If you are here, it probably means that you are a member of the Great Floating Tribe. In this post, I explain what this tribe is, what it means to feel part of it and why it matters.

I often tell this “origin” story when presenting myself and introducing my tribe. It’s a story that starts as many children’s stories you know…

Once upon a time…

Once upon a time, there was a little girl, growing up in a village high in the French Alps…

In this village lived mountain villagers. They were farmers whose families were there for many generations.

They were nice and lovely people, but they viewed the little girl and her family as outsiders, because they had arrived in this village just a few years ago. Her parents were actually kind of “expats”, at the time when they decided to move from Bretagne to here (it was in the 1960s, and Bretagne was 1000 km and 12 hours away by car 😊

So, this little girl grew up with a sense of not belonging there.

Growing as an outsider

Feeling different, like a foreigner, a stranger, became part of her identity. It felt “normal”.

When she was old enough, she decided to leave, to see the world, to experience freedom.

So she started to go down the mountain, into the little town in the valley below. She met some people who were different, but had something in common point with her: they did not belong there.

There was more to see, to experience, so she moved to a bigger city where she met many more people, different, but like her.

Meeting with the Great Floating Tribe

Then she crossed the border, moved to the next country, and then went further and further.

She moved east, then east again, and at last she arrived in Japan. In Japan, you can’t go east anymore, as it becomes west.

Along the way, she met a lot of other people who, like her, were “not belonging” there, and feeling unique and different in their own ways.

Our little girl felt she had many things in common with these people. She felt a real sense of belonging, of community, with them. She felt she was growing roots, not in a specific place, but within a community of people who live everywhere. This was like a Tribe, the Great Floating Tribe.

Today the great floating tribe is composed of more than 300 million people on Earth, who live and work in a different country to their birth country.

Wherever she lives, she will always be part of this community.

By the way, as you have probably guessed, this little girl is me!

When I lived in Japan, I was part of it. I am in Italy now, and I am still part of it. Wherever you are, if you’ve been growing up abroad, if your parents come from a different country, if you’ve been living and working in a different country, you are also part of it. You are a member. And the good thing is : your membership has no expiration date ! You have the choice to relate and reconnect to our community, wherever you are, for whatever time you stay.

Reach out!

Many “multi-expatriates” or internationally mobile people I know are sometimes hesitant to connect with people physically around them, locals who are neighbours, colleagues, acquaintances. After several moves it feels draining to start over and build (often from scratch) your network, to find and make new friends. Reframing that thought, seeing it as : I am going to find who else from my tribe lives and works near me – can make a big difference, in energy and success.

If you grew up like me, feeling different, not fitting in, the idea of belonging to the Great Floating Tribe can bring you some relief : you are not alone, we are 300 million people like you !