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May Reminder – Five Safety Stops for Expatriate Health and Wellbeing

Posted on May 2, 2025May 3, 2025 by Angie Weinberger

Angela Weinberger - The Global Mobility Coach

During the global pandemic, my mother could not find yeast for weeks. Her village in Southern Germany had a yeast shortage. We didn’t have a shortage of anything here in Zurich, neither toilet paper nor yeast, even though demand for both was higher than in “normal” times. I went to SPAR and bought five packs of dry yeast. The man at the post office laughed when I told him what was in the small parcel—my second delivery since the beginning of our lockdown. My mother and aunt love to bake, even in “normal” times. The price for the package was higher than the value of the goods, but this was the only thing I could do for my family from here aside from ordering Easter presents on the Internet. I was thrilled to be able to help them with a small gesture.

That’s how I became an accidental “expat”.

I did not consider myself an “expat” since I now live close to my original hometown. However, the coronavirus and the temporary closure of the border between Switzerland and Germany expatriated me. I have worked with expats most of my professional life, living abroad and taking on international assignments. I’m an expert in Global Mobility, but it took a virus to make it hard for me to return to my passport country.

I felt your pain.

Maybe you got stuck somewhere. Maybe your family and elderly relatives live in another country. You used to go there every summer and every winter. You used to spend your home leave with loved ones and catch up with all your close friends, but it’s not the same when you’re just half an hour away from them. And the world offers you one crisis after another.

Implement Safety Stops

If you are a diver, you know what a safety stop is. Before you dive to the surface, you sit at a certain level (around 3 meters below the surface) for five minutes. You breathe and wait and let the nitrogen get out of your body. Then, you move back up to the surface. As a diver, you know that you always need enough oxygen to get back up again and make the safety stop with your diving buddy. You don’t watch fish at 30 m depth until you are completely out of oxygen. Why, then, do we live our expat lives like that? Why the hubris and expectation that we have to be superheroes?

When I had COVID-19, I often remembered my diving experience. Probably because sometimes I felt like I was breathing through an oxygen mask and that I had too much nitrogen in my blood, I often felt this slight dizziness. I survived without artificial support. I took the safety stop just in time before burning out completely. I went to the hospital and was treated well.

Expats are often more resilient than colleagues who have always lived in their home country. However, they are also more prone to suffering from mental health issues. I see four main reasons why that is:

You often don’t have the same social support network here, or your friendships are too new to ask for much personal support.
You tend to identify strongly with your work and often neglect other parts of your life.
You might be in a transitional season of life when you have obligations toward your children, parents, and elderly family members.
You might still suffer from cultural adjustment. Often, you might not attribute your symptoms to cultural transition, but you might think it is depression or work-related stress. To relax, alcohol, soft drugs, and medication are often overused on assignments, especially with single expats.
Maybe you recently went through a separation, or you lost a loved one. It could be that your professional life is on track, but your personal life took a toll. If you are Gen X (or a Baby Boomer), you might have lost more friends and family in recent years.

You could work more than you should in the home office, thinking you have saved commuting time. If you feel close to burning out, depressed, or have an unusual level of anxiety, you should consider these five easy-to-implement measures to regain strength this May.

Here is a worksheet for you:

Worksheet 237 The Traffic Light of Stressors

1 – Change Your Weekly Schedule

We tend to spend too much time in front of screens. Going offline for a whole weekend will be difficult, but it can help you focus on yourself again. Plan offline and quality time with your partner, children, or a close friend.

Start an offline challenge: Before the weekend, collect ideas about what you want to do together. Everyone should have at least an hour to themselves daily—plan light exercise, such as hiking in the woods. You might discover something new in the neighborhood or nearby.

Routines and Rituals: Routines and rituals help certain personality types maintain sanity. For example, you could allow yourself one hour of meditative, creative work in the morning. Many of my clients work better when they go for a run or walk early in the morning, and others love an hour of gardening, creative writing, or playing the piano.

Mark your workday: I also recommend setting your alarm for specific times to mark the beginning and end of your workday, primarily when you work from home. Set the alarm for break times. For example, set your alarm for your lunch break, as you might otherwise work through it when working from home.

Meet others in the real world: You can set lunch and “apéro” dates. These are great for getting out of the house and building professional relationships. We need yeast to bake bread, informal chats, and conversations about canteen food with colleagues. We need to get dressed in nice clothes, commute to work, and have a distance between “work” and “leisure.”

Join the Global People Club: You should join our Global People Club. We regularly write about cultural events in our Global People Club Sandwich newsletter.

2 – Write down 25 Priorities

For this reflection, we prefer an offline method, such as a flipchart with Post-it notes. The advantage is that you will always have a visual representation of your priorities and can tick off what you have done. You probably have a whiteboard in your office, but using a Kanban board in your living room might seem too intrusive. Make it a fun activity, use colors, and ask your kids to help you. Paint signs instead of writing words.

Most importantly, stop at 25. The rule is that you can have up to 25 priorities (not more). Break down more significant milestones into smaller cobblestones. Give yourself a chance to tick off items every Friday.

Worksheet 253_ Your 25 Life and Work Priorities Kanban

3 – Talk to All Your Family Members About Your Assignment

In these times, you might wonder if your assignment is still on the right track and if the host country is where you want to be. You should discuss this topic with all your family members.

Discover their thoughts on the host country, their feelings about being here, and whether an extension is possible. This may be when you feel particularly grateful for being in Switzerland, rather than anywhere else. Write down what you appreciate about being right here, right now. Take photos of places you love. Meet people you missed.

4 – Adopt Relaxation Methods to Your Weekly Practices

Yoga: Hatha yoga (and other Yoga) is a great way to get into your body and out of your head. It will also help if you join a studio and attend at least one regular yoga class a week. You should find a weekend class if you travel a lot for business. I like the holistic courses, where you learn about breathing, relaxation, and meditation. I can highly recommend Yvonne Bertogg’s studio in Zürich. You can meet me there on Tuesdays and sometimes on Thursdays. Yoga Circle Zürich

Basic YOGA ASANAS for GOOD HEALTH – for Beginners and all Age Groups | Beginners Yoga at Home

Progressive Muscle Relaxation: You can also try Progressive Muscle Relaxation, which you can find on YouTube or buy from medical doctors.

PMR (Progressive Muscle Relaxation) to Help Release Tension, Relieve Anxiety or Insomnia

Progressive Muskelentspannung nach Jacobson | 21 Minuten Tiefenentspannung

Guided Meditation (20 min) – Progressive Muscle Relaxation

Practicing Active Meditation: Active Meditation includes movement. This meditation is also called the meditation of the four directions. Here is the basic video I made in 2018.

Active Meditation – Body Learning for Beginners

Heart Dance Meditation North Horizon

Feldenkrais: If you feel exhausted but mentally stable, you can work with relaxation methods such as listening to classical music while working or practising Feldenkrais exercises by Ryan Nagy. https://www.ryannagy.com/

5 – Seek Professional Help

Seek counselling with the Global Mobility Coach: We now offer a three-session counselling package to help you work through any crisis or personal transition. The package includes CHF 970 + VAT and three 60-minute in-person sessions with Angela Weinberger at Global People Transitions in Zurich. Sign up for an account here and request the counselling package: https://rockme.app/request-account.

Short-term Therapy: Good short-term therapies build on Steve de Shazer’s concepts. These are geared towards crises and dealing with them. Often, they are based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and take a maximum of ten sessions.

Online Therapy: A good online option, especially for crises or emergencies, is „BetterHelp“. BetterHelp. In many countries, finding a suitable therapist can take some time. Get help immediately, even if you decide to explore the issue later. In other words, you can’t “overdo” it, but you can wait too long.

Employee Assistance Programs: You can also check with your Global Mobility Team to see if your employer offers employee assistance programs or support through companies like International SOS and Crisis24

Otherwise, you lose your fire and inspiration, burn out, and wonder what your purpose in life is. You are strong and have proven that you are keeping your family together. However, your mental health should matter to you more than anything else.