A fellow EWer and a Life Coach discusses her journey and the importance of making the best out of your expat experience.
As a Coach, I support women from different nationalities that are going through a transition period in their lives. Most of them are expatriates, they moved with their families to a new country to start a new life. This is an important decision for all members of the family and of course, they valued the benefits of it for all of them.
Usually, the husband is the one who has an opportunity in his company to work abroad and most of the times, the women have to quit their jobs to follow their partners. This is exactly what happened with me five years ago and this is why I am so passionate about supporting and helping women who are going through the same experience as me.
After I moved to the United States with my family and had to leave my 12 years of experience in Human Resources in Italy, I was happy to enjoy a moment with my kids and have more time for me. I loved meeting new people, going out for coffee and lunches, going to English classes and visiting new places.
SEE ALSO: 15 lessons learnt as expats
After a while, a little voice inside of my head was telling me: “I want more for me here, I want to have a meaningful experience here.” At that time, I hired a Coach to help me understand what would be possible for me here in my personal and professional journey.
After a few sessions, I told her that I wanted to be a coach like her and she said that since the moment we met, her intuition told her that I would be a great coach.
Coaching expatriate women became my work, my passion and my purpose. Our life purpose is not just vocational, it’s about who are you being in the world and why you are here.
I am so proud of my clients who decided to make a difference in their lives, saying to themselves that they didn’t want to live two, three or more years waiting to go back to their countries, but they wanted more for themselves, they wanted to make every day count.
SEE ALSO: Top 10 tips on making the move to expat land
Our lives are what happen today, at this moment, don’t wait for tomorrow or someday for what you could realise now. Living abroad is a unique experience, live it in a meaningful way!
About the Author
Originally from Brazil, Andrea Fleischfresser lived in Milan, Italy for 12 years then moved to Michigan, USA in 2012. After 12 years of working in Human Resources, she rediscovered herself and became a Professional Coach. She completed her certification program at the Coaches Training Institute® as well as an intensive “Co-Active Leadership” training. She’s also a Certified Coach through the International Coaching Federation.
