Panic. Clear the Schedule.

Living far away from friends and family has its disadvantages. Especially when “difficult news” comes from your home country. Making a quick trip back and forth is often not an option. Even a short trip can easily take three days: day one for traveling, day two for appointments, day three for returning. And that is only possible if it fits exactly into your schedule. Everything you had planned here suddenly has to be put aside “for a moment.”

The difficult thing is that these kinds of trips always come unexpectedly. You are not waiting for them, because the news itself is heavy, and yet suddenly you have to put your own emotions aside for a moment. You have to make phone calls, cancel appointments, arrange places to stay in the Netherlands… all at a speed that leaves hardly any time to process what is happening. Meanwhile, the clock keeps ticking mercilessly in the background, because actually, you need to be on the highway right now.

It feels as if you are being pulled away from every direction: from your (mission) work, your rhythm, your friends here, and at the same time from your own heart, which is not yet ready to bridge the distance between the news and taking action.