“We have jumped so completely out of our comfort zone in coming, here. It has so far been a very exciting time. Carol’s help was critical to this:”
Stephen and I lived in Connemara for the last 14 years. We were very happy but recently we both felt that we were not fulfilling our potential, and that we needed to be stretched. The real exception to our contentment was Stephen’s job situation. He was very frustrated by work. I have also been spending increasing energies developing my voice in recent years, and it was becoming apparent that it was not the easiest thing to do from Connemara.
We started to think about spending a bit of time abroad. We felt that it would be of great benefit to expose the children to another culture and language, that I would be better placed to study opera closer to a large city in Europe, and that Stephen could potentially have his pick of stimulating jobs somewhere more central. Having spent some time in Sweden, and having loved the experience, we tentatively focussed our efforts on Stockholm. I had a teacher lined up quickly, and Stephen started applying for jobs, which turned out to be a lengthy process. This is when we started to talk to Carol.
What Carol really helped us to do was to focus clearly on what we wanted, firstly by identifying what that was. Then she led us through processes which enabled us to let go of our negative emotions, and to really believe in our adventure. This was utterly invaluable, and things quickly fell into place. For much of that whole period I felt like I was jumping off a cliff, into the unknown, and looking back I cannot believe that we managed to pack up our beautiful house, to rent it out to strangers, and to leave the very special area that had become our home.
Within days of Stephen handing in his notice with work in Clifden, a house came up outside Stockholm, between the woods and the sea, beside a school which was happy to take our children. With the Irish owners of the house we arranged a car swap, and then finally Stephen got a job. All this happened after we made our decision to go.
We arrived, in early January, into a snow laden Sweden. I have never been so cold in my life, and I spent the first month wondering what on earth we were doing in this desolate place. However, this is a real adventure, and we will never look back. Stephen is challenged and stretched by his job. The children are in the most fabulous school, 50 meters from the house. It is modern, well equipped and the teachers are utterly warm and enthusiastic, all the time. The children’s worlds have expanded massively. I am learning so much so quickly from my singing teacher, I love it and here I have the time to do substantial daily practice. We have had plenty of really good family time, which was another requirement of this trip, as we had become too busy in Ireland. Every weekend for the winter we have gone skiing or ice skating on the sea together.
We have jumped so completely out of our comfort zone in coming, here. It has so far been a very exciting time. Carol’s help was critical to this. We feel that Connemara will always be our home, but that this is the place for us right now, where we can best live our lives to the full.
Alannah, Connemara/Sweden
