I left my job and I took a sabbatical year in Italy. I have no regrets.

I enter a new decade of my life at 30 and I decided to make an inventory of my life.

Fortunately, I lived in San Francisco with a wonderful group of friends. I had a controlled rent apartment and I saved enough money for a house on a house.

After a while, however, I felt like something was missing. I needed a place that would promote my creativity and give me a new perspective.

So, at 30, I left my job and I took this money to set up in Italy for a year. During this year in Florence, I learned more about myself and my self-esteem that I had learned in all my life to this point.

My friends and family did not understand but I knew that taking a sabbatical year at 30

The reality was that I was single and that I had an unexplained will to express myself more before committing to a person or a place.

More of my friends got married and had children, but I was not ready for that. Part of me was afraid to move to a new country, knowing that it would only relate to them, but I finally chose to do what was best for me.

My parents, who had taken the classic trajectory of marriage, children and the purchase of a house, certainly did not understand. Some friends have shared their concerns about what I would keep.

For me, however, I saved nearly $ 40,000 and I had the right to choose how to use it. I hope that my story highlights the idea that taking a sabbatical year at 30 should not be frowned upon and does not have to be scary.

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How I found my community in Florence

I did not know anyone in Italy at the time, but I found an apartment in Florence and a side writing music to keep myself structured and afloat (I even managed to recover part of my savings when I got home).

When I arrived for the first time, I was very ambitious. I visited seven countries in the first six weeks. Although I do not change these experiences, I realize now that I quickly exhausted myself.

I was so focused on counting this time and checking the places on my list of buckets that I forgot to enjoy the luxury of calling Italy my house. I needed to slow down.

I joined Facebook groups for Nomads in Florence. To a happy hour for the girls who have become international, I met what would soon be my five close friends. They were all like me: single, 30 years old, and abandon a stable life to live something bigger in the world.

It was so good to be with people sharing the same ideas. This also helped me find comfort at the time when I questioned the decisions that brought me to Florence.

With a community in place, I started to slow down my trips and dive into Italian culture. I joined a creative writing program where I met writers with endless ideas. It helped stimulate my self-confidence in my own writing, and through it, I was able to reinvent myself in a better and more balanced version of myself.

I also started to take Italian lessons with a private tutor, and before I know, I was able to hold mine when ordering in a restaurant or to converse with Italians in a bar. I created the language and walked in the streets of Florence without a card.

Finally, I started to see myself as part of the world, instead of someone who looks at him. The Italian sentence, “Ricominciare da Zero” (which means “starting from the start”) has become my motto.

I found the new perspective that I was looking for

I returned to the United States in October, but instead of returning to what I knew in San Francisco, I made another leap into the unknown and I moved to New York.

I never felt ready for New York before. In Italy, however, I had gained confidence, which made me feel intrepid to go to the next step in my creative efforts.

Living in a city focused on artists like Florence and meeting a community of writers who have both supported and inspired my work changed the game for me.

Since my return to the United States and living in New York, I have written and published my first poetry book and I support myself as a successful independent writer. If I hadn’t moved to Italy, I might not have become this version of myself.

The experience was invaluable and I continue to stay in touch with the friends I made in Florence. With hindsight, I would spend money again in the same way. In fact, I am now saving to buy a Toscan villa to organize creative writing workshops in Italy.