The Expat Mom Podcast
by Jennie Linton
This is a podcast for expat moms who want to improve their emotional health as they navigate the unique challenges of living and mothering abroad. Each episode shares one tool, idea or perspective shift you can apply immediately to your life and your family. I'm a certified life coach, an expat mom of 4 daughters, and married to a US diplomat. I’ve been abroad many of the last 20 years; I’ve lived on four continents, and in six different countries. I know what it’s like to be stuck emotionally and I know how to get unstuck. This podcast will show you how. You can connect with me at my website http://theexpatmom.com, Instagram @theexpatmomcoach, Facebook @theexpatmomcoach, or Schedule a free, 30-min. mini-coaching session http://theexpatmom.com/schedule
Episodes
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Emotion Coaching Kids Part 4: Trouble Shooting
What keeps you from emotion coaching your kids? Do you feel like you just don’t have time? You are just too reactive? Your kids are too young or too old? There are lots of things that keep us from coaching our kids through emotions. This episode addresses some of the most common questions and...
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Emotion Coaching Kids Part 3: Five Steps to Help Kids Through Big Emotions
Studies show that kids’ emotional success is much less dependent on the quantity of difficult things that happen to them and much more on their experience with them. As parents, we can’t always control what happens to our kids—nor would we want to. But we can control how we support our kids…
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Emotion Coaching Kids Part 2: Mindset is 3/4 of Success
Most of us think that we’re being a good parent if we keep our kids happy. But that’s not true. In fact, some of our best parenting can occur when our kids are experiencing a negative emotion. That’s because studies show that kids’ emotional health is less dependent on the amount of negative...
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Emotion Coaching Kids Part 1: What NOT to Do
Kids and big emotions often go together like peanut butter and jelly. It’s part of the business of childhood and our teen years to figure out how to deal with our emotions. And, as parents we can be a help or a hinderance in that process. It isn’t always intuitive to know how to help kids with...
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How to Fail...And Why You Might WANT To
I don’t know many people who LIKE to fail. But like it or not, life includes lots of failure. That is—if you’re stretching yourself enough to actually be growing. The reason most of us fear failure is we don’t like feeling humiliated, disappointed and frustrated. But did you know that it is...
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Brain Hacks to Stay Consistent With Your Goals
Join the Free Getting it Done Bootcamp! https://forms.aweber.com/form/81/1786038081.htm While many of us love to set goals, being consistent with them can be challenging. They are challenging because new behaviors take more effort and they can be uncomfortable. It’s easier to just do what we’ve...
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3 Common Obstacles That Can Sabotage Your Goals
When we plan out our goals we often assume it will be like driving to the grocery store, hitting all green lights, getting a front row parking spot, not waiting in line and zipping home. But it never is. There are always obstacles that come up. Today on the podcast I’m sharing 3 common mistakes…
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How to Create a Recipe for Goal Success
Join the Free Getting it Done Bootcamp! https://forms.aweber.com/form/81/1786038081.htm Did you know 80% of New Year's resolutions fail? And most of them fail by mid-February. That is a sobering statistic. I've been part of that statistic until a few years ago, when I learned some simple tools…
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Why Even Bother to Set Goals?
Join the Free Getting it Done Bootcamp! https://forms.aweber.com/form/81/1786038081.htm What kinds of feelings does setting goals bring up for you? This year goals setting brought up anxiety and lack of motivation. I’ve felt a bit sluggish nailing myself down with one goal. I was feeling...
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Grief 5: What NOT to Say to Someone Who Is Grieving (And What To Say Instead)
Most of us have known someone at some time that was grieving. If you’re like most people you want to help! You don’t want the person to suffer. But, it can be challenging sometimes to know how to help. On the podcast this week, I share 5 common mistakes we may make in trying to help someone who…
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Grief Part 4: Re-Calibrating After Loss
In Grief Part 2, I shared my grief journey through the first two tasks of grief. In this episode I continue sharing my grief journey through the last two tasks of grief which are adjusting to the new life without the loved one, and reinvesting in a new reality. I found I was a bit like the little...
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Grief Part 3: Moving Through and Out of Grief--Second Part of Sibling Interview
The experience of grief journeys, the timelines, and the ways we find more normalcy and re-calibrate are different too. In the second part of the interview with my siblings, we explore more about healing and help in grief. On this episode we’ll cover: What things were most helpful to you during...
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Grief Part 3: The Different Faces of Grief-An Interview with My Siblings
Grief is as different as the number of people on earth. But sometimes it’s easy to wonder if what we’re experiencing is “normal.” I’m so thankful to my siblings for being willing to share about their varied grief experiences—it paints a picture of how different grief journeys can be for people…
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Grief Part 2: My Grief Journey Losing My Mom (ENCORE SERIES)
This week on the podcast, I share my personal journey of grief around losing my mother. I hope it will be helpful to you in your own grief journeys of loss. There is something about other’s stories that can be more reassuring than science or models—other’s experiences can offer validation,...
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Grief Part 1: Navigating Grief Without Getting Stuck (ENCORE SERIES)
Twelve years ago Saturday, my mother passed away. Grief isn’t something we plan or prepare for, so when it comes it’s often unexpected—even if someone’s death is expected due to a terminal illness. I’ve been looking back at my own grief journey, and studying the most common things about grief…
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Self-Worth: Confidence Part 4
Last time we discussed the 6 parts of confidence. This time we're going deep on self-worth. Consider the following questions: What are you worth? (I 'm not talking about how much money your make or what your net worth is. I mean what is your intrinsic value as a human being unrelated to money?)...
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The Anatomy of Confidence: Confidence 3
Just like you wouldn't want a surgeon to operate on your body without having taken anatomy, you wouldn't want to make a serious attempt at increasing confidence without first knowing it's "anatomy." In this episode I discuss 6 of the essential components of confidence. Confidence Quiz...
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Confidence 2: Why Confidence Matters
Confidence is the foundation of our mental and emotional health. Ironically confidence begets more confidence because when we believe we can we do more, we try more often, we are willing to take risks. Confidence creates a rich life experience, it speeds up decision making, improves…
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Confidence 1: How Confident Are You?
How confident would you say you are? Does it change in different situations? With different people? Has it been different during different life stages? It's normal for confidence to ebb and flow some. In fact, it's actually useful to have a little self-doubt. However, confidence is like the...
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3rd Podcastiversary: Tips for Addressing The 3 Most Coached on Issues
In honor of 3 years of the podcast, today I'm sharing tips on the 3 most coached on issues. For each topic I share I client journey, a book recommendation and a podcast recommendation We are getting ready for a move abroad or getting ready to repatriate, how can I support my kids and our family...
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Navigating Divorce with One or More Partner's Abroad with Lucia Levias
Most expat couples don't plan on divorcing. But sometimes they find themselves needing to navigate divorce while one or both partners are living abroad. This creates some unique challenges for couples deciding where to file for divorce, deciding on custody agreements, creating custody…
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The Ten Commandments of NOT People Pleasing: People Pleasing Part 4
Changing your behavior around people pleasing is a process. In the first 3 episodes of this series we discussed how to shift your mindset in order to stop people pleasing WITHOUT BEING UNKIND. This week, the podcast offers 10 practical tips to help you prepare for a potential people pleasing...
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How to Cure the Niceness Disease: People Pleasing Part 3
People pleasing is something almost all of us do. Chronic people pleasers sometimes don’t know how to stop. On this episode we dive into how to stop people pleasing. There is a practical four step process with several examples to help you see how it might apply in different situations. Free...
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How to Diagnose The Niceness Disease: People Pleasing Part 2
Maybe you are thinking, "I don't struggle with people pleasing." And...you might be right. However, what many people said is that after taking this short quiz, they were surprised. I wasn't, because we ALL struggle with people pleasing to some extent. In fact, it's healthy to struggle with people...
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The Niceness Disease: People Pleasing Part 1
Do you ever feeling the face you put on the outside, doesn't match how you feel on the inside? If so...you might be people pleasing. The Niceness Disease is another way of describing people pleasing, it's a term coined by Dr. David Burns, a noted Psychiatrist. The Niceness Disease...
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How to Help Increase Your Child's Self-Confidence with Jamie Edelbrock
Of all the things we could give our children, self-confidence ranks at the top of the list for most parents. However in a world of comparisons on instagram, high stress levels for everyone in the family, and unusually high expectations, it can be challenging. Jamie Edelbrock, an award-winning...
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Common Repatriating Mistakes: Navigating Transition Part 3
After 11 years living away from the mainland US, our family moved back to the US for a year a couple of years ago. Most people expect going abroad to be hard, but they don’t expect returning home to be as challenging. And, they particularly underestimate the challenge kids will have; kids often...
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When you can't stand your host country: Navigating Transition Part 2
If you've ever felt like you can't stand the country you're living in for another moment, you're normal. If you've ever been in the middle of a transition and felt like you wanted to abandon it all, you're normal. In part 2 of our culture shock series on the podcast, we’ll cover 3 tools you and...
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Your Brain in Culture Shock: Navigating Transitions Part 1
There are 5 stages of culture shock, and each one is driven by neurotransmitters in the brain. Stage 1 The Honeymoon Stage: On arrival-2 weeks to 3 months long Everything feels exciting and novel and wonderful Stage 2 The Rejection Stage: Around 3-6 months You are irritated, frustrated, and...
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How to Regulate Emotion Post-COVID with Kailyn Fullerton
Today, my podcast guest, Kailyn Fullerton, who is an teacher, a bonus-mother, an EdD candidate in social and emotional learning, and an expat, shares her insights on the emotional shift many have experienced post-COVID, and shares some practical strategies about how we can learn to regulate...
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The Power of Family Dinner
It's easy to put our confidence in fancy doctors, professionals, or books to know how to improve our children's mental and emotional health. And those things can be fantastic! Sometimes though, it's harder to trust simple routines and practices at home which can actually be as powerful or MORE...
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Emotional Debriefing: A Tool to Keep Kids from "Overflowing" Emotionally
TCKs emotional cup is full a lot of the time--meaning they are at the threshold of keeping it together. When an additional stressor is added, sometimes that cup just overflows. One of my favorite tools to help TCKs and Expat Families with is "The Debrief." This is a tool developed by Lauren…
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How to Put on Emotionally Protective Armor for TCKs with Tanya Crossman
Part 1 of the interview with Tanya Crossman explored recent research on TCKs which showed pretty dire outcomes. However, Tanya Crossman offers hope to Expat parents how we can prevent mental health issues in our TCKs. It's amazing, the solutions aren't complex, but they do require that we be...
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Recent Research about TCKs and Mental Health with Tanya Crossman: Part 1
Many books have been written about TCKs and some of the challenges and benefits of expat life for kids. But recent research puts numbers and specific outcomes to some of these factors, and the results might surprise you. In a study done on Adverse Childhood Events, TCKs had significantly more…
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"Turning Towards": One Tool That Can Shift How You Feel About Your Partner
Each of us have a desire to be noticed, cared about, and understood by our partner. Gottman calls efforts to get this kind of connection is called “an emotional bid.” I love this name, because it brings up an image of an art auction with someone at the front looking around the room to see who is...
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Turning Assumptions Into Assets
Our brain naturally makes assumptions. It's an essential skill for our survival. Without this skill, we wouldn't be able to make decisions unless we had ALL the information--which is rarely the case. However, assumptions can also be detrimental to our relationships and happiness. They can cause…
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How to "Hold the Fort" in Split-Location Marriages with Rhoda Bangerter
It's really common for families in the expatriate community to be separated sometimes--either because one partner travels frequently, or one partner has an assignment and the rest of the family doesn't go. These situations can be challenging for everyone in the family. It can be especially hard…
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ENCORE EPISODE: Why You Can't *MAKE* Your Spouse Happy
Most of us were given the advice when we got married, “Do everything you can to make your spouse happy.” This sounds like such lovely and good advice. I agree that we should be loving and kind and sacrificing. But when we do these things with the expectation that it will make our spouse happy…
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Household Helpers Abroad: The Amazing, The Hard, & Navigating It All
One of the blessings of living in a developing country as an expat, can be having a household helper. It can be a wonderful way to learn about the host culture, and language, as well as have assistance figuring out new things like bleaching fruits and veggies, figuring out how to get around…
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Emotions Are Contagious
Has someone in your family ever gotten a cold? Within a few days, everyone in the family has one? Just like germs are contagious, so are emotions. Obviously, we don't pass microparticles to each other like bacteria, but we do have biological structures that cause us to mirror emotions in each...
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How to Stop Ruminating
Cows spend 7-8 hours a day chewing, swallowing, regurgitating, re-chewing, and re-swallowing their food. That's a lot of time! Humans spend a lot of time ruminating as well. Rather than ruminating on food, they ruminate on thoughts: they love to chew on thoughts over and over again, swallow them,...
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Weaknesses are Just Strengths Overused
Have you ever noticed that sometimes the very things you love about someone are also sometimes the things that drive you crazy? Often our strengths and our weaknesses are two sides of the same continuum. We're constantly late but it's because we're optimistic about how much we can get done. We're...
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Solving for Mental Load (Without Sabotaging Your Marriage)
Do you ever feel like you have a CNN line ticker constantly moving across the bottom of your brain listing all the things you have to keep track of from whether you've run out of toilet paper, to order the soccer uniform, to making dinner, to exercising etc.? This is your mental load. Studies…
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How to Love Your Body & Lose Weight Even If You've Tried Everything with Becca Brown
What do you say to yourself when you look in the mirror? Do things like, "Ugh, why am I so fat?" or "I hate my body" sound familiar? Many of us internalize messages starting at a young age that can lead to a negative body image. It may not seem like a big deal. But actually, what we say to...
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Gratitude & The Law of The Harvest
In gardening and agriculture, it's clear that you'll reap what you sew. If you plant corn, you won't reap wheat. The law of the harvest is also true in our emotional health. However, sometimes it is less obvious. Gratitude is one type of seed we can plan that can help us grow and cultivate...
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What Happens to a Couple When Relocating? Addressing the "Invisible Changes” with Karina Lagarrigue
Regardless of whether you’ve moved several times or this is your first move as a couple, there are invisible changes that happen to both partners during transition. My guest, Karina Lagarrige—an international psychologist who specializes in expat couples—discusses what these changes are and how…
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Midlife Transition #3: A Practical Guide for Navigating a Midlife Crisis
Just like you wouldn't try to find a new place in a new city without a map or a GPS or a guide, you won't want to navigate a midlife transition without a guide either. You aren't usually at your best in "crisis" so it's even more essential to have a guide. This podcast will walk you through seven...
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Midlife Transition #2 Mindset Mistakes & Midlife Crisis
When we reach midlife, it is often accompanied by a variety of changes. Those changes can often trigger a midlife crisis. The way we think about and respond to that experience to make a tremendous different in how we navigate a midlife crisis. It can make the difference of suffering and…
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Midlife Transition #1: Am I Having a Midlife Crisis?
One of the questions I get frequently is, “Am I having a mid-life crisis?” The way a mid-life crisis is portrayed in the media often does us a disfavor. We assume it looks like buying a Porche or quitting your job to travel the world alone. The truth is that mid-life is the intersection of some...
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2nd Podcastiversary: How I Got From There...To Here
Do you ever look at other people and wonder how they got where they are now? On this episode, I'm excited to share a little of my journey starting out as an expat mom as I and my kids struggled with the challenges of expat life. I share some of the tools I discovered that helped me totally change...
About this show
This is a podcast for expat moms who want to improve their emotional health as they navigate the unique challenges of living and mothering abroad. Each episode shares one tool, idea or perspective shift you can apply immediately to your life and your family. I'm a certified life coach, an expat mom of 4 daughters, and married to a US diplomat. I’ve been abroad many of the last 20 years; I’ve lived on four continents, and in six different countries. I know what it’s like to be stuck emotionally and I know how to get unstuck. This podcast will show you how. You can connect with me at my website http://theexpatmom.com, Instagram @theexpatmomcoach, Facebook @theexpatmomcoach, or Schedule a free, 30-min. mini-coaching session http://theexpatmom.com/schedule
Hosted by
Jennie Linton