No One Talks About This Part Of Moving Abroad

#movingtoitaly #sicilylife #expatlife #livingabroad #italycitizenship #lifechange #midlifetransformation #intentionalliving #slowliving #americansinitaly #movingabroad #expatjourney #italylife #sicily There’s a side of this journey we honestly weren’t prepared for. When we started planning a future in Sicily, we thought the hardest parts would be logistics, paperwork, and figuring out how to move abroad. But what’s surprised us most has been the emotional weight of living in between two lives for an uncertain amount of time. In this episode, we’re opening up about the parts of this process people don’t really talk about: the uncertainty of waiting years for answers the emotional cost of maintaining two lives the guilt of leaving our dogs behind every time we travel worrying about a home sitting empty in Sicily and the unexpected reactions from some of the people closest to us We’re not sharing this for sympathy or drama. We just want to be honest about what this process actually feels like in real life — because pursuing a different life can sometimes change relationships, routines, and even how you see yourself. This journey is still something we believe in deeply… but we’re learning it’s much harder emotionally than we expected. Next week, we'll take a look at how we're trying to live Italy in South Philly. Chapters 0:00 Introduction 1:08 Our Expectations & Uncertainty 2:15 Double Life 5:11 The Dogs 6:09 House Maintenance 8:12 Unexpected Reactions 13:09 Closing & Next Week's Preview 🧭 About Our Journey We’re building a life in Sicily… before we even know if we’ll be able to live there. We’re Julie and Chris, a married couple from Philadelphia documenting our real-time journey of moving to Italy, buying a house in Sicily, and navigating Italian citizenship by descent. After learning Julie carries an Alzheimer’s-related gene, we stopped waiting for “someday” and started making changes now. The challenge? Chris’s Italian citizenship isn’t guaranteed—and we may not have answers until 2027. So for now, we’re living in between—letting go of our life in the U.S., learning Italian, spending time in Sicily, and figuring out how to move forward without certainty. We’re sharing everything as it unfolds—the decisions, the doubts, and what it actually takes to start over. ❤️ If This Resonates For You... If you’re dreaming about: • Moving to Italy or living in Sicily • Italian citizenship by descent • Slowing down and living more intentionally • Starting over in midlife Subscribe and follow along—we’re figuring this out in real time. ☕ Support Our Journey (No Pressure!) If you’d like to support what we’re building, you can do that here: 👉 https://ko-fi.com/shifting2sicily We are so grateful for your support but, honestly, you just being here means a lot to us. 🌍 Stay Connected Instagram:   / shifting2sicily   Facebook:   / shifting2sicily   YouTube:    / @shifting2sicily