Believe in those who believe in you

After being away from my own country for seven years, I decided to give it a go and come back for unlimited time. Even more, after being away from my own hometown for thirteen years, I decided to give it a go and see what’s here for me.

Some acquaintances, that know that I was living somewhere else, were curious in the beginning to find out what brought me here. Unknown people, that I have been meeting since my arrival, are in awe once I tell them that I just arrived some months ago, after being away living in other countries. It’s odd to be from a place and not knowing street names, where specific supermarkets are located, where do people my age meet for a drink etc. One of these days, I decided to go on (what I thought was a) shortcut and end up being lost through a tangle of streets and alleys. Was fun!

The second most asked question, done in many different ways, since I came back — after the question “Are you already working?” (Work in progress) — is “What are you doing here?”, “How come you decided to come back?”, “What’s here for you in this lethargic place?”.

I get that I’m living in a small city (very subjective), with a population of about 55 thousand, and obviously there’s less to do here than in a capital city or a bigger city. But those questions kind of threw me off a little. Here I was, quite excited to be back, in peace with my city, looking forward to be with my friends and family but for some reason I felt like “yeah, maybe I don’t belong here”. If my compatriots were the ones questioning my return maybe the truth is that there was nothing here for me.

Then I started my business and some people were very sceptical about it, saying that this area (holistic nutrition) was way too advanced for this city’s mentality. Telling me that it would be very difficult to get clients, that people were not opened enough yet to new ideas. However, that was exactly why I came here in a way, because I wanted to “awake” some people and help them with better choices, to live better lives and thrive.

On the other hand, I had (have) some friends and family that cheer me up and help me with what they can and I’m truly grateful for their support. That gives me way more power than those people who don’t believe in change.

I choose to believe in those who encourage me in doing what I like instead of getting slammed with negative and outdated mentalities. So I keep going.

By coming back I never intended to stay here forever. I just wanted to try and see how things are here, what has changed, what’s in trend. I also wanted to experience again having a sunny winter, speaking my own language, being close to friends and family, eating local food, having my own garden with fruits and veggies. Those are the pros of coming back.

Living abroad connected me to people from all over the world; I grew up as a person by struggling and having to do things on my own; speaking a different language (English) became second nature to me; it made me appreciate the warm and sunny days; I became an outdoorsy person; it made me re-evaluate the way I think continually by meeting new realities; I was stimulated culture wise. Those were the pros of living abroad.

I won’t write about the cons of either living abroad or the cons of being back to my home country, as I don’t want to concentrate on the negative points. Instead I would like to encourage those who have plans to start something new or change something in their lives, to go ahead and focus on what makes them happy. More, surround yourself with the people that love you, encourage you and support you instead with those who don’t believe in your success. Your success will be a way of honouring and thanking those that had your back. And hopefully it will encourage them to pursue their goals too.