Transition is the hardest part of change

Hello dear friends! I am finally posting on my blog again and am going to start with something I wrote over a week ago regarding how I was feeling about this change. Since that week my life here has become a bit more familiar, and as I am adding new friends to my circle and embracing this adventure I have more experiences to share. So I am starting with the post written during a time when I was doubting my decision to move to here.

Written June 17, 2017 -5 days after arriving to Saudi Arabia.

William Bridges in his book, Managing Change states the hardest part of change is not the beginning or the end but the middle. Bridges describes the middle phase of change like the trapeze artist who is flying through the air…they have left one swing (the end) but haven’t quite caught the other swing (the beginning.) I am in the middle of this change, flying through the air with nothing to hold on to and it is uncomfortable and frightening. Three days ago I was ready turn around and go home but like the trapeze artist it is impossible to change direction mid-air so here I am trying to not resist change.

I will not lie…I miss my family. It hurts my heart to be so far away from them. As a mother and wife you become accustomed to the business trips and you learn to let your children go as they grow older and leave home. I was not prepared for the emotions that I would feel as I was the one who was leaving. I made the choice to release the trapeze and as I watched my sons and husband fade away I thought I would never be able get to the other side. But I am here and some days the tears come more freely than I want.

Nothing brings people together better than a common cause. There have been many people at the other end of trapeze platform to catch me. The people who have helped have been unbelievably supportive and kind, because in one way or another they too have had to let go and fly into the unknown. They have shared their experiences and given me advice on how to make the best of this opportunity. This unbelievable support system has helped me through this transitional period which I will be forever eternally grateful.

I am starting to gain my footing and become curious about life again. Living here is forcing me to learn new things all over again. An example of this is in faucets, where hot is not necessarily hot and can be cold (or vice versa), and all tap water is salt water and if you don’t want to use that then you need to use the one faucet in the house that has “sweet water” which we know as fresh water. Buying local produce is much better and less expensive than the prepackaged lettuce and fruit that I recognize from the supermarkets back home. I recognize many of the brands in the commissary (branding is an art form) even if it is written in arabic, the comfort comes from knowing it is the same item I would find back home. I have caught myself referring to where I am from as “the states”. And others refer to me as a westerner, or say I am westernized. I have met unbelievably supportive group of women from all nationalities. Many who did not know English when they moved here but now are fluent. These ladies are welcoming and generous sharing stories of their own journeys to the place we all now call home. Tomorrow I will start work and I am looking forward it, after all this is the reason I came over here. To earn money and see the world, and this opportunity will allow me to share these experiences with my family as they have the chance to see it with me also.

XO

Kate