I’ve included several personal articles about a move overseas to a location that is often harshly judged and feared because:

1. Because I LOVE leading change.
2. Three years of our lives were filled with continuous unwanted change.  …So much so that it was like being hit with enormous waves, each one would knock us down, we would stand again, and another would hit.  It was such a confusing and painful time that to this day tears surface when I think about it.  When the waves stopped crashing there was not much about our lives that looked the same.  And then the transformation within us began.
3. Because individuals and organizations need direction and encouragement as they navigate their own seasons of change.  (Did you know that year after year, Critical Human Capital Issues continue to be change related?)

My hope is:

• That by sharing the details and the emotions of our expat journey that you or someone you love will find encouragement for whatever you are in the midst of.
• That you will be reminded that you are not alone in the struggle to navigate change.
• That you will find inspiration and answers for the changes you are navigating.
• That when you are ready, you will help others by sharing your story!

When we were asked to make this move I imagined that life would look and feel as brown and desolate as the image below.

This is our journey:  

November 2012 – As we contemplated the decision but did not tell anyone I wrote this post:

• Comfort or Magic… Stay?  Go?  Go?  Stay?

December 2012 – After we made the decision to go, and the reality started to set in but  we could not yet share what was happening I wrote this post: 

• The Holidays and Tears  

When we were finally able to share what we were doing with the world these words became our vision:

• Turning Unwanted Change into an ADVENTURE

As we prepared for the journey:

• Everything the Light Touches
• Faced with a sink or swim situation ~ What do you do? 
• The Invisible Woman 
• Navigating Limbo, In the Midst of Change 
• Expats:  On Life & Leadership
• Learning’s & Joy:  In the Midst of Change

April – June 2013 – The first 3 months:

• Life on an Expat Compound – AKA Sesame Street
• Thankfulness, Beauty and Struggle ~ In a Foreign Land
• What goes down, will go up again!
• Is it all just a matter of perspective?
• When you don’t know, what you don’t know
• Outside the Comfort Zone…  In Hot Pursuit of the Vision!
• 6 Lessons from Change Ready Kids:  On Life Outside of “Normal”
• Is the bacon really worth it?

July – September 2013 – The second trimester:

• A lesson from our vacation in Amsterdam:  Leaders Stand for Something:  When Do You Stand?
• Back in the Sandbox:  On Change and Expat Life
• 9-11-2001 From an Expat Perspective

October – December 2013 – The third trimester:  

A vacation in Jordan proved it is possible to turn unwanted change into an adventure.

• The biggest learning of the year mixed with a Christmas memory:  What has CHANGE taught you this year?
• Finding Your Voice To Make An Impact

Jan 2014:  A series honoring “The Real Housewives of Expat Men”

• Intro:  Uncommon and EXTRAordinary Agents of Change
• Part I:  We’ve walked into paralyzing fears and become stronger
• Part II:  Need people that are skilled at Managing and Coping with Change?

The rest of 2014:  More powerful leadership and life lessons

• Never underestimate the power of play in your organization
• Leadership 101:  Consistent, Fair and Explainable
• Why Our World Needs FIRSTS
• Chaos or Vision:  You Choose!
• Looking Back and Looking Forward after Major Change
• When worlds collide… Important dialogs can begin if we let them
• Energized by Human Connection
• Ask 1 Question and Increase Your Connections
• Integrity Matters Because…
• Energized by Human Connection
• A lesson from our vacation in Italy:  Seize the Day:  When it’s easy and when it’s hard
• Executives:  Do you not know or do you not care?
• Consumed by a Problem You Can’t Solve?
• 2 Steps Forward +1 Step Backward = Progress
• Extreme Testing:  Practicing What You Believe In
• A lesson from our vacation in Egypt:  A New Perspective at the Pyramids
• Another lesson from our vacation in Egypt:  I See People

2015:  Lessons are always there if you want to learn!   

• Are your expectations too low or too high?
• Endings and Beginnings
• Thwarting Death by Comfort Zone
• Pop, Soda, Coke…  Right word = Getting Heard
• Continuous Improvement:  Cures the two-year itch
• What are you hearing, speaking and believing?
• The impact of vision without ownership
• Are you a Rule Maker, Rule Faker or Rule Breaker?
• What if TRUTH is FIRST discerned in your gut?
• 4 Ways you can decrease bullying and division
• The Epidemic risk of INconsistency
• What does FREEDOM mean to you?
• When companies don’t tell the whole truth
• Would you say yes, If…
  

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To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.  To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.

To reach out for another is to risk involvement.  To expose feeling is to risk exposing your true self.  To place your ideas, your dreams before the crowd, is to risk their loss.

 To love is to risk not being loved in return.  To live is to risk dying.  To hope is to risk despair.  To try is to risk failure.

 But risk MUST be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.  The person who risks nothing does nothing, has nothing, and is nothing.

 He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, live.  Chained by his certitudes, he is a slave; he has forfeited freedom.

 Only a person who risks is free.

Image Credits:  iStock & Personal