How to Displace Your D7 Stress

I love sharing info on foreign resident businesses! Part of ExpaCity's mission is to support legal businesses in Portugal. And I have a special place in my heart for foreigner-owned businesses. It's not easy to start and run a company in Portugal -- é muito complicado. I encourage you to support them too, if you can. 

Vudu Doll Shop on Etsy is one of my favorites! I was lucky enough to have a coffee with the founder, creator and artist, Elisa, who lives in my neighborhood in Lisbon. Her wry sense of humor born of personal circumstances is reflected in her Emotional Support Voodoo Dolls. Each is unique: colorful and quirky-looking, with a hint of the macabre, and handmade in Portugal. They're practical -- fridge magnets! It's an emotional-support creature you can take on the plane! And each comes with an adorable matchbox of pins, so you can get sticking-to-it as soon as it arrives.

The first best part: you not only choose the funky hair-bodywear-gawking-button-eyeball combination, but you tell Elisa the anxiety, fear, aggravation, or anger-inducing thing you want to voodoo-ize -- and she makes it just for you! The second best part is scanning Elisa's suggestions of what she believes needs voodoo-izing in her Etsy shop or on her Facebook page (Vududollshop). She doesn't hold back. Everything is fair game.

Anyone going through a move to Portugal needs at least one Emotional Support Voodoo Doll. How about jabbing into "Paperwork"? Or poking at "Bureaucracy"? Or plunging ino "Packing" or maybe impaling "Barking Dogs" (the doll, not the doggos!)? Or spearing "Customs"? Or my favorite, stabbing "Colder inside than outside" Ok, that last one probably won't fit on a vududoll, but maybe Elisa can create one with a wrap-around label -- in fleece -- for a bit extra.

I surprised our VA with an ESV Doll labeled "Kajabi", our tech platform which causes us much grief on a daily basis. Emma: "I wet myself laughing." 

I think it's totally ok to have your own little trigger-toy during your pre- or post-move journey. I'll be offering a dose of Elise's dolls in an upcoming membership promotion. Look for them soon. And support Portuguese makers!