Welcome to Africa…
“Good morning, beautiful… do you want tea or coffee?” Followed by the smell of fresh cut grass…
Oh, yeah… it’s summer… sweet!
Different sounds (new birds and horses…monkeys on the roof!)
Different smells (the African air (if you know, you know))…
This is the first morning I’ve woken up as a resident of Africa.
Oh my god…we did it. We live in Africa!
Followed by this internal feeling that you can’t explain unless you’ve experienced it. An internal peace with mass excitement at the same time. The “This is what it feels like to be LIVING feeling.” I want to spend a life time collecting this feeling.
One of the questions I get asked the most, why Africa, and why Zimbabwe? (As opposed to any other African country.)
We didn’t do it blindly. Bermuda, I moved to never having been there before, and not knowing anyone…and where ever we move to next, will likely be the same!
Steve has been coming here for work for years, about 4 times a year for meetings. So we do know people here, we are familiar with the area, and we do feel very safe and welcome in the community. I had been an expat living in Bermuda for almost 10 years, Steve for over 20. We wanted to move our home base to be able to experience a different culture and explore more of the world. If we start in Africa, Zimbabwe seemed to make the most sense!
We arrived yesterday (* “yesterday” from the time I wrote this*) and are staying at a friends farm until we get the keys to our new house tomorrow (so excited!!)
We’ve been actively working on this move for about a year and a half. And while most people will think it sounds so exciting and like one big adventure (it is!), it also comes with underlying fears, anxiety, second guessing yourself - all while STILL being very confident and excited about the decisions you are making.
It’s very weird feeling such conflicting emotions like that at the exact same time, but I have relied on much of the life coaching tools I have learned from my training (ie: constantly checking in with my values to re-ground me!) - the exact same tools I use with/teach all my clients - How to keep inner peace and confidence with all the noise around you. The inner workings of your brain work the same way no matter where you are. If you tend to get stressed, you will keep getting stressed… if you tend to worry, you’ll keep finding things to worry about.
How did we find our dream house?
How did we pick the right school?
Aren’t you worried about stability?
Did you move there permanently?
How can you say you value family when you live so far away from yours?
So if you want to join me on our move…
Welcome to Africa.
