Once upon a time I lived in London, the United Kingdom.
Crouch End, London, UK
How did this happen? I was twenty-two years old, I held a fresh-off-the-presses Bachelors of Arts degree in Music, and I needed to get out of Dodge, Dodge being pretty much anywhere in California. What I wanted most of all was to live in the UK.
I planned my move for twelve months. I found a program that would obtain a working visa for me (BUNAC) and I saved money for my plane ticket. Through luck and family connections I stumbled into a prime house sitting gig in the little neighborhood of Crouch End, in northern London (Zone 3 on the Northern line, Zone 2 if I took a bus to Finsbury Park).
In London, I had many adventures, met many strange people, and obtained several jobs over the course of my time there. Most importantly, I was living in a foreign country, which opened my mind and allowed me to discover who I was without all the external confusing trappings.
While I was living there, I was corresponding via e-mail with a friend of mine, telling him all about my new life and how much I loved living in London. (And I did love living there. It was a hard year for me, it’s true, but I never stopped adoring that city.)
His response? He wrote something to the effect that my life, or in any case what I was choosing to do with my life by living in London, “wasn’t the way the world works.”
I have always remembered that e-mail, even though I received it over nine years ago. It struck me as deeply profound. Because of course, me being in London was exactly the way the world worked, because otherwise how could I be there in the first place?
It was profound because that sentence of his got right to the heart of the difference between him and me. It’s all in the way we believe the world works. In other words, it’s all in our perspective, it’s all in our minds, and it’s all in our courage. It’s all in what we believe to be possible. The White Queen had it right all along.
I believed I could live in London, and I did what it took to get me there.
What do you believe?
P.S. The banner on this blog? Why yes, it’s a photo of London, and yes, it does help remind me of what is possible. 🙂
The Practical Free Spirit 
Love this, Amy. It’s interesting (read: frustrating) how those limiting statements made by others can stick in our minds. Kudos to you for not being limited by your friend’s worldview.
When I was in high school, I made a list of things to do before I die. Number one on my list was “live in England”. Over the years, I forgot about the list, went to college, got married… Then my husband and I both got opportunities to study in England. Eight or so years after having written that number one on my list, I found myself living in a semi-detached outside Cambridge, studying medieval paleography.
Strange, isn’t it?
I’m with you on this one.
I actually love how this statement stuck in my mind, because ever since it’s acted as a kind of personal challenge to question my limiting views. 🙂
I think it’s awesome how your England dream worked out for you. Also … strange Amy verisimilitude.
You wouldn’t believe how many people keep telling me that ePublished books go nowhere. And that people will never find your work without a publisher. And that I’m writing way too fast for the book to be good (passing 40k total today since Taos). And so on!
There’s a big difference between a realistic estimation of risk and self-denial based on fear. The first should be indulged. The second needs a bright light shone on it, just so you see how tiny that monster really is.
Believing you can do a thing is the first step in doing that thing. There may be a million more steps after the first one, but if you never put your foot out, you’ll never move forward.
Nicely said, Eric. I think that is an excellent point about realistic estimations of possibility vs. denial based on fear.
And yes, if you deny any possibility of a thing happening, it’s MUCH less likely to happen than if you at least try.
I totally believe that finding a way to live abroad for awhile is how the world works. I spent a semester in Vienna and so did my daughter when she got to be the same age.
I believe if I had studied abroad instead of merely *lived* abroad, I might have gotten a slightly different response. But yes, there are many of us who are proof positive that there are lots of different choices in life.
I believe this agent wants my book really badly! (she says, in the middle of the night, only somewhat freaked out, typing poorly due to crossed fingers)
I don’t know if that counts as an impossible thing before breakfast, Erin, since it seems to me to be quite likely!
Well said!
(And I am inexpressibly jealous, since the U.K. is also on my list and I am still working out how to get there. I will make it happen, though!)
I have every faith that you can travel there someday!
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