Hello and thank you for buying Gratitude Buddies 30 Day Journal for Expats!
I’m Abbie, the Founder of Gratitude Buddies and 3-5x time Expat (depending on if 3-4 months counts as being an expat!)
Each one of us has our own Expat story and maybe even more than one - if we’ve moved around a lot. We know what it feels like to start over, need to make new friends, adjust to a new environment and culture, and perhaps a new language.
I’m American, but I now live in Vienna, Austria. I arrived here in 2016 with two babies, not a word of German and not knowing anyone. Needles to say, it was baptism by fire. While my circle has since expanded to many wonderful people (thanks fellow Gratitude Buddies and Mompreneurs!) my first few years included a lot of tears, resistance and feeling dislocated.
I didn’t want to be in Vienna, but I felt like that’s where the river of life, or my river, had flowed. At some point (and I have shared this story a few times), I pushed my double stroller through the snow, tears streaming down my face and ended up in a little cafe, standing in front of a woman wearing a T-shirt that said:
You Are Where You’re Supposed to Be.
Divine message on a T-shirt? I don’t know, but I decided to interpret it that way. I needed to.
So for you, dear journaler, I offer you same.
It may not be easy, but you are where you’re supposed to be. I hope this journal offers you support to lean into your experience, including your feelings as they arise.
Thanks for being with us and I welcome your feedback, thoughts or concerns at home[@]gratitudebuddies.com.
Warmly,
Abbie