When I first created the dream in my mind about moving abroad and creating a new life in Sicily, I envisioned a life of endless beaches, sunsets, and spritzes. And for the most part, the reality does live up to the dream.
But there is also an unspoken fear that comes with taking a leap of faith and packing up your belongings to relocate across the world alone as a single woman with no partner or kids. There is no built-in support system where you are going. You have to create one. And I had to build something for myself that didn’t exist for me yet in this new place. With a regulated nervous system and less stress, and external cultural pressures that forced me into an endless cycle of productivity, I was determined to cultivate something I really never had back home in this unfamiliar place: Community.