About Those Quiet Places

Please excuse the long hiatus since my last blog post. It’s been one of those periods where one day blends into the next and making the time to write has taken a backseat to other things. Good news is we’ve completely settled into a familiar routine here in Denmark – you know, the one that goes something like this: wake-up, eat breakfast, take kids to school, go to work, pick up the kids…..make dinner, enjoy family time, go to bed, repeat. My goodness the rhythm of the routine can sure take on a life of its own. Some days it feels like it could swallow me up. (Confirmation that real life exist here in Denmark too). But you know what? Back home I had work-arounds for this. A go-to list of ‘conveniences’ that could and did help take the edge off the daily grind (if you’re curious, I listed a few of my favorites down below). When you live in a place like Marin year after year, these world-class ‘conveniences’ simply become your norm. That isn’t a bad thing…is it?

Being seven months into this countryside living abroad experience, I’ve had some distance to reflect on this question. Is it really possible to have too much amazingness outside your front door?

Well, for starters, no matter where you live, having a go-to list of things that make you feel a bit brighter on dull days is a must. Hopefully a few you’d even label amazing. Grabbing lunch with a good friend, taking a favorite yoga class, hiking a beautiful trail. Whatever your version is, it really boils down to self-care and it’s a must. But when you leave those things behind it takes time to find your self-care stride in a new place. Let alone in a new country and culture. It’s not easy, and in my experience, it doesn’t happen right away. And that’s not because amazingness doesn’t exist here, because it definitely does. Take the cost of living. That I can assure you is amazing (relatively speaking of course). If you’re a new parent, a student in university, a parent of a student enrolled in university, or a user of the healthcare system, then Denmark is incredibly convenient and amazing. They have some of the most generous parental leave policies in the world, childcare is subsidized, education is free (students even receive a monthly stipend to cover basic expenses while they are enrolled) and navigating the healthcare system is simple (no surprise bills or in-network/out-of-network shenanigans). But welfare systems aside, it takes time to settle into a new place and make it your own. It also takes stamina, flexibility and faith. Patience would help, but I can’t speak firsthand about that one.

The conveniences I love and had come to rely upon back home are pretty much non-existent here. There are many days that realization has been difficult. I wondered if I would ever find my new stride in our day-to-day routine. What if I living in Marin had ruined me? That I had become so comfortable to having everything I loved at my fingertips that I could no longer (or would no longer want to) survive outside of that bubble…?

Thankfully, this experience has shown me that cultivating a life with amazingness is much more about mindset than it is about geography. And that by letting go of one thing, we give room for something new to blossom in its place. Living abroad presents an enormous opportunity to see and experience a lot of new and exciting things. A ride full of all the feels. It’s not easy but the process is enlightening. And when the dust settles, because it always does, I’m reminded that it’s often in the quiet, not so glamorous spaces of life where transformation happens.

So, what do you think? Is it really possible to have too much amazingness outside your front door?

A few of my favorite Marin things: Grabbing take-out and catching the sunset on Mt. Tam with the fam on a random weekday. Starting any day with my favorite yoga or fitness class. A family hike up Ring Mountain and caching a breathtaking view of the city (no, it never gets old), hiking Mt. Tam with my besties, meeting friends at Stinson for an afternoon at the beach, a picnic up in wine country, and heading to Tahoe for a day up in the mountains.

Thanks for reading about #ourbigfamilyadventure and following #adashofbold! It’s always wonderful to hear from you ☺️