LONELY ABROAD
My Story
In 2019 I moved from Hamburg to London for love. The first year was fun and exciting until it hit me a year later - I had no friends and knew no one - all of a sudden I realised that I was lonely.
My partner has amazing friends and family who integrated me from day 1 , but they weren't my friends or family. I needed my own connections with people that chose me for who I am.
I felt ... lonely, disconnected from everyone (even friends and family back home) and low. I felt ashamed for feeling lonely, I believed something was wrong with me. I thought I was different from anyone else, loneliness would just happen to me, I was weird and wrong. I also thought that I would never be able to make friends abroad.
And from there I distanced myself even more from people back home because I was ashamed to admit I had no friends. It created relationship problems with my partner - When he went out with friends, I felt resentful and sorry for myself. We argued, I distanced myself from him and I was contemplating moving back to Germany because I couldn't take the loneliness and every negative emotion that came with it anymore.
My Story continued
One day I made the decision to overcome my loneliness and I was committed because I didn't want to move back to Germany. I used what I had already, the skills I learnt in my professional career of 12 years of empowering and supporting people.
And it really clicked when I found coaching. I devoured thousands of coaching materials and resources, learnt and applied everything I could and later even completed a certification. Coaching was the key for me to understanding my situation deeply and compassionately while also focusing on moving forward into the right direction and achieving my goal.
All of a sudden, I ... started feeling valuable and confident in myself. I stopped believing that there's something wrong with me and I loved myself deeply. I developed an understanding that helped me to resolve my relationship issues and curate a healthy relationship with my partner.
With the newly gained confidence, I started meeting people. As an introvert, that was something difficult for me to do but through coaching I was able to continue and keep going. I learnt who I'm looking to befriend and where to find those people. I got great at connecting with people, trusting them and showing up vulnerably.
I made mistakes and learnt from every single one so that I could create a bulletproof strategy that's applicable to help other people who live abroad to overcome their loneliness and build deep connections abroad.
Fast forward: I now live in London for 6 years, my partner is now my fiance, I have amazing friends, I never feel lonely and I live the life I always dreamt of.