I feel I need to change my life

Do you know that feeling of being restless? You feel like you need to change your life somehow, but you have no idea how. It feels like something is going to happen, but it doesn’t. Until it does. Then the puzzle pieces come together and it all makes sense. That is exactly what I felt about moving to Spain with my husband, daughter and our 3 cats.

Turning your life around. This is how it started for us.

Since 2017 my parents have a holiday home in the Southern of Spain in a small urbanization in the countryside. During summer break we would go there for 2 / 3 weeks and spend our holiday there. Every year we had such an amazing time there. No planning, no obligations, just go with the flow. And of course we loved the sunny and warm weather. Because even in the middle of the summer there can still be quite a lot of cloudy and rainy days in Holland.

Travel cat not ready for take off just yet

For the summer of 2021 we also booked tickets for Spain, 3 tickets and a place for Bibi (Our youngest cat who was going to join us this vacation to Spain). Only this time it was a little more complicated, there were still a lot of measurements because of covid. We had to be tested and wait a few days for the result. I still remember that we were standing in our kitchen in The Hague when my husband received the email which said we tested negative.

All of a sudden I got emotional and hugged my husband. I was so happy that we could go on our vacation to Spain. I told my husband that it felt like we really needed to go to Spain because I had the feeling that something important and life changing would happen. It was a very strong feeling that I had that I could not further explain.

During that time we were also looking for a new house in a more quiet neighborhood. I found an affordable house that had potential and contacted the realtor 2 days before we would go on vacation. They said they would call me back when they were able to schedule a viewing. The house market in 2021 was just madness and a lot of times it wasn’t even possible to view a house anymore. So I was feeling positive that we could view the house when we would be back from our vacation.

“When a vacation is coming to an end you never want to go back”

We had enjoyed our 3 weeks of vacation so much. Our days existed out of chilling in, at and around the pool, bbq’ing, reading books, playing games, going to the beach, chatting, siestas and evening walks with Bibi. When a vacation is coming to an end you never want to go back, but you adapt and prepare for going back to your ‘normal’ life again. Like looking forward to sleeping in your own bed again, ordering food from your favorite restaurant, meeting up with friends and family, maybe even updating your calendar at work so you can have an organized first day at work after your time off.

But this time all 3 of us were feeling just so sad to go back. Never did we have this feeling before at the end of a vacation. I even thought ‘Well nothing happened, so my feeling about that very important life changing thing wasn’t correct’.

“In that 1,5 minute the puzzle pieces came together. Moving to Spain, it all made sense”

The last day, before we would head out to the airport, we had a coffee and tea with neighbors. We were saying we were not looking forward to going back to Holland. And then the neighbor said ‘Why don’t you move here, to Spain?’. Immediately my husband and I were thinking about that possibility being an opportunity. We were walking back to my parents’ house, which is a walk of 1,5 minute. In that 1,5 minute the puzzle pieces came together. Moving to Spain, it all made sense. 

Oh and I had my phone with the sound on (very loud), on (not in) my bag in case the realtor would call about viewing the house. And the realtor called me to schedule a viewing. Only I was chilling in the pool and didn’t hear my phone. Despite all the effort to make sure I could hear my phone ringing. I thought it was a missed chance and I called back, but they never returned my call. 

So it wasn’t a missed chance, it just wasn’t meant to be.

When the puzzle pieces come together and you see the whole picture

I think it’s wonderful that you have these moments in your life when over time puzzle pieces come together and you eventually see the whole picture. But I think it’s important that during this puzzle time you do not force things, but you give it time to let things come to you.