Life Uprooted

10/24/2022

"Journaling helps!" says the therapist. "How do I journal?" asks the client. I'm glad you asked. There are many ways to productively journal. If you've found a means that works well for you, I'd love to hear about it. If not, check out the ideas below. Make sure it's safe. It's sheer terror to be re...

04/05/2022

Whether or not you celebrate Easter, you may be familiar with the tradition of decorating eggs. Maybe kids these days get the brightly colored plastic version, but when I was growing up we got the real deal: chicken eggs: boiled, dyed and covered in stickers. When I was about 8 years old, I kept an....

03/09/2022

When I watch children playing - bending down to pick up a pebble treasure, humming to themselves as they fit blocks together, even getting furious because teddy won't stay in the position they keep contorting him into - my heart throbs. If only "teddy" was every child's greatest frustration. If only...

02/18/2022

Pondering the Paradox of Grief and Gratitude, and the importance of both.

Those of us who have traveled and lived internationally realize, perhaps more than others, just how incredibly much beauty and brokenness reside on our planet. The beauty and brokenness may dwell within us. They may dwell all around us. They may drift through our memories. I recently found myself ka...

12/05/2021

To learn more, head over to lifeuprooted.com.

Laura Lanford is a professional counselor with a special place in her heart for internationals, expats, immigrants, refugees, third culture kids and all who ...

12/02/2021

Anxiety can appear out of nowhere. At least, it seems like nowhere. You're sitting eating your breakfast protein bar just like you do every morning when suddenly your heart starts pounding. Or you're standing in line at the same supermarket you've purchased your food from every week for the past 4 y...

10/11/2021

Traumatic events and grief can be so horrible that the last thing we want to do is feel the pain. If given the option, many of us would choose to never, ever, evvvver feel it, even if that means feeling nothing at all. Feeling pain seems to go against our very pleasure-loving nature. Those around us...

07/08/2021

I sold my desk today. No big deal. It was just a desk. I bought a different one and didn't have space for both. So it made sense to sell it. A nice grandmotherly type came this afternoon and picked it up. And as she drove off, I felt like sobbing. Being a counselor and a human being, I've learned to...

07/02/2021

07/02/2021

In their book Third Culture Kids, Polluck, Van Reken, and Polluck discuss what they call "hidden immigrants." Hidden immigrants don't immediately stand out as being foreign; they look like the people they live among and they may speak the local language(s) without an accent. However, deep down, hidd...

06/29/2021

In my last post, I talked about how I used to think I was fated to be un-resilient. I said that I thought there was "nothing I could do about it." Turns out, I was wrong. Sure glad I was. First, the disclaimers: This post is not intended to be five-easy-steps-to-resilience. Everyone's journey looks....