As my first post of 2026, I decided to follow the latest social media trends.
What was I doing in 2016?
I was preparing to leave my country.
Angry. Disappointed. Bitter.
A country I no longer felt was mine. And above all, a country I didn’t feel was right for raising my son, who was turning 14. For three years we had been planning to move abroad for a shorter or longer period of education. And we did it. Without listening to judgments, fears, or threats.
We chose Sweden, for many reasons, many of which perhaps no longer exist today. It was a radical change for our whole family. It wasn’t easy.
Living in another country confronts you with a million opportunities, uncertainties, and choices. Every day you feel that you no longer belong to the place where you grew up, and not yet to the one where you are growing now. Every day is a challenge, and every day you build a new toolbox to face it.
I reinvented myself. I lived five lives in ten years.
I carry the marks of them, but also the experience and the awareness.
Two years ago, suddenly, I realized I wanted something else. That forcing myself into a suit that had become too tight was exhausting and draining my energy. The pride of seeing a child flourish—thanks to opportunities that would have been unthinkable in Italy for our income—was no longer enough.
So what next?
What was waiting for me in a future I couldn’t yet see?
Over these years, both Italy and Sweden have changed a lot. And I have changed too. So have my priorities. As someone passionate about politics and sociology, I can only observe and interpret these shifts.
But today, I feel freer to choose.
In these ten years, I have deeply appreciated the Swedish rhythm of life: honoring free time, changing pace with the seasons even in the city, respecting others and their space. But I also missed many things,deeply.
I’m not the female version of Checco Zalone, but stripped of stereotypes, I missed social life. Spontaneous friendships. Casual conversations at the bar counter. Dinners at home. I suffered from this absence.
Then I stopped. I stopped chasing it at all costs. I listened to myself and found meaning in that solitude. I welcomed it,by reading, meditating, caring for myself. I waited. And meaning arrived.
Expat life often pushes us to force connections, to fill gaps, to avoid being alone. But this can empty us of meaning and energy, especially when we no longer know where we belong. Sometimes, you need to stop to find your place.
And to discover that your place is within you, wherever you are in the world.
That said, I believe there are places for different moments in life.
I believe deeply in the circular nature of life, experiences, and events. We are not trees rooted in one place. We can move where our heart, body, and spirit wish to go. The roots of the heart never die. Your places, your loved ones, your stories are part of you; you carry them with you wherever you go.
Start telling your story.
Telling to yourself.
It will become clearer and richer in meaning. It will nourish you when you feel hungry. Listen to your need to leave it is as important as your need to return.
In this 2026, new projects are taking shape. Because I looked for them. I wanted them.
Or maybe they found me.
Projects that will take me back to Italy for a while. To that Italy that still resists, that I could no longer see. And I will take the beauty with me: the scents, the colors, the voices, the noise, the laughter, the dinners, the hard work, the sun. Everything I missed, and didn’t even know I was longing for.
I will return to the work I love, helping relationships, enriched by new skills and experiences. And I will begin a new project that has been vibrating inside me for years, and has finally found the courage to come out.
The first “fruit” of this new personal blossoming is a women-only retreat. A space to offer everything I have learned and lived: Yin Yoga practices, Yoga Nidra meditations, and counseling.
A space to start again. Perhaps. As I did. Or to pause, if that’s what you need.
We will not “manifest” anything. Wanting is not always enough. And sometimes, hiding behind positive thinking only scatters our energy. We will talk about positive thinking, about possibilities, about willpower, and about limits, limits to overcome, or sometimes to gently go around.
We will look for meaning in loving ourselves, in loving our female bodies, at any age.
And then, tell me, what would you like from this experience?
There will be two editions. Two different dates.
One Italian-speaking group and one English-speaking group.
8 places only.
Intimate. Gentle. Slow.
To recharge.
Write to me.
There is a place for you.
g.
