This week, we had the choice between a few subjects again, and this one wasn't really hard for me. I chose the following, and the description:
Feeling the pride
What are a few things about yourself, or which you have done, that have left you feeling proud? List one, or a few, and tell us the situation and why you feel it was an accomplishment to be proud of. (Having children is excluded from this question.)
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Well, this last sentence is a bit of a shame because the thing I am truly most proud of is the fact that I had my two youngest kiddos completely unassisted, in what they call: unassisted birth, and my youngest was an unassisted pregnancy and birth. No midwife, no doctors, no nurses. Nothing. Just me, a pool, and a friend in the kitchen to make tea. But since this is excluded to write about, I'll have to keep this for another time, and write about other achievements that I'm very proud of.
So here we go!
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First things first
There are a few things I'm proud of. Very proud.
I made it to three IRL 'Fests' of the Blockchain who's name we won't mention, and one Anarchapulco. I'm pretty proud of that, I have to say. But the one thing I think is my greatest achievement (aside from having kids hehe), is:
Our Move All the Way across the Ocean
source Edited in LunaPic.
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Up until last year, the biggest thing I'd done was move from the Netherlands to Ireland with 3 kids, who were 2, 3, and 9 years old at the time. My eldest
had traveled to Ireland with friends, and was staying with my best friend there, while I drove there with the younger two, in an Opel Corsa, and a trailer completely filled up, roof and all. It felt like such an undertaking then, and it was. I swore never to do anything like it again...
But that was peanuts compared to our move to Mexico from Ireland, ten years later.
This time it was 4 kids, one kid's boyfriend (
Not only was this move a lot more expensive than the first one but I had to take care of a lot more things. Even though we left the Netherlands with only a small car and a small trailer, it's incredible to know how much stuff a family can accumulate in 10 years time.
And we'd moved a few times within Ireland. Every time getting rid of more stuff.
It was still quite a lot when we had to get to the task to get rid of most of it.
Looking back, I sometimes still wonder how we did it. The kids weren't much help, except for Cameron and my second eldest, who're not afraid to get their hands dirty and chip in. But when it came down to it, most of it, I had to take care of.
In the end, I had a friend help me, and thank goodness for her or I would have still been sorting through things right now.
We left a lot behind. All we thought we needed, which was mostly just clothes, photos, and some other memories, had to fit in a total of 7 suitcases, hand luggage excluded.
Then there was the matter of finances. Literally all of what I had went into our move. There were times when I thought I'd lose my mind, and then there were times I had doubts whether I was doing the right thing.
According to my calculations, I would have just enough to get us here to Mexico, and enough to pay rent for 6 months.
Issues arose when the cost to ship the animals suddenly more than doubled at the last moment, leaving me with no choice other than to pay it.
Exactly the same amount I had set aside to pay for 6 months rent...
Stress was also a negative factor in those last weeks leading up to our travels.
The stress of trying to get everything done. Stress about what to bring and what to leave behind. The stress to hear that at the last moment we couldn't bring two of our pets... The stress of the unknown. It was a lot. Especially since I was also working full time, and had to do everything in between things.
More stress about how to deal with friends and family, who were, of course, constantly asking how things were going, what we were doing, etc. etc.
In the end I just stopped picking up the phone, and answering questions hehe.
It was needed because I couldn't divide myself into 2 pieces. Jeez, sometimes I wish I could!
The Unknown & The Unexpected
With an undertaking like ours, there are always unknown factors, and unexpected factors. The unexpected were the extra financial strain. Even though I'd already calculated in extras for unexpected expenses, it still went way beyond what I had in mind.
And then there was the unknown...
When we moved to Ireland, I had never been there before.
I didn't see it as an issue because Europe is huge, and it wasn't like the Netherlands was going to go anywhere. If Ireland didn't work out, there were other places...
Mexico is a completely different story.
I'd been to Mexico before but only for visa runs from the US.
Never longer than a few days, and never further than Tijuana.
I had no idea what to expect. Nada.
So in the back of my mind I had doubts at times. But what was worse was the fear of making the wrong choices. I had to put this fear aside, and made place for excitement, because if I would have let the fear of the unknown take over, I would have never left. I needed to know and feel that I was doing the right thing, and I could only do this by banning the fear, and inviting joy and the knowing that everything would be OK. That may sound easy but I found out that it's not and easy thing to do when you're stressing, to stay in a positive mind set.
I did it!
That's what matters.
I did it.
I didn't do it all by myself.
I had help, and I'm most grateful for that.
Without it, I would have been lost.
But in the end, I had to do most of the work.
We're here now, and I haven't looked back.
It wasn't always perfect, and things aren't always easy.
If you would have told me 3 years ago that I'd move all that is important all the way across the ocean to Mexico, I would have laughed, even though I had similar plans before. Simply because I never thought I'd pull it off in such a short time.
So yes, it's definitely one of the things I've achieved that I'm most proud of.
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