CANADIAN MOVES TO IRELAND

Taken during a stay at one of my favourite places, the "Bed in the Barn" Airbnb in the Ox Mountains.

It's amazing how quickly your life can change. I had actually talked about moving to Ireland for years and told anyone who would listen that I would finally be moving there at the end of September 2016, but I never fully grasped just how much my life would change when I actually did it.

My name is Jennifer Lynn, but I go by Jen. I am 26 years old and from a town about an hour's drive from Toronto, Ontario in Canada. To me, my home is Toronto, where I lived for 5 years before moving to Ireland. My love for Toronto is comparable to an old, classic love story. You know, the way you might feel about somebody that you once loved fiercely and have never truly gotten over. You've been through the good times and the bad, countless ups and downs, but in the end they'll always be an important part of you that you can't shake. I wish I didn't feel like this about Toronto. It would make that aspect of being away a lot easier!

If you are wondering about the title of my blog, yes, it does mean that I suffer with anxiety. Quite badly, in fact. Although I feel like I have a much better grasp on it now, at times it has most definitely ruled my life and fuelled my decisions. As you can imagine, this made moving to another country ten times more stressful and scary than it would be for somebody without anxiety. And this would be scary enough for just about anyone!

So, why did I move to Ireland? Well, I went on a little adventure by myself to Ireland in August 2015, where I met somebody I was not looking for. In fact, when we met I did not consider him as more than a friend for the first couple weeks of knowing him, going on five "dates" total in this time. Once we did fall for each other we fell quite hard and at the time, I really didn't want to go back home. I wanted to stay in his small town with him and go on dates, watch movies and drink endless amounts of Captain Morgan's and cherry Pepsi (don't knock it 'til you try it). After two months of knowing each other, my time did come to go home, as I had to finish my last semester of college in January of 2016.

As you can guess, we made the big decision to carry on our relationship and I would move to Ireland less than a year later. Long distance relationships are hard and trying and require endless amounts of patience and commitment. We certainly had the commitment, but the patience part was something we both struggled with. We made endless amounts of mistakes when it came to how to carry out a long distance relationship, but in the end, we made it here. I left Canada for Ireland nine months ago to the day today.

This blog is a record of my time here in the Republic of Ireland and the ups and downs that go along with it. Not everything is easy and happy, I am stupidly homesick a lot of the time and I constantly have to focus on growing and pushing myself to be the best version of myself that I can be. I need to do this so I can be fully present in each moment and be able to make smart decisions. Life isn't all based on an idea anymore, I'm actually living it. Living and visiting somewhere are two totally different things and the same place can often feel like two totally different places because of this.

Do I know how long I'm going to be staying here? No. Will I spend many years here or will I just be here until the end of the year? Who knows. It depends on what I can handle and how long I can be away from home. It depends on my happiness and on our happiness as a couple. Come along for our ride and explore living in Ireland through the eyes of a mid-twenties, animal loving, devoted, healthy eating, yoga do-er with anxiety. You won't regret it!

Visit my YouTube channel below, where you can watch the video versions of these posts, although these will always be much deeper. I am first and foremost a writer, where I find I can best express myself and my feelings!

Until next time! xx

Jen