Against the Currents
Choosing my relationship meant that I did not see my family for a couple of years and I also lost focus and gave up on my dreams of traveling as my partner was not able to travel. Over the years, I faced many hardships and cultural differences in the relationship until the feelings of suffocation overwhelmed me. After 10 years, I decided to move away to Austin,Texas to get my Master's degree as well as managing a long distance relationship. This was also where I started my career as a financial planner.
A turning point in my life abruptly came when my father was diagnosed with cancer 2 months before I was suppose to graduate. I tried to finish my studies and felt that my job needed me so I stayed on for another month, but in the end, the cancer had progressed faster than expected and I made arrangements to go home. My greatest regret is that by the time I had all my paperwork together and flew back to Atlanta with my sister's, my dad was already taken into surgery and never woke up. I never got to say goodbye. We often think that we have all the time in this world, to do the things we want to do or say the things we need to say to the people we love, but the reality is that time is fleeting. There are also many things that are beyond our control.. such as illness and loss.
After my father's death I took a trip to Spain for two months to reflect on all that had happened. I met many amazing people along the way that changed my perspective on life, inspired me, and helped me heal. After my trip, I returned to the US and moved back home to be closer to my family in Atlanta, GA. I finally also got the salary and the job I had been working so hard for all these years as a Financial Adviser. I started building my clientele for coaching during this time and tried to find some normalcy in my life. However, I did not feel the same inside and my perspective on life had also changed. I had never forgotten my trip and felt it in my heart that Spain was the place I needed to be,. After a series of synchronized events and great support from my friends and family, I found the path for my big move. I gave up my house, my job, and everything I had known to move to Madrid, Spain. I was truly starting over from scratch, not only in my career but also as a single woman after being in a 13 year relationship.
Life is a journey full of unexpected endings and new beginnings. Along the way I have experienced so many transitions, immersing and discovering different cultural identities, within myself as well as adapting to the world around me, overcoming heartache, loss, starting over, uncovering my strengths and weaknesses.. and finally finding my life's purpose.
Looking back from where I sit now, in a small cafe in Madrid, viewing my journey and all the adversities I have overcome, I would not change a thing. I would tell the Christy in 2014 who was watching her father die and dealing with huge losses "do not swim against the currents of the tides but go with the flow of life". I believe that life is truly what we make it. Things will not always make perfect sense, but everything happens for a reason, and every moment should be lived to its fullest potential, even if we cannot see it at the time, we are always exactly where we need to be...
-- "Whatever you do may seem insignificant to you, but it is most important that you do it. "