Blog | Communicating Life

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14 May 2020

I wrote these words in the beginning of April 2020.

I am thinking of students who will change school this year.
I am thinking of children from international schools who live in a constant change without geographical boundaries (nearly 25% of students are subject to annual fluctuation), about children from the last grades of each school, and about students who came to part with friends without the meaning “see you!”
Does your child yearn to ride a bus (which he never liked), to walk in the rain, to the school canteen and even to a teacher who has never talked about well?
And so it is. It’s all true. His world, his sense of belonging and security collapsed. The known went away without saying goodbye.

Change is a process whose important element is closing one chapter before opening the next.

Meanwhile, everything happened here suddenly. Not only without preparation, but also in an atmosphere of growing fear and uncertainty. What’s worse, the fear that children may not see some friends anymore, is sometimes surrounded by adults in silence, like the departure of a loved one about whom no one dares to speak out loud.
The tragedy of children is that adults are hoping that children … will not notice or swallow it themselves.

Meanwhile, the success of the adaptation process in a new environment or among new people depends largely on whether the previous stage has been closed. Whether and how the person said goodbye to the previous place, to the previous community. In the case of children, it’s about friends, teachers, rituals such as talking in the cloakroom, chips in a greengrocer or Mac Donald along the way, doing nothing together, running after the bus or training together …

For many children, parting with their peers without completing the process is a real drama. Especially for teenagers for whom the school group, friendships and group processes are the whole world: an emotional training ground, relationship training, a source of information about themselves and their impact on the world. A peer group is an extremely important space in shaping their identity.

Today, children are affected as much, if not more by reason of their natural immaturity – than adults who lost their jobs during social isolation.

Therefore, do not be afraid to talk to children about what is difficult, about what you don’t have a great answer to. Because these are very difficult conversations for a parent who does not want to see a child suffer.
Don’t let this unspeakable sadness close up and turn it into instagram jokes. Let it sound.

Help your child express fears and feelings, reminisce and appreciate the past, express mourning for … the future of certain relationships.
Suggest words to name regret and disappointment. Let children make other forms of contact and say goodbye to friends, knowing that in this way I help a child grow up.



18 April 2020

Happiness is not a distant goal.

Wherever you live, happiness is right there!

You are not meant to suffer, to feel alone, to dwell in loneliness.

If you belong to the international community of people in a constant transition, living far from their roots, the coronavirus time may be even more painful for you.

If you’re an expat, dealing with transition and finding neither support locally nor in your passport country, since you manage a different different set of issues…

I know how it looks like from outside and from inside, when you go through challenges out of your comfort zone to just belong, be seen, understood, considered and loved… When you spend hours learning your address, guessing products’ names in a grocery or celebrating one more week survived with no connection nearby. I know how one feels when, on a new adventure (or on lockdown) with their family, it’s challenging to both care for the relationships and for own boundaries.

If you struggle to find clarity in what’s going on and think you’re the only one who goes through it, don’t stay alone.

I can hear you, like I’ve heard and supported many other expats, in their longing for understanding, clarity and support.

I’m a coach who knows the expat’s world, and can help you find

– meaning of what you’re going through,

– new perspectives in your current situation,

– sense of belonging, adaptability and resilience

If you need a confidential, non-judgmental and supportive or eye-opening conversation,

CONTACT ME via Messenger to have an on-line chat!

I’ll be will holding a space for you, supporting in meeting the needs that are the most important to you.

During the pandemic, my empathy/support one-hour sessions are FOR FREE.

Afterwards, I’ll come back to regular fee for coaching / empathy sessions for expats.

You also can have needs-based coaching sessions with me, because I’m a life coach for expats.

Please contact me at aleksandra@communicating.life or on Messenger communicating.life .

My name is Aleksandra Tomaszewska Roussière and I am the founder of communicating.life, coach, mediator, empathic communication trainer, educator, mother of 3 TCKs, traveler, inspirational thinker, photographer of nature… I’m fluent in Polish, French and English. I have been expatriate for years (Vietnam, Austria, France…), giving workshops on life transitions, Nonviolent Communication skills in education, workplace and relationships, on conflict resolution, listening skills, emotions management and parenting. I’m used to working with expats, people at crossroads, those who struggle with loss, change and strong emotions, with those who need empathy, support and want to grow.

I have lived under different political systems, met different educational models, spent one year in a hospital, divorced, has travelled through the world and I’m feeling happy.


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17 April 2020

From the beginning of the epidemic, I’ve been observing, in myself and in others, a whole range of feelings, emotions and attitudes. I notice how they not only differ from one person to another, but also evolve in every person in various directions.
I have the impression that dealing with a situation in which the fulfilment of various but universal human needs is endangered (and therefore those that are common to all people) is like mourning after loss: it consists of feelings and stages that – in order for the process to be completed – must to happen, but in an “optional” order.
Moments of enthusiasm and clarity are mixed with


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