Seven years…

Yesterday, on 7th September, I celebrated a little anniversary. Exactly seven years ago I came to Iceland. A 27-year old, burned-out psychologist who didn’t want to be a psychologist anymore. All my belongings squeezed into a big, red suitcase. The official plan was to stay for one year – that was the duration of my EVS project – but the moment I landed in Keflavik, the moment the plane’s wheels touched the ground I knew I would stay for much, much longer. Because I felt like home.

Seven years! I can barely remember who I was “before Iceland” as I call that time of my life. So much has happened during these years! I have changed so much, grown so much, learned so much.

At first I wanted to do some kind of summary, but I don’t even know where to start, so just let me do a loose bullet list instead.
During these seven years in Iceland…

✨ I got married and divorced
✨ I learned – a bit – this “language from hell”, as I sometimes call Icelandic ?
✨ I changed houses 6 times, always coming back to Mosfellsbær – I just like it here so much ?
✨ I hand-knitted four lopapeysur (Icelandic woolen sweaters)
✨ I started to drive a car again, after a 10-year break
✨ I travelled the ring road full circle three times, drove thorough Sprengisandur (still one of the most epic car trips I ever did), walked the Laugavegur trail, visited the Westfjords couple of times and my beloved Snæfellsnes more than I can count
✨ I learned lomi lomi, did 10 trainings with five different teachers in four countries, became a practitioner and eventually, a teacher of this massage
✨ I massaged hundreds of people and trained over 20 new practitioners
✨ I started to play the violin (only recently, to my greatest joy!)
✨ I went for Björk’s concert!
✨ I tried – and enjoyed – winter swimming in the ocean
✨ I made friends for life
✨ I tried real ceremonial cacao and now I serve it to people
✨ I saw an erupting volcano!
✨ I had a major health breakdown and took long time to heal
✨ I tried Icelandic rotten shark (yes I did)
✨ I started a podcast
✨ I grew to actually like lakkrís (liquorice)

… and I experienced about ten thousand other things ? Oh, have I lived for all these years! I had many great moments, but also made a ton of bad decisions, mistakes, things to regret. But that’s okay, that is normal, that is HUMAN. And between the great moments and the horrible moments, I learned to really like and appreciate the ordinary magic of daily life.

I want you to be a part of my little celebration. You are, after all, a part of my journey! Maybe you are my regular massage Client. Maybe I massaged you just once. Maybe you are my lomi lomi student. Or maybe we actually never met in person, but you know me from the Internet. Whatever it is – thank you for you. Genuinely and from the bottom of my heart, thank you for being a part of this big, big picture, the tapestry of my life.

I don’t know what next years will bring. I don’t know if I’ll stay in Iceland for another seven years or not. I don’t know if I will be massaging and teaching lomi for the next seven years or not. But I know one thing: I want to live my life, truly live it! I want to touch the world and let the world touch me. I want to embody more love, more integrity, more truth, more ease and freedom. And be more and more ME every day.

Wish me that ?

With love and sun,
Magdalena

PS. I am sharing with you a photo of younger Magdalena from 7 years ago, standing next to Álafoss waterfall in Mosó ? Oh, how I am grateful for her courage to leave everything behind and move to another country!

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *