Holding the Fort Abroad

Synopsis:Margaret Ghielmetti knows what it is like to be home alone when she thought she was moving abroad with her husband and not moving abroad waiting for her husband to come home. She talks about her journey from thinking she would be fine to the reality she encountered to finally being open about needing help and creating a life for herself on her own terms. In this Episode:  The metaphorical life handbook we receive from our families.Why Margaret was surprised by the effect of her husband’s travelling although she (thought she) knew what she had signed up for.Supporting each other when not in the same place. Expressing your needs.Sharing the blessing of allowing others to help us.Stop saying ‘I’m fine’.Deciding non-negotiables for you! Keeping soft boundaries.Casting a wide net.Feeling lonely when you feel you should be feeling lucky.Resources Mentioned in the Podcast:     Brene Brown/The Anatomy of TrustGuidebook ‘Asking for help’ Contact Margaret:‘Bravi(ish): A Memoir of a Recovering Perfectionist’www.margaretghielmetti.com

SynopsisIn this episode I talk about what you can expect from this podcast and why I am doing it. Extract from the book Holding the Fort Abroad: “Holding the fort, or, in American English, holding down the fort, is an expression that means taking care of things during someone’s absence. In March 2019, as my husband prepared to live in Afghanistan for two years while I stayed in Switzerland, I realised that he has travelled for work throughout our 15-year marriage, albeit not eight weeks at a time, as we were then planning. It would be fair to say I took care of home, family and my own projects while he was away. There have been times when I arrived with our two boys at the location of my husband’s new posting and he was already off on a work trip. In the meantime, I found a home, transitioned the children into a new school and settled in. Or the other way around: he went on to his new job while I sold the house, organised the goodbyes and shipped us all off to our new destination. Over the years, I have had conversations with fellow globally mobile families about the fact that often, a big part of a posting includes work travel. Frequent business travel is mentioned, along with loss of social network, loneliness and resentment as typical stresses of expatriation on the Accompanying Partner. But its impact is rarely looked at separately. It is high time we start talking, in its own right, about life abroad with a travelling partner.”Resources mentioned in the showHolding the Fort Abroad - BookFollow Rhoda at:InstagramSolo parenting expat mums - Facebook groupLinkedIn