I Didn’t Know What I Was Looking For—Until I Left the U.S.
Kayla, GA
Traveler Details: Age Range: 30s | Food Preference: Adventurous eater | Local cuisine lover | Former corporate marketer turned remote writer | Mid-budget expat living in Lisbon | Values authenticity, peace, and creative freedom | Solo traveler and deep thinker | Soul-searching
I didn’t move abroad for adventure. I didn’t do it for the food, the beaches, or even the lower cost of living. I moved because I felt like I was suffocating in a life I didn’t choose—one that looked good on paper but felt hollow in real time.
Back home in Atlanta, I had everything I was told I should want: a solid job in marketing, my own apartment, a car, friends, brunch every Sunday. But I also had a deep restlessness I couldn’t explain. I started describing it as “quiet anxiety”—that constant hum of something missing, but not knowing what.
At first, I ignored it. Then I tried to “fix” it—more yoga, new clothes, therapy. Finally, I got honest with myself: maybe what I needed couldn’t be found where I was.
The Leap That Didn’t Feel Brave (Until Later)
Lisbon wasn’t my dream city. It was simply the place where the visa process felt the most doable and the rent was within reach. I told myself I’d try it for 6 months. I gave notice at work, sold my car, hugged my family goodbye—and cried the entire flight over.
The first few weeks were a blur. I was overwhelmed by grocery stores in Portuguese, uncertain Wi-Fi, and the ache of realizing no one knew me here—not even a little bit.
But slowly, things shifted.
I found a café that remembered my order. I met another solo traveler on a walking tour who became one of my closest friends. I learned to sit alone at dinner without checking my phone. And somewhere between those quiet walks and language stumbles, I found something I didn’t even know I was looking for:
Myself.
What Moving Abroad Taught Me
• Stillness is a gift. Life in Portugal moves slower—and for the first time in my life, so did I. I no longer measured my worth by productivity.
• I don’t need to explain who I am. I stopped shrinking myself in rooms that weren’t built for me. There’s freedom in being a little unknown.
• Comfort isn’t the same as joy. My life back home was “comfortable,” but that didn’t mean it was aligned.
• Loneliness isn’t always bad. Sometimes it leads you back to your own voice.
Final Reflection
I don’t have it all figured out. I still miss home. I still get overwhelmed at the pharmacy. But I’ve also never felt more clear, more grounded, or more me than I do now.
If you’re feeling that quiet ache—the one that whispers, “maybe there’s more”—listen to it. Moving abroad didn’t solve everything, but it gave me space to ask better questions.
And sometimes, that’s enough to change your life.
