Visualizing Your Move: A Guide to Emotional Preparedness

You are moving back this summer, leaving your expat country behind?

I am sharing with you a powerful exercise that I use with groups in workshops for people repatriating or relocating. I use it myself to understand better what is going on for me at a deeper level and pave the way for the transition to come. The power resides on bringing the unconscious level closer to the conscious one ??.

The base of this exercise is to use visuals and images to try to envision yourself during this move (or envision the move). You need to have many different images available to choose from. You can even build a kind of “mood board” using copyright free images on the web.

Each Relocation is a new and different experience

Let me share with you several images from my own experiences, from my various moves and relocations (there are many to choose from !).

These different images are reflecting different perspectives, each related to a specific move in the past.

When I left India, that was the image I chose at the time.

I remember another participant in the workshop coming to me and asking me what was in my luggage…

It is still weird to me to see all this luggage, as it was one of my “lighter” move in terms of logistics and “stuff”.

The heavy weight of the stuff that I am carrying was the emotional load of an experience that I deemed as “a failure to adapt”. True, I was really eager to live India behind - especially as we were then moving back to Japan that was (and is still) my “heart” country ??.

When I left Japan in 2020, that was the image I chose.

?In the midst of covid, that was a tricky move. Getting closer to family was the big driver behind this move. Closer to my kids who were all in Europe and my aging parents in France who were struggling.

I recall the unsettling feeling as I crossed a completely empty airport to take my plane, which was one of the rare flight scheduled on that day.

When I left Japan in 2009, I think that it could be the image that I would have chosen.

I did not know about that exercise at the time but I have no doubt that this could have been an image that I would have chosen.

I was anxious about coming back to Paris as I felt so safe in Japan, and torn as I left a great job and great friends behind.

Each time that I was coming back to France for holidays, I experienced a high level of stress, aggressivity and negativity. It started as I set foot in Roissy, from the very first moments, in my taxi from the airport, due to grumpy taxi drivers yelling at others and complaining about everything - weather, traffic, whatever event or situation that was going on…

Using visual tools for personal reflection to ease emotionally the process of relocation

The choice of an image force us to stop relying on our rational analytic brain and use other brain centres, using other senses that are better connected to our emotions. a call to emotions as well as the inner leader, the wisdom or internal sage voice. Stop being in my head, but feel and bring to the front what lays deeper. It allows us to get clarity, as we might experience a kind of dissonance when analytic thinking does not align with our “gut feeling”.

It is a powerful tool to deal with the emotional aspects of the move. It helps develop self-awareness and reframe, to live the transition more fully and see the upside and opportunities that are present. When we are stepping out of our comfort zone, this is where magical things happen. This is there that lie the opportunities to learn and grow.

Relocation implies a change of country, but it is a total disruption of our life, work and more deeply of our identity.

Using this exercise in a collective format

In my workshop, i display all the pictures on a large table and I ask participants to choose the one that might capture or reflect their thoughts and feelings about the coming move.

I do this also virtually displaying on the screen 8 pics with numbers and asking participants to select one.

Then each participant gets to explain why they chose their pics. It helps them to articulate what they are sensing about their coming move. By sharing this with others in a confidential place, they are also inspired by others’ choice and words. If the feelings are tough, they see that they are not the only ones and get comforted and supported from the group.

It is a fun and powerful activity to do in a family settings, especially with young children, as they can participate as well as their parents. Each person makes its own choice and the chosen pics say a lot about each person’s mindset and perspective. There need to be a few conditions in place to ensure everyone feels free to choose and share. If all members are curious and non-judgemental about whatever will come up from the others, the impact of this exercise can be transformative and reinforce the strength of the relationships.