A few days ago, I received a call from the Expat Forum organizing team (from the Le Monde group). This Parisian trade fair, which receives about 6,000 visitors every year "candidates for expatriation", seeks to renew itself a little, talking about return, for example. How can we change the discourse on mobility if all stakeholders are the same year after year? Obviously, we can't. Hence the search for new actors on this theme, which struggles to renew itself in the media.
So here I am on the list of potential speakers for the 2017 edition, along with other innovators, small and marginal voices in an industry with stands at 6000 euros a square. Encouraging evidence of the open-mindedness of major media groups? Yeah, but "How do we talk about going back to people who haven't left yet?" Don't we risk fishing out of an excess of caution and doing something boring that they won't be interested in? I'm smiling. For me, the right question is not one of return (even if it's good to have a resource or two under the elbow), but that of a change in lifestyle and way of thinking that takes place as soon as you make the decision to leave the first time.
And this, I can tell you that it interests (and concerns) a few million people.
Leaving, coming back, starting again.
From the moment your mind sets foot somewhere else, nothing will ever be the same as before.
Constantly ask the question of whether to come back or not.
To go somewhere else or not.
Belong here or belong there.
Prefer here or elsewhere.
To be a little bit of here, over there, both, neither of them, after all?
You will perceive the totally arbitrary nature of belonging by the ground, or even by blood.
You will realize that a complete stranger can become your family in a few days, provided you let go of the field and are no longer afraid. Once you've given up the idea of going back, anything is possible.
The dizzying adventure of becoming someone you don't know yet.
It's an extraordinary experience.
It's a door that will suddenly open up and throw the vastness of the world into your face.
You won't be able to "unload" what you've already seen.
You'll never be able to think "small", motionless, uniform again.
Everything will become nuanced, and therefore complex.
You'll doubt more, you'll affirm less.
You'll be more creative, more inventive, more spontaneous.
You will always be taller, richer, more connected to yourself than ever before.
You'll also be in deep shit forever if you try to turn back.
Because it's impossible.
