Having moved to France in 2012 with my husband and 2 Jack Russell terriers the last 2 years have flown by very quickly indeed. A new environment, new language, new way of living, new bureaucracy have been the crispy coating on the continuous work in progress that is associated with moving lock stock and barrel from decades of belonging, your history, your friends and the familiar.
Fortunately, the dogs settled in very quickly, no questions about the change in dog food or biscuits they have adapted to life in France very well, despite flea epidemics that hit the country year on year, but they have not been affected.
One's outlook on life will to a certain degree dictate how you adapt to such change. However much you think you love change, you need to give yourself time to adjust. I love change, lots of it and frequently. That's why I love working within a social media environment, it changes frequently, gives me new data and information to soak up and work with. I loved the idea of moving to France, planned it for years. I can honestly say that the planning got to the point that it was like looking over the edge of a cliff and there was nothing to prepare for how you would feel and react, I would just have to trust in the process that all would be well.
My husband likes change too, although he is not as fast paced as myself, having moved countries as a child, his family originated from the Indian Ocean and travelled to the UK and Canada. So while the moving aspect was not so arduous, the time required to mentally, emotionally and re-jig all that familiar stuff and adjust has been something that has had to take its own sweet time .... for both of us.
But optimism has always been my best friend. Negative situations and I look for a silver lining. What did I learn? What can I learn? As the years go by, I find the archives of Wisdom filling up more frequently and when negative stuff happens my inner knowledge finds a way of surfacing and there is less need to be so reactionary... that's when change is so much easier to deal with. No wonder moving to another country was more of a challenge - there's no inner wisdom to draw from. I have never moved country. Travelled to one yes, but have always returned to a 'base'.
France itself is so very different to what we are both used to in the UK... I refrain from using back home... because there is no back home, France IS our home. The events and actions that we did everyday back in the UK suddenly became a challenge. That crispy coating that I mentioned in the first paragraph is still ever present. Two years in though and our viewpoint is different. Instead of questioning why do the French things the way they do? We now learn to accept it. We have been part of a different culture, our society, our ideals, values have meant that we just naturally blended in with all things British. We have come from a country that has experienced big change, some for the good, some definitely not for the good. When you move, everything becomes questionable until you realise, that had we been born here, been part of Frances' rich tapestry of life, we would not be so questioning and completely accepting of what is France.
We have no guarantee that our future here in France will pan out how we want it. There are obstacles that could threaten our long term existence. We apply the mantra that nothing is insurmountable, where there is a will, there is a way and how can we make this work for us. And should we move again in the future for whatever reason those archives of wisdom will be fully stocked.
Yours socially
Fortunately, the dogs settled in very quickly, no questions about the change in dog food or biscuits they have adapted to life in France very well, despite flea epidemics that hit the country year on year, but they have not been affected.
One's outlook on life will to a certain degree dictate how you adapt to such change. However much you think you love change, you need to give yourself time to adjust. I love change, lots of it and frequently. That's why I love working within a social media environment, it changes frequently, gives me new data and information to soak up and work with. I loved the idea of moving to France, planned it for years. I can honestly say that the planning got to the point that it was like looking over the edge of a cliff and there was nothing to prepare for how you would feel and react, I would just have to trust in the process that all would be well.
My husband likes change too, although he is not as fast paced as myself, having moved countries as a child, his family originated from the Indian Ocean and travelled to the UK and Canada. So while the moving aspect was not so arduous, the time required to mentally, emotionally and re-jig all that familiar stuff and adjust has been something that has had to take its own sweet time .... for both of us.
But optimism has always been my best friend. Negative situations and I look for a silver lining. What did I learn? What can I learn? As the years go by, I find the archives of Wisdom filling up more frequently and when negative stuff happens my inner knowledge finds a way of surfacing and there is less need to be so reactionary... that's when change is so much easier to deal with. No wonder moving to another country was more of a challenge - there's no inner wisdom to draw from. I have never moved country. Travelled to one yes, but have always returned to a 'base'.
France itself is so very different to what we are both used to in the UK... I refrain from using back home... because there is no back home, France IS our home. The events and actions that we did everyday back in the UK suddenly became a challenge. That crispy coating that I mentioned in the first paragraph is still ever present. Two years in though and our viewpoint is different. Instead of questioning why do the French things the way they do? We now learn to accept it. We have been part of a different culture, our society, our ideals, values have meant that we just naturally blended in with all things British. We have come from a country that has experienced big change, some for the good, some definitely not for the good. When you move, everything becomes questionable until you realise, that had we been born here, been part of Frances' rich tapestry of life, we would not be so questioning and completely accepting of what is France.
We have no guarantee that our future here in France will pan out how we want it. There are obstacles that could threaten our long term existence. We apply the mantra that nothing is insurmountable, where there is a will, there is a way and how can we make this work for us. And should we move again in the future for whatever reason those archives of wisdom will be fully stocked.
Yours socially
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