Back in my current hometown after a short holiday break back to Italy, I’m reflecting on how things and people (including myself) have changed.
It’s great to see family and ‘old’ friends, but I can’t help but feel a divide between my ‘way of living’ and the experiences of those I meet back home.
In part it’s due to the ’less conventional life’ I lead - meaning, being single at 50 and with no family of my own - which gives me more time to spend on entertainment/cultural things, including online. I feel this situation is, at the same time, both a cause and a consequence of the decision to ’expatriate’ twelve years ago.
People with children have different priorities in life, and more important things to do, coming from the huge responsibility of raising responsible, healthy, well-rounded people.
This also means that I pay more attention to some societal themes that don’t seem to touch them at all.
Everybody lives in their bubble, but I’m surprised to realise how much what was originally a single bubble has split into many different ones.