From the UK to NZ: How Curiosity Led Me to Unexpected Joy
Creating our home in New Zealand
Landing, or at least trying.
We have been in New Zealand for just over two weeks and officially in our home for one. The concept of home still hasn’t really hit, as I am so used to temporary. Temporarily living somewhere, temporarily being in a country, moving from place to place. The idea that this is our home for at least the next year is hard for me to integrate right now, but I know that over time it will feel more and more like ours.
In an attempt to land in this space, we have spent the week scouring Marketplace—who knew it could be so addictive? I have replaced my mindless scrolling on Instagram with desperate searching for bedside tables, rugs, couches and plants. Who knew you could get such a big dopamine hit from beating others to the deal and securing yourself a bargain in the process?
Yesterday, we left the house to pick up two beautiful wooden bedside tables for $20 NZD—who wouldn’t be excited?—and ended up coming home with not only the bedside tables but a huge cactus for our front porch. The cactus was another steal at $20; however, we did end up spending $70 on a new pot and potting mix, making it not such a bargain. But it certainly brought us a lot of joy, especially as Connie and Caroline, our double cactus, now sit proudly at our front door.
This week has been filled with many things, and first and foremost has been relief. Ben had never been to the town we have landed in to call home, nor did he have any idea what it was like. He blindly trusted me when I told him he would love it, and thankfully, he does. I am glad I also love it too. It is easy to romanticise a place when you aren’t living in it, but we have found joy in every moment of getting to know our new home. The quiet, the calm, the slower pace of life. We have found ourselves constantly in awe of the beauty that surrounds us.
Our little two-bedroom bungalow is nestled between the mountains and the sea. Despite having neighbours, we cannot get over how quiet it is—or perhaps we have just gotten so used to noise. If we listen closely enough, we can hear the birds in the trees, the sheep on the mountain, and the sound of the ocean all at the same time. A melody we didn’t know we needed but one which has dropped us both into a peace I haven’t known for a while. Whilst our house may be small, our garden is huge, and as I sit here and write, I can picture our daughter running around in the grass beyond the window, and this is how I know we have found home.
It hasn’t been easy packing up our lives and moving to the other side of the world, but not doing it would have been worse. To sit and wonder about the what-ifs is not a place I like to dwell. I prefer to move into the curiosity and to see what might be. We had so many people trying to place their own fear-based narratives on our move. Why the place we chose, why this house, why this, that, and the other. It would have been easy to let other people’s fears become our own, and I am so proud of us for staying aligned in our truth and choosing to scratch our curiosity. It has led us here, at six months pregnant, to a new home, a new town, a new country (for Ben, at least), and with newness comes expansion. We do not expand in our comfort zones; we must step outside of them to meet parts of ourselves, and I am proud of us for doing this together.
This is where our baby will be born, and already that feels so nurturing. We had our first midwife appointment the other day, and I am so grateful that in NZ, you have one midwife for your entire pregnancy, birth, and post-partum journey. We spent 1.5 hours getting to know our lovely midwife, and she made us feel so calm about our choice to hopefully home birth with her by our side. Our weekend was spent wandering around our local farmers' markets, walking along the beach, and pottering in our garden. I have spent years dreaming of this moment, wondering when it would come, and at 36, it is here.
Societal timelines would tell me that this is late in life to have my own space, but I am here to remind you that there is beauty in living life by your own design. In trusting your intuition. It has led me on a beautiful journey, which has rooted me here, for now. Your 30s, as a woman, can be difficult to navigate with so many opinions and ideas of what you should be doing, but there is one thing I like to remind myself, and my clients, when this arises: Ask yourself, are the people giving you those opinions living a life that aligns with you? More often than not, you will find that they don’t. So, this is your little reminder to not let the fears, advice, or opinions of others who aren’t aligned with your values or vision stop you from living the life that you want. Scratch your own curiosity, honour yourself, and trust that it will lead you somewhere magical. I say this as someone who has practised this for a while now, and every time I honour myself, above all else, it leads me to joy.
Which is exactly where I am right now.
Joy.
Before we left the UK, Ben’s dad bought our baby girl a seagull cuddly so she would have a connection to our seaside town in the UK. When we pulled up to our new home, we were greeted with a sign that we are exactly where we are meant to be. Five seagulls sit proudly on top of our gates. A reminder that no matter where you go, you can always find a bit of home.
So we are here, landing in our new home. The home with the seagull gates.
With love,
Millee
"The only impossible journey is the one you never begin." – Tony Robbins
