Six Examples of Personal Empowerment from being a Native Spainer

I wrote my  diary for nearly two years on NativeSpain and felt that it had a natural time of finishing at the End of the second year. Part of my thinking or more accurately emotional response was – how do I know if this is worthwhile – does anyone read this? A bit sad that there aren't any statistics and rarely and then only the ed. ever left a comment.

So I have been very pleased that several things have happened to reinforce a positive feeling about the energy I put into it and leading on to try new things .

Firstly several people have written to ask why did I stop for instance, saying they had enjoyed keeping up with our progress in our new lives.

Secondly much to my surprise I have had two sets of strangers ask to be put in contact with me as they had found the diary on the internet when surfiing for information on living around this area. In itself this has already brought about some social and information exchanges.

Thirdly in doing some research for famous and infamous Spanish people I met a lot of local spaniards who were delighted in my interest in their views and the history of Spain. This has vastly increased my personal social network.

Fourthly other nativespainers have contacted me which has led to my involvement in other projects – for instance, the expat arts book in the planning.

Fifthly I contributed to writing a book called “Going Native in Alicante” drawing on my experiences of living in and scouring Alicante Province for a long term home

Sixth, I have been pushed out of my comfort zone and learnt new skills and felt encouraged to try even bigger longer term ventures such as the “Vistas from Afar – an EU Garden Blog.” ( www.suevista.blogspot.com ).

and it helps me remember the motto – lose it if you dont use it.