Well then. I never thought I would be writing this post as early as March of this year. The last three weeks have been the most manic and crazy in my life to date. You know what they say though, man plans and God laughs.
The past two (almost) years have been the most exciting ones yet. We travelled across Europe, made some amazing new friends, got to experience fantastic work opportunities and had the perfect amount of work life balance (yes, it exists…). I mean, as much as I love Canada, a place we fondly call our home, there was no way it will compare to our life in the UK. Whenever someone from back home asked me about the move, I would (and still do) find myself selling the London life to them for at least a few years. The growth and development has quite literally transformed me into a person who views the world in a completely different way. I am more grateful, I am calmer, I scratched the travel bug itch a little, I built a lit resume and entered a work field I love…the list goes on and on.
The year before I moved, I had spent almost 10 months in a job that really killed my soul. I was itching to travel Europe but didn’t quite know how to do it constantly, because just 10 day holidays two or three times a year didn’t seem like they were enough. Nothing at the time seemed to feed my soul, not even the once upon a time exciting Sephora and Zara deliveries that racked up at the doorstep. I was just…bored af. As daunting as the move had seemed in the beginning, once we had done it, we knew from our first night sleeping on a mattress in our Hammersmith apartment, that THIS was the perfect decision. We were finally content.
I spent every week and every day in a super grateful mood. I was grateful in the tube. I was excited and looked forward to every single weekend for which I planned one exciting activity after next. I was just so fucking grateful and that was one amazing feeling to have all the time! We travelled. We ate amazing food. We lived the way twenty somethings everywhere should live. I think London brought me back to life in a way.
Our aim was always to come back after two years and this plan was designed to make room for even more exciting experiences and moves in the years to come. Then this pandemic taught us that what you plan will not always pan out. It was unfortunate to say goodbye to the city we called home so quickly and rashly, and it did crush me a little to cancel all the exciting plans we had leading up to our departure in June, but at the end of the day, our loss of plans seems trivial to what is happening around the world.
I will miss London a lot. I am sad I didn’t get to hit up my favourite food spots, take the last stroll in Hyde Park, hug our friends goodbye and I didn’t even get to say goodbye to my beloved Masala Chai at my favourite Carnaby Dishoom. But then again this struck and reminded me…
“In three words. I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.” – Robert Frost
So for now, although I say goodbye to London, I like to believe nothing is permanent and I know in my gut that we will be back one day soon. In the mean time, let’s stay the fuck home and stay safe.
