The Choice: A Book for People Who Moved Abroad for Love
You followed your partner to another country. Now you're wondering if you made the right call.
Grief and loneliness hits you, and hard. So may a feeling of resentment.
You look fine to everyone else, but inside you feel like a different person.
The Choice is about what happens when you relocate for love and the emotional fallout is bigger than you planned for.
The book publishes in early 2026. You can read the introduction now.
The Choice book talks about:
Why relocation grief feels so heavy (even when you are in love)
What happens to your sense of self when everything familiar disappears
How to handle guilt (and resentment) when you're struggling in a life that looks good on paper
Why your relationship might feel strained even though you still love each other
What to do when you can't tell if you need more time or if you need to leave.
Moving abroad for love changes more than your address. It changes your identity, your relationships, and how your nervous system responds to daily life.
Who The Choice is for….
You moved countries for your partner's job, education, or family.
Maybe you call yourself a trailing spouse, accompanying partner or an expat husband or wife. Maybe you're an expat, immigrant, or global nomad.
The label doesn't matter.
What matters is this: you're dealing with more change than most people handle in years, and you're doing it without your usual support system.
This book is for people who:
Feel confused about the choice to move now things are so hard
Miss their career or independence
Wonder if their partner understands what this costs
Can't shake the feeling they don't belong anywhere
Want to feel like themselves again but don't know where to start
Why I am writing this book
I'm Corene, a professional psychotherapist and researcher who works with expatriates and people in international relationships.
I kept hearing the same story: someone moves abroad for love, everyone congratulates them, and six months later they're privately falling apart.
The adjustment is harder than people admit. The identity shift is real. The relationship strain is common. And most people think they're the only one struggling.
You're not. This pattern shows up in my therapy sessions every week.
I'm writing this book because people who move for love, trailing spouses and expat partners need something that acknowledges how disorienting this transition actually is, without the toxic positivity or the assumption that you just need to try harder.