For Change Manager Sarah, coming home from ten years in London was a change she thought she could handle.
Like any project, she planned ahead. She started thinking and planning two years in advance, secured a job and didn’t lose so much as a sock during the relocation thanks to her expertise in project management and excel.
So why did Sarah, who had spent a decade advising global companies in change, ring a friend after six weeks of arriving home and ask the question ‘What have I done?’
One thing that often gets missed in the flurry of planning logistics to come home is the impact of ‘reverse culture shock’. In fact, it was a term she had never heard of until she read an article in a magazine that describe it along with a list of symptoms – of which she pretty much could tick all of them.
Fast forward two years and Sarah is one happy and settled Sydney-sider but she acknowledges that in the beginning she was not quite prepared. For Sarah, ‘reverse culture shock’ was very real but it was only once she was aware of it, that she really found it much easier to ride out the rest of her change curve.
Along with her story, Sarah shares her tips for others embarking on the repat journey and facing into the challenges of ‘reverse culture shock’.
