THIRD CULTURE KID

Three Reasons Growing up Third Culture Helped Me Enjoy the Moment

Cross-Cultural Living Changes Your Perspective

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“A global soul is a person who had grown up in many cultures all at once — and so lived in the cracks between them.”– Pico Iyer

First, a Third Culture Kid (TCK) is a child raised in a culture other than their parents during their developmental years. To give you an example, I carry an American passport, but my first language was Spanish. There are also Third Culture Adults now because of global immigration.

Depending on how you view it, the cool thing about growing up TCK is that I built relationships with all the cultures I encountered. They became mine, and soon I knew I was a global citizen. This acculturation creates a different worldview for all TCKs, as our curiosity becomes woven into our DNA — the curious chameleons that we become.

For me, I learned to enjoy the moment I was in, and that’s saying a lot because I’m a planner. Three reasons encouraged me to lean into the present.

1. Life can be fleeting. I didn’t grow up with long-term friends. Instead, I grew up knowing that after five years, we were moving to another location. So, I made friends fast, and so did my friends because they were often…