For the Queer Expat Living With Uncertainty
Finding Belonging When the World Feels Unstable
For many queer expats and Third Culture Kids (TCKs), belonging has never been simple. In recent years, it has become something else entirely: precarious. Across the world, LGBTQIA+ rights are shifting–sometimes quietly, sometimes violently. Laws change. Visas tighten. Protections disappear. What once felt “safe enough” can become uncertain overnight. For queer people, this instability doesn’t stay abstract. It lives in the body.
You may notice it as a low-level vigilance that never quite turns off. A constant scanning and wondering: Is it still okay to be me here? You might feel grief for places you once loved but no longer trust. If you’re carrying fear, exhaustion, or sadness about the state of the world, you are not overreacting. Your body is responding intelligently to real conditions.
When survival becomes the priority, we do what humans have always done: we adapt. We endure. We keep going with as much grace as we can. And still, you deserve more than survival.
When Home Is Conditional
Many queer expats carry an unspoken truth: My right to exist safely depends on geography.
You may have chosen where to live not only based on work, love, or opportunity, but on laws, healthcare access, and how visible you’re allowed to be. You may resent this reality while also feeling pressure to stay flexible, to keep a backup plan, a second passport, an exit strategy.
For those who grew up cross-culturally, this can echo an earlier pattern: Belonging was always temporary, conditional, or context-dependent. When queerness is added to that mix, especially in a world where LGBTQIA+ rights are being rolled back, the nervous system learns something very specific:
Stay ready.
Stay adaptable.
Don’t settle too deeply.
If you feel like you are surviving rather than thriving right now, there is nothing wrong with you. Rage at injustice, grief for safety, and a deep yearning for rest can coexist. There are ways to support yourself inside this instability, even when the world feels unreliable.
I’m here holding hope for you even if you’re not feeling it in this period.
The Queer Expat Nervous System in Uncertain Times
Global instability around LGBTQIA+ rights often shows up somatically before we can name it emotionally.
You might notice:
Chronic anxiety without a clear source
Difficulty settling in relationships or communities
Hypervigilance around visibility and self-expression
Grief or anger that feels disproportionate to any single event
A persistent sense of being “on edge,” even in places that seem safe
For many queer expats, the question isn’t “Who am I?” It’s “Where am I allowed to be myself — and for how long?”
Over time, this kind of instability can erode an internal sense of home.
Why Safety Can’t Only Be External
Legal protections matter. Community matters. Political advocacy matters deeply. And still, when the outside world is unstable, internal safety becomes essential.
Many queer TCKs and expats are already highly reflective, articulate, and socially aware. You may understand exactly why you feel unsettled. But insight alone doesn’t always calm a nervous system shaped by uncertainty, migration, and conditional safety. This is where somatic work can help.
Rather than asking you to think your way into feeling better, somatic approaches begin with the body:
How can I notice safety in my body, even briefly?
Where does my system already know how to settle?
When I move into anger, fear or hopelessness, how does my body know how to move away from there?
What would it mean to belong to yourself, even when the world is unreliable?
Somatic approaches are more about awareness and sensing into how it feels right now will not always be how I will feel. Because we are primed toward movement and change in our biology. Our bodies want to work with us. And we can help our bodies along by staying in sensation longer than we might be used to.
This isn’t about bypassing reality or excusing the horrors of injustice out there. It’s about resourcing yourself within it.
Belonging When the World Keeps Shifting
My work with queer expats and globally mobile adults is grounded in one core truth:
When external belonging is fragile, self-belonging becomes a form of resilience.
Through gentle somatic practices, movement, and emotionally attuned inquiry, I support people who are living with:
Ongoing uncertainty about where they can safely exist
Identity fractures shaped by migration, queerness, and loss
Burnout, illness, divorce, or grief layered onto expatriate life
A lifetime of adapting rather than inhabiting themselves
This work does not promise certainty. What it offers is quieter and more durable. It’s about developing an internal sense of authority and grounding that travels with you, a relationship with self that isn’t dependent on borders, It’s a place to land when the world feels hostile or unpredictable.
Belonging, in this context, is not about finding the perfect place. It’s about learning how to stay with yourself, with compassion and honesty, even as the world continues to shift. This is a form of resilience no policy change can take away.
A Gentle Invitation
If this resonates, you don’t have to navigate it alone. Therapy can be a space where your body is allowed to exhale, your experience is taken seriously, and your survival strategies are met with respect rather than a sense of urgency to “fix” them.
When you’re ready, I’d be honoured to support you.
