19 Mar 2024
Expat Support
Expat Support General Counselling Health Mental health

Finding the right wavelength

Almost twenty-five years ago I found myself in the emergency room at Södersjukhuset with a suspected ectopic pregnancy. It was my third ectopic and fifth miscarriage, and so you could say I was battle hardened. I had brought an exciting novel for the inevitable wait and settled down. I was feeling calm and knew what […]

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Community Expat Support Extraordinary Expats General Counselling Health Mental health

Find your wings to fly the journey of your soul with Denisse Olsson

In the heart of Chiapas, Mexico, Denisse Olsson began her journey as the daughter of a Healer and an agricultural pilot. Her life’s paths took her to Stockholm, where she combined the wisdom inherited from her family and her life’s learnings to craft Wings & Inspiration, a space where she’s been kindly assisting women in […]

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Expat Support General Counselling Health Mental health

Playing life like it’s a game of chess

My hotel room in wonderful Saltsjöbaden looks out on an open-air chessboard. The pieces are randomly placed on the board, some alongside it, painting the scene of a game in mid play. Right now it looks a bit sorry for itself, given the average temperature of -10 in the past weeks. It inspires me to […]

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Expat Support Health Mental health

Think before you throw out the old

This time of the year, at the turning of the light and with the advent of a new year, we might raise a glass and say, “out with the old, in with the new”.  Leaving the old behind is certainly something that global nomads are particularly good at. The last few months have given me […]

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Expat Support General Counselling Health Mental health

Don’t pack your guilt

This is the time of year that many global nomads head home to their families. With expectations high on both sides, these visits can be a mixture of heaven and hell. Almost all expatriates feel some measure of guilt about the impact their life choices have on those who love and miss them ‘back home’. […]

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Community Expat Support Health Mental health

Holding it lightly

Lately I have found myself comparing the process of an international relocation to that of childbirth. You forget how intensive it is and how much it hurts. And so, months or years later you merrily embark on the adventure again. I’m sitting in my car outside yet another apartment, waiting to go in for a […]

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Expat Support Health Mental health

Surfing between the known and the unknown

I’ve just uploaded twenty mediocre and imperfect selfies to an artificial intelligence app. It promises to take this base material and turn it into professional gold; sixty headshots worthy of a LinkedIn listing. I am hoping AI will professionalize these slightly scruffy and big nosed ‘Lysannes’ into the therapist you’ve always dreamed of employing. It’s […]

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Expat Support Health Mental health

Breaking free from toxic anxiety syndrome

Our inbuilt survival system doesn’t care whether you’re happy or sad. It just wants to keep you alive. And that’s hard work when we are floating in a collective fear-soup and our brains are overwhelmed. We have two smoke alarms in our brain. These ‘amygdala’ are constantly on the lookout for life-threatening danger. They don’t […]

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Expat Support Health Mental health

Navigating Life’s Transitions with Mental Well-being

Being in transit can be hard. I am letting go of one organised and happy existence, the result of hard work and adaptation, to once again move towards the unknown. I am heeding an inner call that trusts the process with more conviction than my own little ego-self feels right now. As I sit here, […]

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Finance Parenting Pregnancy & Baby Work & Money

Maternity & Paternity Leave in Sweden

Sweden has one of the most generous parental leave (föräldraledighet) systems in the world. Parents are given 480 days of leave per child, and 390 of these days are paid at a rate of 80% of your salary up to a capped limited of 1006 SEK a day. If you are coming from the USA, […]

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