Our Journey to Brighton (Part 1)

I've been meaning to share our story of relocating to Brighton for nearly two years now, but the timing never quite felt right. It wasn’t an easy ride for anyone in our family and usually I don’t discuss challenges while I’m still in the thick of them - I prefer to process them quietly, without opening myself up to others' opinions.

But now, I'm ready to share our journey and deeply personal experience with you, now that we've found our way through. I broke down our story into 4 newsletters because who has the time to read so much at once???

If you didn’t know, in June 2022 we moved from Hertfordshire down to the seaside.  

Why the move? What was wrong with our previous life? 

Well, nothing, actually. 

And yet, everything. 

"Nothing" because, on the surface, our life was perfectly fine. We were content. 

But "everything" because, deep down, something was missing. We didn’t feel rooted in our town or Hertfordshire, nor did we feel connected to any of the other potential places we could have settled.

If you’ve never been, Hertfordshire is a stunning countryside that we really liked. However, we found ourselves drawn to spending weekends either in London or by the coast. It became clear that while Hertfordshire had a lot to offer  - such as its proximity to my husband’s workplace, good schools, family-friendly activities - we wanted something else. 

We often felt like the odd one out, unable to fully enjoy the environment that others spoke so highly of. It was difficult for me to admit that I wasn't really happy in Hertfordshire because I couldn't justify it with any specific reasons – it was simply a feeling. I felt almost ashamed not to find happiness in a place that most people around me enjoyed so much. It took us some time and courage to acknowledge and accept our differences.  

However, moving to Brighton had never been part of our plan; we never seriously talked about that option because it seemed so impossible.  

And we tend not to take seemingly impossible things seriously, do we? Our plans are based on logic and predictability, aren't they? 

Only until 2.5 years ago. 

It was a hot Bank Holiday Monday, 30th August 2021. We were visiting our friends in Brighton and we wanted to go to the beach. As you can imagine, Brighton centre was full so we decided to go a bit further, to an unfamiliar place called Rottingdean. After we parked at the small Tesco, we walked down to the beach. 

As we arrived and looked around, a breeze swept over us, making us feel something bigger, something mystical even in the air. Everything stopped for a brief moment and the only thing we could hear was silence. As if the air has talked to us, as it has invited us to our future.

We didn’t know what it was but we didn’t need to - we felt it. We felt the truth.

The next chapter of our life has started in that stillness.  

A chapter that would test our resilience in the following two years...

Viki xxx