C'est la vie!

You know, it's funny how life plays out sometimes.

I'm a planner. It's not so much that I love a goal, but I do need something to work towards. I need a plan and a structure, to make sure that my brain is kept happily busy. I struggle to live in the present, and I'm constantly thinking of the future. Like, what can I do today to get me to my future goals.

However, every time I've had a concrete big-life-plan, the universe seems to have a funny way of reminding me who's in charge.

For example, I was supposed to become a doctor.

My teen-years were spent getting myself in the best possible position to make this happen. This was my goal for as long as I can remember. My GCSE's and A-levels were chosen with this in mind. I volunteered and sourced placements, even before college, to enhance my medical school application. I had a medicine-adjacent part-time job through college, again to build experience for the uni interviews. I'd spent countless hours researching the requirements for all UK universities admissions for both medicine and my back-up courses. Similarly, I'd researched different medical specialities, the training required, the timeframes, etc. I spent time doing mock interviews with a doctor who was involved in univesity admissions. I toured the country with my dad, checking out the uni's I was considering. When I say I had a plan, I mean I had a plan. It worked though - I received a conditional offer from my first choice uni to study medicine!

Then, I had a chance-encounter with one of the men who had assaulted me years prior, and I broke. I didn't end up getting the grades, and the only thing I had ever considered was suddenly no longer an option. Oh well, such is life.

Since then, this is kind of how things have played out. I plan, I prep, and then life goes "hold my beer". I don't mind - I'm a fairly resilient person, and I love a challenge. I firmly believe that things have a way of working out in the end and that everything happens for a reason - even if the message isn't entirely clear at the time!

Anyway, back to the point.

This year, I had a plan! I would spend the first few months of 2025 working on myself, and getting my house ready to sell, with the goal of putting it on the market around April. I'd then move in with my dad, continue working in my current role for at least another year or so, and save save save! Over Summer, I'd take some time trying to find a project house in France, and spend holidays and long-weekends doing it up. My main goal was having somewhere I could host a French family-Christmas, even if I wasn't living there at that point. I've been in no rush to make the move, focusing instead on healing myself and getting into the best possible position to emigrate. I've spent the last few years building connections within various French teams of the company I work for, with the plan of transfering over when I'm ready to make the move. I was super excited to finally take the plunge and change my life for the better!

Unfortunately, as per usual, the universe doesn't seem to like my plans, and instead threw a couple of curve balls my way.

Nothing that can't be resolved, and it doesn't change the goals too much, but does mean a few tweaks are necessary. The goal is to still emigrate as soon as possible, it now may just look a little different. Annoyingly, it does mean I'm currently stuck in limbo.

I really want to start sharing the journey of moving over there on this page, as I know there's a lot of folks in my corner who are equally as excited to see how this all turns out, but at the moment there is unfortunately very little to report! I'm continuing to learn French, and I'm making huge improvements every day. I'm learning as much as I can about the immigration process, the property market, and any other relevant considerations. But, I don't have a timeline. I don't have anything I can currently action. There's no big tasks to tick off my to-do list. Just, limbo.

Hopefully things start to become clearer and move quicker over the coming weeks, and I can get a bit more clarity on what the next 12 months might look like. But, in the meantime, all there is to do is to keep on keeping on.