This is a view from my bedroom window in my home in Goult, France. This photo was taken in March shortly after I moved here.
It has been a long time since I last blogged. I have been going through a huge transition in my life over the past 2 years. To keep it short, I ended my marriage, cleared out of most of my belongings, left my 34 year career as a nurse, and in February, 2018, I moved to the south of France to begin my full-time career as a professional photographer. This past year has been the most fulfilling year of my life.
To back track a bit, the first time I came to France was in 2014. My first night there I was brought to tears, and I had an overwhelming feeling that I had found my home. I felt very strongly that France was where I needed to be to follow my dreams, and change my career path, but I had no idea how I could possibly make that happen. Well, with perseverance and strong determination, 4 years later, I made it happen.
Since 2010, I had been working on transitioning out of my nursing career to follow my dreams of becoming a professional photographer, but I was held back by my fears. Over time, I realised that I had to let go of my fears of leaving my safe and successful career as a nurse. My heart was not fully in it anymore, and my entire being craved to be free from within the box I was living.
I could no longer live a life that was not feeding my soul, and it became quite clear to me, that life was way to short to not follow my dreams. I knew in my soul, that I had to dramatically change my life, and let go of my fear of leaving, what I perceived at the time, as a "safe and secure" lifestyle. As a result, on December. 8th 2017, I retired from my nursing job. On January 9th, I left for a 1 month trip to Ecuador, and on February 15th, I left the United States and moved to the Luberon Valley in the south of France.
Taking this leap of faith has been an amazing experience. I have experienced nothing but an incredible amount of support. I am 58 years old, and I am living my dreams. I have changed my life path, and I am the happiest I have been in years. I dreamed of being a professional photographer when I was 18 years old, but I chose a different career path, which I don’t regret for a moment. But, I feel quite happy that I was able to follow my dreams at 58 years old. I worked hard to get where I am. It has not always been easy, but I believe in perseverance, and to never let go of ones dreams. You never know when it will be your time to soar. I believe that one is never too old to follow their dreams!
Since moving here, I have made many wonderful friends, and had many amazing adventures. I am learning to speak french, learning about the french culture and their way of life in the countryside. It is quite humbling to be a foreigner. I am learning many things about what to do, and what not to do to survive here. I butcher the French language on a daily basis, and pray one day I will be fluent in french. Along the way, I am learning how to trust myself, how to be quiet and listen more closely to my inner voice, how to nourish my body, heart and soul, how to love myself, how to live life in the moment, and allow good things to happen.
If you would like to follow my journey here in France, and beyond, subscribe to my email list, and you will be sent updates. I will be posting what I have been up to since moving here, so there will be lots of fun stories and photos to catch up on from the past 9 months.
My new home in the dead of winter when I first moved here..
In April, I brought this beautiful sweet puppy home and I named her Zoé. She is now 9 months old and has her own instagram account, Princess Zoé of Provence. Check out her site. I have a lot of fun photographing her.
One of the first sunsets I experienced from the property I live on.