Shannon's Corner

  When life shifts—whether by choice or circumstance—our emotions often rise to the surface. Do you notice them? Acknowledge them? Or do you try to shove them down and press forward?   Maybe you feel everything all at once. Or maybe you’re unsure what you’re feeling at all. Either way, you’re not alone.   Think of emotions like the lights on a car dashboard. When one comes on, it’s a signal that something under the hood needs attention. Emotions work the same way—especially during transitions.   That tightness in your chest? The tears that catch you off guard? The irritation or numbness? These are signals worth noticing. They might point to fatigue, grief, fear, hope, or even growth.   Instead of ignoring the warning light, what would it look like to get curious? To gently ask: What’s going on beneath the surface? What needs care, support, or attention right now?   Life transitions are full of unknowns. But tuning in to your emotions can be a compass—helpin...

  Sitting in a lecture room with a guest speaker talking about Third Culture Kids (TCKs), I personally did not think that I would learn much. But I was curious to learn who are TCKs. The more the guest speaker talked about the life of a TCK, the more I was on the edge of my seat and leaning in. She was talking about me. Every word, the challenges TCKs face, the emotions, the losses, and transitions, she was describing my life in ways that I would not ever have been able to because I did not have the language. I so related to everything she said about TCKs as it mirrored my life almost to a “T” except the cross-cultural living part. It was mind-blowing!! What was amazing is now I had language. I was then able to start processing and understanding the nebulous like parts of my 30 years of life.   Language gives us meaning. Emotions give language to what is happening inside us. I heard somewhere that there is close to 300 emotion words and that the average adult only knows and/or...

  In my formative years, I was shaped with the message of how others matter and were important by arriving 10-20 minutes early, depending on the situation. In my early adulthood, I continued showing up 10-20 minutes before the expected time. I never gave thought to the ‘why’ behind it. It was just automatic.   I moved to Peru, and I automatically was arriving 10-20 minutes earlier than the designated time. There was this transitional stress happening within me because of moving cross-culturally. Even though I learned the concept about cultural differences which time is one of them, I did not stop to acknowledge this difference and became more and more frustrated. Once I did acknowledge the difference of the value of time in Peruvian culture, I started making some subtle shifts.   Some subtle shifts were to arrive just on time or a little after the designated time. I learned to have a book or something to do to pass the time until the person was ready, or the meeting would...