What is really drawing you to Italy?
A note from Alexis, before you choose.
When I moved to Italy, I told everyone I came for the food and the light. That was true. It was also not the real reason, and it took me almost a year to figure out what the real reason was.
I wish someone had made me write it down first.
Here’s what I’ve learned since. Wanting something in a vague way and wanting it in a concrete way are two completely different states — and the only thing that moves you from one to the other is putting it into words. “I want Italy for the beauty” is a feeling. It’s real, but it’s soft, and soft reasons don’t survive the hard parts. The day you write down what beauty, and why it’s you who wants it, the whole thing gets edges. And a reason with edges is one you can build a life around. A reason without them stays a someday.
That’s the whole idea behind this app.
Italy isn’t a someday. It’s a plan.
Writing this down is the first real step of turning one into the other. Not the visa, not the flights. This.
And sometimes you sit down to write and find out you didn’t want what you thought. You meant to write about the beauty and you realize you’re actually trying to get out from under your ordinary life. That’s not a bad thing to find. It’s the most useful thing you can find, and far better to learn it now, at a keyboard, than a year in.
So pick whichever reason feels closest below — and then write to yourself about it. A few sentences or a few pages, however much comes. Or skip it and come back later. No pressure either way.
I just wish I’d done it before I got on the plane.
— Alexis
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