An American Woman in the Spanish Countryside
In the middle of June, I sold my belongings, left my job, said my goodbyes, and packed all of my bags to head to Barcelona, Spain.
It took many months of pondering, planning, daydreaming, and crying to make this happen. Living abroad has always been a dream but making it a reality seemed difficult. The opportunity arose for me to join my partner in the mountains above Barcelona and after about nine months of convincing myself I should stay behind and focus on my career, I took the leap.
I am here now, writing from the countryside about 30 minutes outside the center of Barcelona, and what am I doing here?
Well, a bit of panicking for starters. Going from the fast-paced, very masculine way of doing things in the US to living by the ebb and flow of the land has been an incredibly humbling experience. I thought I would adapt easily and become unburdened by the societal pressure to constantly be stressed and doing something. But I am feeling the opposite. I feel guilty for waking up with the sunrise rather than an alarm and for spending my days living, breathing, just being, rather than running off to a 10-12 hour day of work, the gym, etc. etc. But here I am, no “job”, no close group of friends, no solid grasp of the language, and I find myself connecting with who I really am and what I really want. I have time to meditate, to think, to write, to process. And this is a privilege without a doubt, but one I will never take for granted.
Being closer to the ocean feels grounding and healing and being surrounded by nature and the sounds of birds remind me to slow down. Not every day or every year needs to be about the hustle.
Sometimes staying healthy, loving, and creating is enough. I spend every day excited for all the possibilities of the transformations I will experience here.
