Well the time has finally arrived. What began as a simple idea in 2006 is now a dream fulfilled. It’s been a dark and trying time with so many problems I had to overcome, but through will and determination it just had to be done. Even in the darkest days when it seemed that all would fail, just the mere thought of this becoming a possibility kept me moving forward.
It was back in October 2006 that it began. I had just ended a five year relationship, my ex had fleeced me of nearly every penny I had. Left me in a house that I could not afford paying. My last writing job had come to and end and I was taking on any menial job going in order just to survive. That was not for long, in April 2007 I was evicted from my house by my rather gloating (and vastly overweight landlord).
In my early 30’s I had to do something that I could not ever imagine doing even as a teenager and for the first time in a while I moved back to Bristol. I had left Bristol some eight years earlier and though the fields and buildings were all the same, it was a shell of a former place that I once called home. The people I had known had long moved on, the good times that I had lived were nothing more than whispers in the wind. I was home, but the home no longer existed.
During this time that I was away from London I began to miss everything about it. The simple things that I once hated suddenly had a longing for, the tube, the parks, the shop that offered 5 beers for £6, but most importantly I was missing the friends I had made there. Who was to blame seemed to change every day in my mind, at first it was my ex, then it was me, then it was anyone that just made me feel better. Whomever it was that took the pain of turning my life upside down was the victim of my wrath.
It was then that I got a phone call out of the blue from one of my closest friends, Marie Eriksson. A lovely Swedish girl who had become a very good friend of mine towards the last few months of London. She invited me over to stay with her and her family for a few weeks in the summer and I jumped at the chance. Just to get out of Bristol was something I was not going to say no to.
I stayed just outside of Goteborg and spent two of the most enjoyable weeks of my life. Now I’ve been all over the world, to many places and seen many life changing moments. But something happened during these two weeks, something that would change my life forever. I cannot put my finger on it, maybe it was Marie showing me a different side of her during this stay, and perhaps it was the culture that I fell in love with. But I did know that the minute I landed back in the UK I would be one day moving to Sweden.
2007/8 saw little change in my life. I was lucky to get a really good deal and began doing some freelance writing that financially saw me get back on my feet. Then in 2008 a decent opportunity took me back to London where I have been since. Alas London, like Bristol, is a city that never stands still and friends come and go like passengers on a train and those I did leave the previous year had gone.
The last two years saw me putting my dream of moving to Sweden into overdrive. I began working and writing more than ever in order to financially sustain the move. Stepping up learning the language, the history and the culture of the country took up the majority of my spare time. It was like going back to school but unlike learning something that was forced upon you, this was essential, it had to be done.
Now here we are in 2010 and my move to Sweden goes ahead in just eight weeks time. Thinking back to that day in October 2006 when I had drank a full bottle of whiskey fearing for my entire future and even existence here I am. What started out as a dream became an objective that was fuelled by desire, passion, love and want. I could not let life keep me down, I simply refused.
No matter where you are in life, whatever it is you are doing if you have a goal it can be achieved. With the love and support of friends and family nothing is impossible. My adventure has only just begun. If you have one I will support you all the way.
Dreams can come true.
