“Being a third-culture-kid (TCK) is incredibly rewarding, but also very lonely. Rewarding because you are given the opportunity to travel the world, expand your cultural knowledge, and develop tolerance rooted in personal experience. However, it is also lonely because your youth is filled with the loss of friends who “return home” or move elsewhere, and your adulthood is filled with a constant battle of unparalleled nostalgia for a “home” that was always impermanent, and never really yours. For many TCKs, there is always a series of shattering realizations. Like when they first left their home, and realized they would never return. Or when they moved back to their native country, and realized they just didn’t quite fit in. Or when they realized that the idea of living in one place for more than a few years evokes an unexplainable, paralyzing fear.”

I wrote that almost exactly a year ago for The Plaid Zebra. Who knew it would lead to a) this blog and b) this new video & podcast series – Moves – where I finally get to explore the lives of TCKs in all of the creative, storytelling glory that I’ve yearned for.

Uncovering, telling and sharing these stories is my personal way of battling the odd loneliness and confusion that accompanies being a TCK. Particularly in a world becoming more tribal, intolerant and blind. What we need now more than ever is humanity, and how best to spread that? Through stories. As Khalil Gibran once said:

“It has been said that next to hunger and thirst, our most basic human need is for storytelling.”

Aditi’s is just the first; there are many more.

Be sure to also check out the Moves podcast where we get real deep on the subject that bothers every TCK: Identity.

Want to tell your story? Email me at victoria.safarthejourney@gmail.com