Women from every culture and every age have asked that question. Am I the ONLY one? I think because we are scattered around the world and may not see others like ourselves very often, we may be prone to ask this question more often than our sisters at home.

• Am I the only one who cannot seem to speak in this language so others can understand me?
• Am I the only one who cannot stop grieving for a family member whose funeral came and went without me?
• Am I the only one whose husband started well, but ended up in the arms of a local woman?
• Am I the only one to get angry when every time I have a moment alone I am interrupted?
• Am I the only one with a child I cannot seem to homeschool?
• Am I the only one who cannot breastfeed her baby?
• Am I the only one who thought she knew what she was doing when she left home, but has experienced devastating disappointments?

The list could go on and on. Many of the ways we feel like we are the only one, are things that are common to womanhood. But we don’t hear others talk about them. Other expat team members may have gone through that particular loneliness, but it never comes up in conversation. So you don’t know that they felt that way too. The local women don’t talk about these feelings of aloneness to you. They think you would never understand. So we go on, day after day with an aching aloneness that could be comforted if we would open up and risk being vulnerable. [Read more…]