Introduction

Why am I doing this? Maybe because I’m about to leave the only country I’ve ever lived in for 40 years to embark upon a new adventure on the other side of the world. Maybe it’s for connection, or to feel not so alone in a new land where the only person I know is my partner who is coming with me, and a friend who lives there that I met a couple of years ago. Maybe it’s because I have always loved creative writing and wanted to do this. Regardless, here we are.

I spent the first 32 years of my life in Nashville, TN (USA). My first big move from home was to Seattle for graduate school in 2013. From there, my internship led me to Tulsa, OK where I have spent the last four years. In about a month, my partner and I will move to Christchurch, New Zealand.

I am a clinical psychologist who visited the south island of NZ in 2019. I am an avid outdoors person, and it was the top destination on my places to visit. I went by myself, meeting an REI adventures group upon arrival. It was my graduation gift to myself for FINALLY finishing school.

While there, I fell in love. The jaw dropping beauty of the outdoors, the fact that I could fill up my water bottle straight from a stream, the priority paid to environmental sustainability, and it seemed like their value system was more focused towards human welfare than profit. When I heard they were recruiting psychologists, I filled out the application for the recruitment agency while sitting on top of a mountain in Queenstown. It’s taken a couple of years, but I am finally moving over.

In an effort to not make this first entry too long, I will share my goals for this blog. I plan to pause and write about all different kinds of things. I may share snippets from how the relocation process is going, catch ups for friends and family, stories from my past that seem pertinent to today, random subjects or topics that happen to be on my mind and really anything in between.

My hope is that we can even have a dialogue where readers can ask questions or make comments. Ultimately, I want to take readers along the journey so far. It feels so surreal to me that my life has even gone in this direction. Ten years ago, if you would have told me I would get my doctorate in psychology and move to New Zealand, I would have laughed at you. Obviously, a lot can happen in ten years. I am so excited to see where things continue to go. I look forward to sharing it with you, and hope you find some pleasure in accompanying me.

Until next time.