Life Coach/Expat Coach
Victoria is an Expat Partner Coach. She was an expat in the US and has now repatriated back to Germany. Her main mission is to lead women to a self-determined and fulfilled life abroad. She does this in a unique way: she combines the typical questioning techniques from coaching with meditation.
The women who come to Victoria are those who accompany their partners as expats abroad. They are women who are willing to constantly embrace new experiences in their lives, but have lost sight of themselves in the process. They may be embarking on their first assignment with their family or may have lived abroad multiple times before.
In her 3-month program “Empowered and Fulfilled Abroad” (online), she blends coaching techniques from positive psychology and NLP with personalized meditations in an intuitive way, allowing her clients to finally discover their own vision for life abroad without neglecting their roles as partners and mothers.
Victoria has a degree in primary education, is a certified psychological counselor and meditation coach, and has extensive experience in supporting parents.
1. Where are you originally from and where you do you currently live?
I´m from Germany and lived as an Expat in the US (Portland/OR)
2. What has been one rewarding thing about living abroad?
Living abroad has changed my life. It has sharpened my perspective on what I truly want and what is important to me. It has also shown me what I should stay away from. I make decisions faster, better, and more confidently. I no longer procrastinate on things that are obvious. To put it concisely: It has taught me the deep wisdom that life is primarily about one thing: change. And that I can feel secure within it, if I really choose to.
3. What is one fun or random fact about you that people don’t know?
I was the “expat with horse” – I actually brought my horse with me to America.
4. What is one tip you would like to share with new expats
Don’t compare! Especially, when the initial exciting and thrilling weeks in the new country are over and we slowly realize that this is not a vacation but our new life, we tend to cling to our home culture and compare everything to it. However, this intensifies homesickness and isolation and prevents true settling in the new country!
5. Your personal mantra or quote
Trust the “Power of Vulnerability” – which is actually a wonderful book from Brené Brown
6. What do you like about being a member of The Expat Woman?
As a repat, I thought I could simply pick up my old life in Germany again. However, I overlooked the fact that I had changed. Something had been added during my years in America, I call it my “expat identity”. That’s why I often felt misunderstood and lost in my home country. Through the Expat Woman Community, I now feel connected again with wonderful women who understand my transformation and have gone through the same path. It gives me a sense of additional home!
Learn more and connect with VICTORIA MERTENS here
Website: www.victoriamertens.com
