The World Is My Home.

Have you ever heard about culture shock? how different life is in other countries, how hard it can be to adapt? I had, many times, and oh boy did I ever suspected I was in for a real taste of this not so delightful situation.

It all really started after my 3rd month of living in the Chicago suburbs, I mean I moved from Madrid, this big vibrant city, with lots of things to do, delicious weather, amazing food and most importantly wonderful candid people, to a small town about 30 mins no traffic from Chicago, also the no traffic rarely ever happens, usually the rides to the city vary between 1 to 2 hours sitting in steady traffic. Also not to mention, absolutely nothing to do, the weather is pretty extreme and people are too busy working to enjoy life.

Yup, not a good experience, I rapidly fell into a depression, I was stress eating, hardly exercising, also you hardly move around here, most sanely people just drive everywhere, walking is not really a thing, it is either too cold or too humid/ hot or too far to go anywhere. To top it all, I was missing home, family, friends, independence and everything in between.

When I moved from Colombia to Spain, it took me about 6 months to adjust, but moving from Spain to the USA was catastrophic for me. 3 years passed by and I was starting to lose hope, I wasn't getting used to this, it was just not getting any better. four years later I can say I finally made it out, but the last four years of my life have a bitter trace on them.

Changes are not easy to assimilate, it takes time, and how long or how to handle it depends on the situation and of course on who is dealing with the changes, sometimes how strong you are doesn't speed the process, sometimes stubbornness gets in the way which was totally my case. Countless nights of crying and wanting to quit, anger, doubts, did I make the right decision? Am I wasting my life away in a place I don't want to be? One day finally I found myself wondering, what would happen if I move away, and the answer was, oh! I will so miss the fall, and that my friend was the moment I realized the hard part was over.

Well, let's get to the happy part of the story! we finally bought a home of our own, I changed jobs, I took negative people out of my life and I think I have come to a place of peacefulness and fulfilment. It isn't about what we bought or what we achieved, it was a lot about letting go, acceptance and finally letting myself like where I was and Who I had become.

I hope this was useful in any or many ways and please feel free to approach me and ask any questions, whether you or a loved one are going through something like this, just know it is normal, and it is ok to feel like this, but most importantly know that nothing is permanent and you will see the light sooner than later.

Love,

Juls