Bio: I’m a Belgian citizen born in Morocco. I have lived as an accompanying spouse in 7 countries for the past 23 years with our 4 children. I’m a bilingual (English and French) life coach specializing in services for globally mobile families. As an artist and an art therapist, I combine my creative life and my life experience with my professional training. In essence, I practice the art of coaching through art.
1) You are a Belgian Citizen, born in Morocco, and have lived in seven countries since 1987. Tell us a little about your expat experiences as a child and now as an adult.
As a child I only lived 4 years in Morocco. But I guess this experience has always been the open door to the world. When I was 17 I left for India and except form coming and going, or for my studies, I’ve always moved. As an adult, a women, a wife, a mo
ther I experienced the sweet and the sour of the expat life. The sweet is for me all the discoveries, the challenges of learning new approaches to life, making friends all over the world, being more and more a global citizen… I love that… The sour is the saying good-bye, the packing and finding a new self each time.
But I have learned that it is the overcoming of the sour that, in fact, brings the sweet…!
2) Have you always been artistic? What kind of art do you create?
Yes, I have always had a sweet spot for art. But never really practice. Before becoming an artist, I was calling myself “handy”. I could do a lot with little. Then I became, in my mind, “crafty”: I could create nice little dust collectors!!! It is only 7 years ago, as I came to South Africa, that I met my friend to be, Min. She helps me to grow as whom I really was… an artist.
Now my art is part of my life as much as an expression, a relaxing and earning tool. Creating gives me stability in an ever-changing life. I mainly work with water-color and ceramics.
3) How did your life as an expat lead you to becoming a life coach? What role does art play in your life coaching business?
As I came to South Africa, 7 years ago, I felt that my life was in pieces. I had done a lot in my life but I felt that there was no continuity. I started doing a lots of mosaic work. After some time, the metaphor of the mosaic work became obvious. All these pieces I was putting together were the pieces of my life.
It became clear that art was helping me through my personal journey. As I thought about creating some type of career (my children starting to leave the nest) it wanted to use all the pieces of my experience, my skills to create a new whole. I’m a good listener and good artist and I live among the expat community… putting all these skills together, I re-invented myself as a Creative Life Coach specialized in global mobility. To Train myself, I did an art therapy and a coaching training, I went to the FIGT conference… and keep on developing my art skills.
I have now the perfect life for me: I practice “the art of coaching through art” and I have my own art studio.
4) Your new book is The Art of Possibilities: Creating our path in an international mobile life. Who did you write this book for? Does a person need to be artistic or creative to benefit from reading it?
I wrote this book for the international community in general. In this book I address the shift of identity that happens when one move country, job, family environment, family role…What is specific to the expat live, is that once we change country, it is all the aspect of our identity that change. People that are more sedentary also go through transitions, but they don’t necessarily experiment a complete shift. They are still some constancy in their lives. For example: as one get married, doesn’t mean they necessarily move environment, job, language or even food habits. In the case of the expat community, all what is making our identity like the friends, the house, the family roles, the professional environment, the food, the language….It all changes in an airplane flight. It can be overwhelming when you realize that ways of managing your life that have been effective before your relocation, no longer work.
This book offers “Creative Reflections” that helps the reader not only engage with the media but also to “make friends” with the new experience and empower him or her trough the confusion brought by the change of identity. This book helps people to shift their mind into new perspectives and find creative solutions to their questions. Because it uses the right brain, art is a wonderful tool to access our deepest inner self. It is right there, in our soul that the answer is.
But this book is not about being artistic. Many can be intimidated by art, because they are seeking a final result to please the eye of the observer. Using art as a tool to better understands ourselves is not about producing something nice, it is about what happens during the creating process. That is where the answer to our questions lies.
So, no, there are no artistic skills require to read to take advantage of the message of this book.
5) What advice can you give to other global women who would like to start their own business or write a book while living abroad?
I’m not good at advice. I feel so much that often one good thing for one is not necessarily good for the other. I believe only in advice that people use as an imagination trigger. So please if you read this, push my advice beyond what you read.
- My first advice: read my book! It’s all there!
- Do a reality check: acknowledge your present. Look around, feel how you feel… do not go into denial.
- Find what is important for you in life in general, remember your passions, and remember your dream….
- Mix it all and celebrate the wonderful person you are… Because it all starts there… With you…
- Than…. Ask for support and help to move in the direction of your dream … ASK, ASK, ASK, …
Want to join my monthly news letter “The Creative X Path”? Contact me: natalie.toll@gmail.com
Business Website: www.natalietoll.com
You can also find me on or my articles on www.expatclic.com
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