My Life Has Radically Changed in The Last 10 Months, Here's Why

Here I am, snuggled in the cozy & warm polar bedsheets I got from my mom while listening The Cure’s ‘Friday, I’m in Love’, in the bedroom of the apartment I now live in my hometown: bright and sunny Seville. If you’re wondering, so much has happened over the last ten months.

Basically, my life is radically different to how it used to be 10 months ago and the month of April happened to be pivotal for this:

Stress had overpowered my entire life and my body fought back with a difficult ovary episode that kept me resting at home for two weeks. The emotional and physical pain left me unable to move, or think. After several tests and hospital appointments, I was diagnosed with endometriosis. Stress worsened the symptoms of a condition I had suffered for years. That was the last drop of my emotional, mental & physical burnout. Such a red, bright flag from my body led me to reconsider what was the purpose of living in London, in addition to deeper, existential questions such as:

What kind of life did I actually want?

What the heck was I doing working in a place that was heavily affecting my mental health?

How could I have a family in this environment?

or How could I even have a balanced lifestyle if stress was brutally hijacking my nervous system on a daily basis?

You see, April gave me some food (to the equivalent of a whole tasting menu for 10 people) for thought. Answering these questions wasn’t the hard task, because I knew stress was boycotting my life and something needed to change. But the actions… the actions were the real challenge. As always.

It took years of sweat and tears to find myself comfortable in London, and overcoming so much hardship made me so proud of feeling like a Londoner. London trained me to be resilient, decisive, determined. Self-confident. After 9 years of climbing the emotional Everest at The Big Smoke, I was at the peak of what my 22-year-old Self had wildly dreamt: I lived on my own at a spacious 1-bedroom apartment with a beautiful living room, in one of my favourite areas. I would think, speak, dream and journal in English, I had a wonderful circle of friendships who felt like family, and recently co-created a healthy relationship with a wonderful, loving and caring man. I had published a book, and threw the insecurities out of the window as an illustrator. My Illustrated Thoughts became a registered illustration & coaching business and I was happy to start my journey as entrepreneur.

At 31, I was taking myself deeply seriously and it clearly showed.

And that was awesome, but then.. what next?

I was outgrowing my dreams and the life I had in mind needed some readjustments. April found me juggling illustration projects, a mentoring certificate training and a very demanding teaching job (did anybody suggest the word burnout?). My dreams of progressing at the school I had been part of for 9 years crushed (I was a bit heartbroken), and I was feeling stagnant, frustrated and resented. Sadly, my health issues in April showed me how imperative it was to put an end to that chapter of my life too. And so it was: by April 20th, I handed my resignation letter to the headmaster. Honestly, I felt a big sense of relief —similar to breaking up with a toxic relationship. And just like any breakup, the uncertainty scared me as well. I needed help to set solid foundations in order to succeed at my next chapter. This led me to work with a business coach, go back to therapy, and think further what was the place we wanted to live. It got crystal clear that it wasn’t London anymore, and ever since that decision many more subsequent ones fell into place until my life in London reached her natural end in October 30th, 2022 with a one-way flight to Seville —along with an emotional mini-crisis, tears, tons of self-regulation and the logical grief.

I left my adult hometown, to go back to my childhood hometown and I wasn’t able to feel at home anywhere anymore.

Oh yes, 2022 has been all fun & games for my nervous system! Thank goodness I learned how to self-regulate at The Mentor Training.

As it is the fresh beginning of a new chapter, I felt drawn to document it my own way: through fun articles full of illustrated anecdotes. So, I invite you to join my upcoming illustrated newsletter ‘My Andalusian Days’ where I narrate my culture-clash anecdotes in Andalucía.

Here you’ll find the direct link to subscribe (it’s a different newsletter to ‘My Illustrated Thoughts’ community, because I understand time is precious and I wouldn’t want to spam you)