How I Found My Way to Spain

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A few years ago, after another trip to the south of France, I came home with a very clear feeling that I wanted to change where I lived. I wanted more sun, warmer weather, good food, beautiful surroundings and, most importantly, a different feeling in my everyday life. It wasn’t really a logical decision at first. It felt more like my body and intuition were quietly telling me that it was time to move towards something that felt better.

In autumn 2023, I moved to Spain with my family. I spent the first year near Barcelona, where I liked the infrastructure, the social life and how easy it was to find familiar people and services, but the weather was much colder than I had imagined and I never completely connected with the area. Then I moved further south, spent time in Andalusia and later in different places around Málaga. With every move I was getting closer to what I had actually been looking for, although some places still felt too cold in winter or simply didn’t give me that feeling of home.

Eventually I found myself more drawn to the area around Marbella. It felt greener, warmer and more comfortable, and having people around me who shared some of my background made a difference too. I also realised that I genuinely like the Spanish way of life. I like the slower rhythm, the food, the social atmosphere and the feeling that there is more room in everyday life for simply enjoying yourself.

There is another thing I’ve noticed through all these moves that I find fascinating. I honestly think that travel and moving to another place can sometimes replace years of therapy. When you physically leave the environment where a particular version of you was created, a huge layer of old memories, people, routines and emotions simply falls away. You are no longer surrounded by the same streets, the same conversations and the same associations every day. Your brain gets new information, your life starts moving differently, and you can experience a new version of yourself in practice rather than only trying to understand her in theory.

That’s what I love about moving. You don’t just talk about changing. You actually change your surroundings, your routines, the people you meet and the way you spend your days. You start living differently, and sometimes that can move you forward much faster than sitting in the same environment and endlessly analysing the same things.

After moving so many times, I’ve stopped believing that we have to stay somewhere just because we chose it once. Sometimes a place looks perfect on paper and still doesn’t feel right when you actually live there. You can have a beautiful apartment, good infrastructure and plenty of practical reasons to stay, but if something inside you keeps saying, “This isn’t it,” I think that feeling deserves attention.

We have much more freedom to change our lives than we sometimes remember. We can move, travel, try another city, change our environment or simply admit that something no longer works for us. It doesn’t mean that the previous choice was wrong. It means that we are allowed to choose again.

For me, moving to Spain was never about finding the perfect country. It was about listening to that internal direction and getting closer to a life that feels good to live. More sunlight, more time outside, good food, beautiful places, people I enjoy and enough space to actually experience my own life.

Maybe the same question is worth asking yourself sometimes. Not where you are supposed to be, but where you actually feel good. Your mind can come up with a hundred reasons to stay somewhere, but your body and your intuition often notice much earlier when it’s time to move. Sometimes you don’t need another explanation. You need to listen to yourself, change something and see what kind of life becomes possible on the other side.