About Rocky Re-entry

Why I started Rocky Reentry:

I just keep running into them:  wonderful, likeable people who for one reason or another have found themselves back in the USA after a time of living internationally.  Sometimes by choice, sometimes because it was the best of the bad options, sometimes because there wasn’t another option.

And they’re finding this re-entry journey harder than they signed up for.  Secretly, they were hoping that they’d left their high stress job behind and that although there would be an “adjustment period” it couldn’t possibly be harder than anything they’d experienced overseas.  But, that’s exactly what they’re finding.  That the re-entry journey is the hardest road they’ve ever traveled.  And there are land minds and chuckholes and densely foggy portions of the road that surpass any back jungle dirt paths or intense traffic they ever dealt with overseas.

My own re-entry experience (moving back to the US after three years of living internationally) was that type of road.  A rocky one…full of twists, turns, and struggles…and I wish that when I was in the thick of it…someone had told me that what I was dealing with was something others’ experienced.  This blog is a space where ramblings from my own and others re-entry experiences can perhaps provide encouragement and to those on this rocky road.

I am not an expert in this field.  I am just a fellow journeyer…the re-entry journey is a life long process.  Sadly, there is no a magic five step plan to make the journey easier. Everyone’s experience is unique. But there is something healing about both telling and hearing reentry stories.

Stories in this blog are true stories from real people {some authors may choose to post anonymously due to the personal nature of their stories}.

Re-entry experiences by nature are a redefining of our identity.  This makes them a private and sacred thing.  We hope you to find community and encouragement in this space, but we also encourage you to process the deeper parts of your life overseas and reentry journey with safe people in your personal support network and when appropriate with trained professionals.  We are also compiling resources for those moving back to the US after living abroad. 

Although many vocations lead people to live internationally and many reasons bring people back home, we are primarily focusing on those global workers transitioning off the field who are processing their re-entry experience within the context of their faith journey.  I’m not a huge fan of the word missionary…it is a complicated word in today’s world…but for the purpose of this blog it is a common way of identifying people who move overseas for similar reasons.  We may talk about things that all recovering expats can relate to, but we are primarily writing for those transitioning out of international full time ministry and moving back to their ‘home’ country.

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:  as of 3/21/2019 this blog is no longer being updated….we have left the articles archived, but no future articles will be added and comments are no longer being monitored.  Thank you for reading.

Disclaimer: What this blog is not!

• Therapy or an attempt at providing mental health care to those in the reentry process.
• Answers to make the re-entry journey disappear.  This is a hard process.  Nothing we can say here will erase that fact.
• A forum for processing personal stories:  we think that’s best done with trained professionals and safe people in your personal support network.
• A blog about the MK or TCK journey.  MK’s and TCK’s have a unique reentry journey which I don’t pretend to have personal experience with.  This blog focuses primarily on adults making a reentry journey after moving overseas as adults.