There are many tools you can use to prepare for a big move. I imagine people doing extensive research online, making detailed to do lists with items like 1. Forward mail to new address and 27. Find new vet for Colonel Snuggles. Proper moving preparation takes months of planning. I took a different approach.
I relied upon the tool of denial.
I was my personal zen life coach. I kept repeating calming phrases to myself whenever I thought of my impeding move. Phrases like People do this all the time, you've got this sport and You'll get there one way or another, no need to stress yourself over it. It was as if a second grade soccer coach was patting me softly on the amygdala, calming that little temperamental part of my brain.
And in some ways this was helpful. I never had a meltdown, surrounded by half packed boxes, unable to do anything other than lie in a fetal position, a puddle of hopelessness. But as a result I arrived in Norway, with my three bags, having left problems unsolved. I left my sanity intact, but as a result I did not completely understand the country I was moving to, what I would need for the life that I was starting.
So as a result I've started to compile small lessons I've learned along the way, on my life here. On Norway.
Photo by John Webley
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