I want to talk about spooning. Yep. Spooning.
Now, there will be some of you saying, ‘Spoo……What?‘ and not knowing why it’s a loaded word. Others will innocently be thinking, ‘How lovely, I like to cuddle.‘ And lastly, there’s the ones who will have started to snigger.
Yes, it’s a sex position too.
BUT, there’s more to spooning than you think.
In a few months time I will be speaking at the
Families in Global Transition conference.
It’s mainly a conference for people who live a globally mobile life and the companies that operate globally.
A group of us who live in different parts of the world were looking at staying together. You know? Trying to work out how to save money and fit 5 people in a 3 bed place.
And the inevitable happened…
We started to joke about spooning. Well, you would wouldn’t you?
It certainly kept us entertained on WhatsApp for an afternoon….
….and reminded me of nights travelling, four of you squeezed into the tiny spare room of the friends who’d kindly put you up for the night.
Dare I suggest the new hashtag #FIGTspooning?
But seriously, it got me thinking about FIGT…
The conference has a wonderful ability to make you feel like you’ve ‘come home’. Rather than being the odd one out in your host country, everyone in the FIGT room understands the quirks and challenges of living elsewhere.
FIGT2018 was outstanding.
It allowed me to breathe again…. I had finally found my people!
And then, this morning and completely unrelated….
another friend sent me this picture below of a dog – its owner cleverly using a spoon to stop the dog from escaping through the fence.
This brings me back to spooning. #sorrynotsorry
The spoon holds the dog back. It keeps him/her contained, with good reason no doubt, but it limits the dog’s adventures.
It would be so easy for someone to rotate that spoon or slip it out of the dog’s collar and as he ran free he’d be wiping away the tears of joy like we did in Free Willy.
You see, this is how I see FIGT…
…as the hand that removes the spoon.
That hand that allowed me to breathe again.
The hand that expanded my world.
Yes, I decided to travel to The Hague in 2018, but FIGT created the reason.
And it was a decision that changed my life.
I now have a new group of friends whom I love dearly and communicate with regularly.
I met my best mate at FIGT. It’s been an amazing year of laughing, talking, soul searching and deep connection.
I’ve started new projects off the back of #FIGT18….and emotionally,
I’m an entirely different person.
I’m settled in a way that I hadn’t been for a long time.
Going to the FIGT conference sparked something that has fed me deeply this last year.
The night of one of the most profound chats of my life 
I knew there were other Aussies attending as I found a Mintie on the floor!
FIGT really is a wonderfully diverse organisation that promotes cross-sector connections for developing best practices that support the growth, success and well-being of people crossing cultures around the world.
There’s a reason FIGT goes by the phrase, ‘A Reunion of Strangers’.
It’s not just big picture and big companies. In fact FIGT is the complete opposite.
Rather, it’s about creating rich personal connections that thrive across the vast distances that we all live from each other.
I’ll be there this year again in Bangkok doing a Lightening Presentation and Living Elsewhere will be in the bookstore.
If you’re wondering about whether to come, definitely do!
You never know where it might take you.
See you there!
Cath x
