An expat’s anchors aweigh

Ten years ago in October 2014 I was sailing the seas of the Forgotten Islands in Eastern Indonesia on a liveaboard boat scuba diving and textile bargaining. I lived in Indonesia then. Last week in December 2024, I was touring the Brecon Beacons in South Wales. I live in the UK now.

Over the last five years, I have lived on two continents in three countries – Indonesia, Taiwan, and the UK. I made two major international moves over the period, each time hauling a 40-foot container, accompanied by a Scottish Terrier and a Domestic Short Hair. I was able to unpack the entire 40-foot container in 2019 in Taiwan. In 2022, half of the 40-footer was in storage and has remained in storage in the UK. My beautiful Scottish Terrier and Domestic Short Hair passed away within the first two months of our move to the UK.

?I did not set out to be an expat. I was not raised as a Third Culture Kid (TCK). At 16, I started my big S Curve of learning to be an expat, turned into an accidental TCK, anchored repeatedly at the periphery. I have once again arrived at the high end of Whitney Johnson ’s S Curve of Learning and Growth. I am in the first stage of Mastery. I am once again at Anchor.

At Mastery of the S Curve

The Mastery stage is the final phase of Johnson’s S Curve of Learning. And the first stage of Mastery is the Anchor stage, the fifth of six stages on the S Curve. At Anchor, you have achieved proficiency and expertise in a role, skill, or venture. You have reached a high level of competence and feel confident in your abilities.

?Your skills and knowledge are at their highest point. You continue to improve, fine-tuning your expertise and deepening your understanding of the task or role, allowing you to perform at a consistently high level. Tasks that once seemed challenging now feel easier, autopilot-like. You perform with greater efficiency, confidence, and ease, often achieving more with less effort. You are now recognised by peers, leaders, and the community as a subject matter expert. You feel stable and secure in your role or area of expertise. You are likely to be taking on mentorship and leadership roles, helping and leading others climb their own S Curves.

?It is satisfying to be at Anchor. There is also the risk of complacency with the challenge and novelty of learning slowing down. The complacency can lead to languishing while at plateau, the state that Adam Grant describes as the void between depression and flourishing and Corey Keyes defines as a condition where one may function adequately but without a sense of vitality or fulfilment, that zest for life.

The Do’s at Anchor

?The cyclic rhythm of the S Curve is Slow ~ Fast ~ Slow. Mastery is a slow phase. And to maximise growth at Anchor, Johnson suggests:

?Pause and Reflect: Take a deliberate moment to assess and consolidate what has been learned throughout the journey. Johnson associates pause and reflect with bittersweet reflections as summarised by Daniel Pink : “Adding a small component of sadness to an otherwise happy moment elevates the moment rather than diminishing it. The best ending don’t leave us happy. They produce something richer. A rush of unexpected insight, a fleeting moment of transcendence.”

?Celebrate Your Achievement: Recognising and honouring the progress made after reaching a level of mastery is essential for reinforcing motivation and creating a sense of fulfilment before moving on to the next challenge, starting the next S Curve. By celebrating your achievements, you create a positive closure to the current S Curve and prepare emotionally and mentally for the transition to a new phase of learning and growth. It is a moment to appreciate how far you have come and the value of the journey itself.

?Prepare for the Next S Curve: It is a powerful moment of consolidation at Anchor. It is where you reap the rewards of your hard work. It also signals the need to look ahead to your next S-Curve to maintain continual growth, to ensure you remain dynamic and fulfilled.

?For me, after the multiple arrivals at Anchor, it is not about mastering the How to, but rather discovering, rediscovering, and reaffirming the Why.

Once again at Anchor

?I read A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway’s memoir of his years in Paris in the 1920’s, in my early teens. That has benchmarked the dream of my expat S Curves. I have not yet met any semblance of the Lost Generation. I rarely connected with the Hong Kong diaspora. On every move, it took at least two years for me to feel home, to be at Anchor. And I stayed at Anchor for more than two decades in Indonesia. And that was not home.

?In 2014, I lived in Indonesia and my husband in Papua New Guinea. Today, I live in the UK and my husband is back in Indonesia. I did not start out to be an expat, a Third Culture Kid (TCK). I have become all that.

?I am at Anchor now, just past year two, in Oxford. It is home, for now. I continue to live on the periphery, to dream of a world without borders.

Subscribe to Just Be with Lina?to receive my next monthly newsletter, to explore how being, rather than doing, can better support us through uncertainty, living on the periphery as expats and third culture kids (TCKs). This is the sixth of a series modelling Whitney Johnson ’s S-Curve of Learning and Growth.