Halfway Through the Year and Quietly Stuck? 12 Mid-Year Reflection Questions for Expats

Amanda Molenaar
Jul 31
4 min read

Halfway through the year, most of us are so busy living it that we never stop to ask whether we actually like where it's taking us.

You set intentions back in January. Then life abroad happened — the move, the job, the endless visa admin, the friendships you're still slowly rebuilding — and the year quietly ran off without you.

So here's your gentle interruption. Before the second half slips away too, sit down for a proper mid-year review with these 12 mid-year reflection questions for expats — written for those of us building a life in a country that isn't the one we grew up in.

Grab your journal and a pen you actually like. This works best slowly.

Why summer is the perfect time for a mid-year reset

I used to think December was the season for reflection. But summer does the same thing — longer days, more energy, fewer deadlines, and suddenly the space to see clearly what you don't want anymore and what you'd love instead.

I did my own mid-year check-in at the start of July, and I needed it. The first half of my year was a beautiful whirlwind, and somewhere in the blur I'd drifted from a few of my goals. An honest review was the reset I didn't know I was craving.

Let's do it together.

Part 1: Looking back (questions 1–7)

We look back first, because naming what's actually here is how you create space to let it go — and make room for what's next.

1. Reviewing your goals — are you on track? Yes or no.

No “it depends.” A clean yes or no forces the honesty you've been quietly softening for months.

2. What surprised you this year?

An event, a person, a decision. Mine: my now-boyfriend arriving two weeks after I wrote my yearly vision, and saying yes to writing a book I'd filed under “maybe one day in ten years.”

3. Where did you feel most like yourself — and where didn't you?

Geography, people, habits, all of it. For me it was one clear, quietly powerful morning driving through Santa Barbara. Notice both ends. They're data.

4. What pattern from last year came back — and did you handle it differently?

And if you didn't, what would “differently” look like from here?

5. What did you say yes to that you should have said no to?

Then decide: do you want to keep doing it for the rest of the year, or not?

6. Where was the biggest leak of your energy, and why?

Physical, emotional, mental, spiritual. Mine is busyness — work that looks productive but isn't the needle-moving kind. Naming the leak is how you start to plug it.

7. What are you most proud of? List three wins.

The hard one. Make at least one about who you are, not what you produced — because you're brilliant at seeing where you fell short and terrible at seeing where you shone.

Part 2: Looking forward (questions 8–12)

Now we turn toward the rest of the year. This is where the reset actually happens.

8. If nothing changes, where will you be in December — and how will you feel?

Write it as if it's already the 31st. If it's a happy feeling, wonderful, carry on. If not, you've just found your course correction.

9. What's one thing you've been postponing that actually matters?

Answer from your gut; it already knows. I avoided the decision to leave The Hague for ages because I couldn't see where I'd go instead. The moment I finally chose, everything shifted.

10. What do you want to be able to say you did by December?

One bold move. One promise to yourself. The thing you want to look back on and say, I did that.

11. What could get in the way — and what will you do about it?

This is your plan, so take your time. When I said yes to my book, I named my traps immediately — busyness, overwhelm, constant travel — and set my defences in advance: protected writing time, fewer distractions, and a new identity as someone who writes.

12. What word or mantra will you carry for the rest of the year?

Something to hold when life is life-ing. When I moved and grieved everything I left behind, mine was simple: this is the trade-off. Every choice comes with one — and the sooner you identify and accept yours, the faster you can move ahead.

Bonus — where will you find your accountability?

Because you don't have to do this alone, even though “alone” is your default setting as a self-reliant expat. Setting goals is the easy part; following through usually needs the one ingredient most of us skip — accountability. It's exactly what moved my book from a vague dream to real, finished chapters. Find yours: a friend, a partner, a coach, a group.

The point isn't the perfect answer — it's the honesty

So many expats live a life that looks wonderful on paper and quietly feel stuck, lost, or a little disconnected on the inside. If that's you, please know it's incredibly common — and it's changeable. Questions like these are one of the simplest ways to shift your time and energy back toward a life that actually feels like yours, no matter which country you wake up in.

(If that stuck feeling is loud right now, here's how to stop waiting and start creating your next chapter abroad.)

Want to go deeper than a journaling session?

This is exactly the work I walk you through inside The Space — my two-day, do-it-yourself solo retreat designed for expats. Day one, you look back and let go. Day two, you call in what's next and map how you'll get there. You book the venue; I hand you the structure and the materials — for €149, with forever access so you can repeat it every summer and every December. Join now (deadline 31 of July) and you're also invited to a live call at the end of August to turn whatever you uncover into real life.

Prefer someone in your corner all year? That's what my 1:1 coaching and my group program The Co-Pilot are for.

These 12 questions come from episode 116 of This Expat Life. Press play on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube to be walked through them out loud — then DM me @amandamaxime and tell me which one hit hardest.