No-Anxiety Stories. Chapter 33: Stability in Motion
Lucky appears on my screen with a soft patience from Lisbon. Her voice carries both warmth and caution - like someone who’s learned that hope must coexist with vigilance.
“I’ve moved so many times I can’t count anymore. But every place is just another layer of me - never the whole story.”
Movement That Magnifies Everything
Lucky has lived across Europe - Brussels, the Netherlands, Lisbon. Each move felt necessary but never entirely safe. Not panic exactly, but pressure. Not fear, but frailty.
From Seeking Ground to Circling Back:
1 - New city ≠ new identity
2 - Creative ambition ≠ economic stability
3 - A fresh start ≠ a clean slate
4 - Different culture → same nervous system
🌀 Reflect
Does changing your surroundings soothe you, or just distract you? Where could relocation be masking deeper exhaustion?
Health Before Haste
She doesn’t call herself fragile, but her body says otherwise. A violent incident with a housemate left her nervous system in collapse. Even a sunny afternoon out could trigger days of illness.
Exhaustion she never asked for:
1 - Adapting to systems she didn’t design
2 - Explaining her story again and again
3 - Living without nearby family to lean on
4 - Wondering if stability is possible without sacrifice
“If your health fails, everything else feels optional.”
When Moving Becomes a Habit
Lucky doesn’t romanticize the constant relocation. Sometimes it’s strategy. Sometimes it’s escape.
How she reframes her uncertainty:
Language barriers? → “Speaking is protection. I need to feel safe.”
Losing a job? → “I can always start over—again.”
Creative life interrupted? → “I’ll build it back. Slowly.”
🌀 Reflect
What have you been calling ‘adventure’ that might be avoidance? What could you face if you paused the movement?
Stability ≠ Stagnation
Lucky is clear: her health comes first. No project or city is worth more than her nervous system. But she still dreams of a life beyond survival.
“My ideal? To have my creative life and my health in the same place.”
Why she doesn’t envy the ‘settled’:
Settling doesn’t mean thriving
Familiarity doesn’t always equal peace
Even staying put requires daily courage
Anxiety as Companion, Not Commander
She’s learned to audit her own impulses. To ask herself: Is this relocation a solution—or just a reflex?
Her approach:
Audit → “What am I running from?”
Act → “What can I do to care for my health now?”
Accept → “I can’t undo what happened.”
Adjust → “I’ll try again, differently.”
“Every move I’ve made taught me something. But it also cost something.”
What Actually Helps Her Heal
Not affirmations. Not denial.
Real community: Friends who don’t require her to explain herself
Real care: Medication for her nervous system, rest when needed
Real plans: Returning to the Netherlands, volunteering, creating again
🌀 Reflect
What support system would make you feel less alone with your choices? Who could help carry the weight of constant adaptation?
No-Anxiety in Her Own Words
Lucky doesn’t wait for perfect conditions. She builds partial shelters and repairs them as she goes.
Her practices:
Recognizing: “Every city gave me something I couldn’t find elsewhere.”
Refusing guilt: “I don’t have to justify what I need.”
Reframing: “Moving isn’t failure. It’s a form of searching.”
What Lucky Wants Now
To stabilize her health - before anything else.
To rediscover her creative voice without crisis.
To trust that the right place will feel like enough.
“Sometimes, even rest feels like work. But that’s the work I need most.”
💡 What You Might Take from Lucky’s Story
Rest isn’t optional when your body is asking for it.
Constant movement can become a hiding place.
Creativity doesn’t thrive in fear.
Stability doesn’t require perfection - just safety and space to heal.
Thanks for reading.
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