With some wildflowers still in bloom, birds singing their happy song, the pleasant warm temperature and a warm breeze blowing over the perfect blue ocean, the month of June is postcard-perfect!
This is the time to have visitors over, showcase your new home and share why you chose to live in this Portuguese paradise under the sun.
Stage of implementation
For those of you who are done with scouting your preferred location and have settled, you’ve probably worked through a very long list of things to do. Finally, and with a sigh of relief, you can say that all the effort, the setbacks and challenges, all the hustle is over now and it’s time to let things sink in.
Allow yourself to reflect on the move, to look back to the time when moving to Portugal was only a thought in your head, a seed that you planted. You nourished it with love, patience and persistence. These were the years of preparation and all the many steps that you took that brought you to this present moment, where you have actually arrived at your destination: Portugal.
Here are some practical questions that support the stage of implementation; reflective questions that help you process all of it.
What were your Push Factors?
These are the things that pushed you away from your country. Things you wanted to get rid of or leave behind. For example, you desired to live in a political and economic environment that suits your beliefs, in a country where you feel safe, where you have excellent healthcare. Or you were looking for a better quality of life, or you wanted to discover who you are when away from the things you were familiar with.
Simply allow your answers to come up and evaluate how heavy or light these factors feel to you.
What were your Pull Factors?
These are the things that attracted or pulled you to make the move to Portugal. For example, you wanted to live a slower pace, live close to the ocean, or wished to live a healthier life. Or in a more affordable place. Or you desired to live in a warm and sunny country.
A way to measure how much you have implemented is to notice whether the answers to these questions feel light or heavy. When they feel heavy, repeat them in a few weeks to see whether they feel lighter then.
This reflective stage can be quite interesting as so many old structures of your past have been broken down, and you’re now looking at an empty canvas, meaning you can redesign your life! From how you want to spend your days to how you want to feel about everything you’re doing!
How good can it get?
Once you feel lighter about why you moved and what pulled you to come to Portugal, you’ll naturally go to the next stage, which is to create the foundation for a happy life: building community.
Obviously, you already have met people and maybe made friends, but now you actually have more space to allow real friendships in. Also, you can allow ease into your life, as only now you have the bandwidth to do so.
Enjoying the good things of life
Connecting with other likeminded internationals is like food for the soul. It allows you to relax and feel that you’re being nourished; your roots are slowly settling in the soil and you discover that now you’ve got the space and energy to go a bit deeper when making friendships or, for example, to learn the language! Both being an unmistakable aspect of making sure that you’ll feel at home.
Even if you are here for a bit longer or haven’t yet arrived, just picture this ideal month of June and visualise how it would be to live here while experiencing ease, joy and fulfilment.
No matter in what stage of arrival you currently are, in our community we have internationals in all different stages of moving to Portugal, whether it is to share some practical information or to help you meet your future new friends and find your tribe.
Check out our events, the good things in life as well as new friendships as they can be just around the corner!
Ria van Doorn
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Ria van Doorn is a life coach for internationals living abroad and founder of the Expat Centre Portugal.
