Living far from Santorini isn’t easy

What does it mean living in Santorini?
To me, it means that I never want to leave. And when I say ‘never’ I mean it.
Since I live here I don’t feel the need to travel or to go anywhere, and, whenever I do it, I don’t like it.
I’ve finally found a place that makes me feel so good so why wanting to distance from this feeling?

But there is always a moment in which I just feel the need to go away in order to come back with full energy and usually this moment arrives at the beginning of the autumn.
Usually, I go to Italy to visit my family. It is supposed to be a lovely time, surrounded by my people but to be honest it is also very tricky: I don’t like to lose my routine and my dream life.

But this year I was looking forward to this moment as I wanted to transform this feeling into an opportunity to grow. So I asked for some help.
Thanks to my IG community (thanks Alessia!) I had the privilege to meet Alessandra and her project.
Alessandra is a life coach who dedicates her knowledge and awareness to expats.
She is a very good listener and a very empathic person.
I shared with her my thoughts and difficulties regarding my going back to Italy and my old life.
I love sharing time with my family, I adore my parents and my sister with her two children.
I have a lot of good friends that I love so much but sometimes the daily meetings with someone you have not seen for one year are a bit stressful. In the past, I found myself very often being there only for them and not doing anything for myself.

Thanks to Alessandra, I understood that these five weeks had to become something for myself. And she was right. We had a lovely discussion on what means for an expat to go back to her/his old life and with the help of the special route she suggested, I found myself looking forward to my time in Italy.

Currently, I am in my childhood bedroom waiting for Christmas.
I have already spent quality time with my parents, ‘teaching’ my mum to cook vegan for me.
I have been a lot with my sister and my nephews trying to get back the time and because they are teens it’s challenging! My half-day shopping in Milan with my niece has been a highlight!
I have been reading a lot: my dad can’t believe how much time I spend reading!
And I have started something for myself, yoga! I go regularly to my Ashtanga yoga classes and I can’t wait to be back to Santorini to practice on my own.

I think this was quite a good plan for this year and now I am really excited to find an even better pattern for next year!
And of course, I am ready to go back to my island.