My Adriatic Adventure: Three Months and Counting…
Are you there forever? Or coming back someday?
Is this permanent?
Did you buy the apartment for your retirement?
These are some of the questions I get asked when I mention that I am now living in Croatia. Great questions. Questions I might ask someone if they decided to do what I did.
So here are some answers:
Do I think this is forever?
Forever sounds so final. I’m here now. I am creating a life here. Will it be forever? It depends on what’s around the corner. Or rather, it depends on what goals I set and how I choose to implement those goals.
Living in Croatia aligns with my values, and I want to explore what that can look like. So far, it looks great!
Am I coming back someday?
Coming back, going forward, both are possible. Right now, I am in Croatia. And I am happy being present. Not so much living in the moment but present — and that feels good!
Did I buy the apartment for my retirement?
I don’t think so. What am I retiring from?
It’s been three months since I packed some of my things and made my way to Croatia, three months of me creating routines in a new place, three months of exercising my mind in a way that I haven’t exercised in years.
I’ve packed a lot in those three months. In the same breath, I feel like I’ve been able to take it all in without feeling rushed. Old me often felt rushed, as if there was a hard deadline to every action I created. It was not a good way of being.
Over the last couple of years, I have worked hard to change that way of being, understand where it stemmed from, and then change my way of thinking. It’s taken some time to get ‘here’ — to a mental space where I do not feel rushed but present.
Did I have to move to Croatia to feel this way — to be present? Probably not. I was already doing the work before I got here. But somewhere along the way, of me releasing things that no longer served me and exploring new things that brought me joy — I decided that my next chapter would be in Croatia.
Three months into this Adriatic adventure, I am grateful for so much. But mostly, I am grateful that I do not feel rushed and that I am fully present. I’m not thinking about where I need to get to, but instead, I am thinking about where I am.
It’s the little things…
