the way they are.  But actually, most of us see our spouse through a distorted filter.  My Dad recently had cataract surgery.  When the cataracts were removed, he was surprised how much clearer and whiter his vision was—he had assumed for years that the way he saw them was simply the way they were.  But in reality it was not the way they were—it...

One important aspect of marriage is sexual intimacy.   I'm excited to share with you an interview with Certified Sex and Marriage Coach Amanda Louder.   In this interview, Amanda offers some fantastic insights into how men and women differ in their approach to intimacy; specifically why many women have lower sexual desire than their husbands.  She offers some suggestions about how to increase...

Most of us were given the advice when we got married, “Do everything you can to make your spouse happy.”  This sounds like such lovely and good advice.  I agree that we should be loving and kind and sacrificing.  But when we do these things with the expectation that it will make our spouse happy, very often we undermine our happiness and the happiness of our spouse.  In other words when we do this...

I don’t know many people who LIKE to fail.  But like it or not, life includes lots of failure.  That is—if you’re stretching yourself enough to actually be growing.  The reason most of us fear failure is we don’t like feeling humiliated, disappointed and frustrated.  But did you know that it is possible to have a different experience with failure.  Did you know failure could be fun?  This week on...

While many of us love to set goals, being consistent with them can be challenging.  They are challenging because new behaviors take more effort and they can be uncomfortable.  It’s easier to just do what we’ve always done…and our lower brains like ease.   If we haven’t set up the right systems for ourselves, the lower brain often wins out and we procrastinate or give up on our goal.  In order to b...

When we plan out our goals we often assume it will be like driving to the grocery store, hitting all green lights, getting a front row parking spot, not waiting in line and zipping home.  But it never is.  There are always obstacles that come up.  Today on the podcast I’m sharing 3 common mistakes we make that derail our goals so you can be more successful at avoiding these mistakes.   On this epi...

Did you know 80% of New Year's resolutions fail?  And most of them fail by mid-February.  That is a sobering statistic.  I've been part of that statistic until a few years ago, when I learned some simple tools that have helped me and my clients actually accomplish our goals instead of just make them.  Accomplishing goals is actually like creating and following a recipe. In this episode y...

What kinds of feelings does setting goals bring up for you?  This year goals setting brought up anxiety and lack of motivation.  I’ve felt a bit sluggish nailing myself down with one goal.  I was feeling overwhelmed with all the goals I WANT to do but knowing I only have the capacity to do some.  Choosing can be tough!  And, as I look back on some of the past years, it can feel discouraging to thi...

As the holidays approach lots of us are experiencing more interactions with family and friends.  With a global pandemic, a highly politically polarized environment in addition to the normal strains of life, disagreements are more frequent.  While we might not agree--our disagreements don' t have to ruin our relationships. On this episode you'll learn: Why disagreements often lead to divi...

Mom guilt is an epidemic among women.  We feel guilty because we can't meet our own and others expectations all the time.  But, guilt can actually become a gift if we know how to use it in a helpful way.  In this episode, we dive into a three step process about how to do this.   On this episode you'll learn: A new definition of guilt The three steps for using guilt in a useful way Why ou...

With the holidays approaching there are often more parties and gatherings.  Most of us have been in a social situation where we felt awkward.   Turns out research shows that when we're feeling out of place at a party, we do things and see things in a way that makes us feel even more awkward than we already did.  And....our awkwardness often makes others feel awkward.  That's a whole lot...

It may sound backwards, but making an un-grateful list can help you be more grateful.  In fact scientists estimate that we can improve our happiness level by up to 25% simply by practicing regular gratitude.   Gratitude is powerful, but our brains are sneaky.  They like to add subtle caveats to our gratitude statements that undermine our happiness.  It might sound like this; "I'm thankfu...

When you move abroad, your grocery shopping looks different, the way you get from place to place looks different, and likely your "purpose" or the way you contribute to your community looks different.  Emma Ball is a new expat mom.   In this interview she discusses some of her journey moving abroad and navigating finding her purpose.  She has a background in education, but found that she...

Whether we realize it or not, most of us have a long list of “shoulds” for our spouses.  Some common “shoulds” I hear include: they should clean up after themselves, they should listen and remember what I say, they should agree with me, and they shouldn’t criticize me.  We attach these “shoulds” to how we feel about our spouse, and our own happiness.  We think that if our spouses do what we think...

The question, “Where are you from?”  is a common question.  If you’re someone who has lived the same place your whole life, it’s a pretty straight forward answer.  But for expat kids who don’t live in their home country, and have often lived in more than one additional country the answer is more complicated.  When kids have a negative experience answering this question—either they don’t know what...