To clarify this situation a bit. I am a long-term expat in this country. The people commenting are mainly friends from my home country that I am in touch with, most pretty frequently about what is going on in our lives, others contacted me because they read in the paper about it or saw it on the news. These are not people I don’t know well or people living in this country.

Poshgirl/bcpcyclist – yeah, I guess some people prefer to live in denial. Maybe that is part of what bothers me. I don’t have the luxury of living in denial. We are somewhat lucky in that we live out of the worst of it, but my husband has to go to work in a part of the capital every day that has problems, and I sometimes have to go to the capital too. Every time it is stressful figuring out what transportation will work (buses, trains, etc. shut down with no notice), will there be protests in that area?, etc. Businesses and government offices close frequently these days, so we have to plan carefully if we have government business to attend to and to buy food/water, etc.

Many of these people have come to me in the past to discuss their own problems. I just don’t feel like I have ever been so flippant to just say something like some of the things that have been said to me, especially in complicated situations like my current one.

An international move isn’t in the cards for a lot of reasons. My husband’s educational qualifications are very country-specific. There are only two other countries that would allow him to practice without additional studies/certification. One of those just ended its own period of unrest; the other has a stagnant economy. He has no interest in moving to my home country and neither do I to be honest, plus the immigration procedures for him are complicated. Then, there is the expense (our currency has tanked, devaluing our savings in other currencies), we have pets to think of, a house that would need to be sold. And, of course, visas can be difficult/expensive to get.

LilyMop – Yes, you’ve followed my situation, I know, and understand things are anything but fine. How can they be fine? I am out of work in an imploding country.

WastingAsparagus – After giving things more thought, I am leaning towards avoiding the subject with the worst offenders

Britedark – Insightful perspective. In a few cases maybe just stating, I need to vent, I’m not looking for solutions or a pep talk could help.

Hvert – thanks for responding. The thing is that these are people I would have hoped I could have a deeper conversation with, but it’s not seeming possible for the most part.

Literary Lark – We can talk freely about it here, between ourselves. That’s not a problem at all. It’s not a dictatorship or anything. Nearly all my friends/family here think that we are in this for the long haul So, it feels invalidating when people who aren’t living here make it seem like it’s short-lived and not really a big deal.
Thanks, leomama.

There are two people that have been supportive and not tried to downplay things. One was an expat herself that moved back to our country, so maybe that perspective helps. She checks in with me every week/10 days by text or facetime. So, I do appreciate that. She even gave me suggestion for a freelance work site that has worked for some people she knows. I had signed up for a few others but hadn’t heard of that one. The other lives in a country that seems to have decided that what we are dealing with is so much fun, they want to do the same thing. So, she definitely understands. And, no, I didn’t tell her the problems there would be over soon.

I guess I need to communicate mainly with the people that are more supportive. With the others, on a case-by-case basis, I will either decline to discuss it further, or preface any comments with, “I just need to vent.”