Why do I work with TCKs, “why Me?”
Last week I wrote about TCKs, and some of their challenges and characteristics. They have (positive and negative) patterns of behavior that other people usually do not have. They have special eyes for certain things that other people do not.
TCKs and Expats, in general, face various challenges that “the local folk” just do not, nor , usually, can they imagine what is going on in their lives - and psyches. Sometimes, though, it is a serious logistical challenge, like how fast can your children get here from another continent when your spouse has died. Or, to make is much simpler and benign, how do the Spaniards recycle in Tenerife, as opposed to on the mainland AND how does that differ from Switzerland and Germany. And the recycling processes around the world does really differ.
Why me as a TCK/Expat Coach?
I wrote a bit about TCKs last week, and now I am going to write about the “Why me?” question and my family of origin is the beginning, but not the end. Ever since I can remember, I was encouraged to care for the “other” person. It was a family value, and went much deeper than the “golden rule”. Later, though, I realized that TCKs were in my family: My mother’s father was one with parents from Sweden and my dad was one with parents from north and south Denmark (which, according to both of them, were different countries in their own rights). I cannot be sure about my grandpa, but my daddy displayed a lot of TCK characteristics.
Then I went to college and spent most of my time with international students and American TCKs, funnily feeling more at home with them than with my compatriots from Minnesota. A year abroad in the Philippines (working with Southeast Asian refugees in a refugee camp) as a kind of “gap year” between B.A. and M.A. made me feel even more like a TCK than not. Asian friends to this day call me “half Asian”. Finally, for the rest of my life in the USA after getting my M.A. in Second Languages and Cultures Education I taught English as a Second Language refugees in a local public school.
Fast forward a few decades and I am married to a TCK with 3 adult TCK children and have been living in a “foreign” country for over 33 years. I usually love my TCK family and life.
I think the “why me” has been answered, except for one more thing: I almost got a Ph.D. in Linguistics with the “niche” of TCKs, but life happened* and I chose to focus more on family and not academics.
AND then, life happened again but in a different way*, and I decided to do something more than be a lecturer in a local university here. I decided to first, become a certified spiritual director, then I became a certified business coach a few years later, then a certified supervisor a few years after that. Finally, this year I have become a certified teaching supervisor (or in other organizations, it is called a mentoring supervisor). I love working with my clients, whether – or not- They are TCKs.
How about you? What has led you to where you are now and are you as happy with your choice(s) as I am? Do you need a change? Are you a TCK just discovering what that is and means for you?
I would love to chat.
Otherwise, have a lovely weekend,
Patricia patricia@jehle-coaching.com
*life happened: thiese are different stories, and would take a chat over a coffee, should you be curious
