Being an American transplant in Europe-- Italy, specifically-- has had it's perks. Namely, very positive effects on my anxiety and stress levels. I have a few theories as to why this is happening.
First of all, the pace of life here is much slower. Most people take the afternoon off to go home and have lunch with family, shops close for the afternoon, and kids even go home from school for 1.5-3 hours for lunch. I teach adults English, and no one is ever in class on time-- they trickle in anywhere from 2-30 minutes late and it's fine. In America, I was a stickler for being places on time and would have anxiety attacks if it looked like I was going to be late for work, a meeting, even a get together with friends. "Anxiety attacks" differ for everyone, but for me, it meant breaking out in a sweat, heart racing, and shaking. I wouldn't have full blown panic attacks over tardiness (though I'm no stranger to those, either), but the anxiety attacks were enough to shake me up at any time of day. Here though, if it looks like I might be late for work, there's no flare of panic in my chest, there's no sweating, there's no self deprecating thoughts of you're so dumb, you should have left the house earlier. I just feel calm and I know everything will be fine, and it always is.
Also, I don't own a car or drive here, and I think (at least for me) fighting through traffic and dealing with "bad drivers" is a huge stressor. Of course, relying on public transit is another form of stress in itself, but it's more passive; it's out of your control if the bus is late, and you can't drive the bus yourself to speed to your destination, so you can sit back and watch the countryside roll by or listen to soothing/calming music until you reach your stop. This mode of transportation has me thinking back to when I would take the PATCO train from Philadelphia into rural New Jersey every day to get to work, reducing my time driving from 45-50 minutes to about 5-10 minutes. Of all my commutes in America, this commute was the one that made me happiest and caused the least stress, so it's no wonder I'm enjoying the public transit in Parma, Italy.
This all brings me to the universal stressor: Money. In America, I was always micromanaging my money and spending, trying my hardest to pay off my student loans by 30, and stressing over buying lunch out instead of packing a lunch at work... and this was all while having a job that paid me enough to live fairly comfortably. Here, I spent almost 4 months without working, and almost 5 months without any income-- my first paycheck since May will come in about 2 weeks. And I've never cared less about money in my life! I'm living simply, buying things that I need, but also allowing myself to get a sandwich out and about if I'm hungry and don't have time to go home between classes.
I feel a peace here that I don't remember feeling in America. I feel calm and reassured that everything will be fine, which is a much needed change that I didn't even know I needed before experiencing it for myself.
Until next time, baci e abbracci.