This episode is a personal life update about choosing to move to France after decades of feeling quietly called there. Sara reflects on how early longings, unhealed grief, and deep inner work shaped this decision. The conversation explores what it means to trust an inner compass, even when a dream takes many years to unfold. It is for listeners who sense a persistent calling and are navigating how to honor it.
In this episode, we explore:
- How a childhood connection to France became a lifelong thread
- The impact of deferred dreams and ungrieved decisions
- The role of Internal Family Systems (IFS) in healing younger parts
- How major life transitions can reopen long-held longings
- What it means to follow inner guidance later in life
Key takeaways
- Longstanding dreams often carry important information about identity and belonging
- Decisions made for survival or practicality can leave parts of us unintegrated
- Inner work can reconnect us with younger selves and unfinished desires
- It is possible to honor old dreams later in life without regret or urgency
- Following inner guidance often requires patience, honesty, and trust
Resources mentioned
- Free Guide: 7 Hidden Ways Your Unresolved Wounds Are Sabotaging Your Business
Episode FAQs
What does Sara mean by following her inner compass?
In this episode, the inner compass refers to a persistent, quiet sense of direction that remains present over time. It is described as something felt in the body and heart rather than decided purely through logic.
How does IFS play a role in this decision?
Internal Family Systems work helped Sara reconnect with a younger part of herself that held grief and regret around not studying abroad in France. That reconnection became an important part of integrating the decision to move later in life.
Is this episode about moving abroad or something broader?
While the move to France is central, the episode is ultimately about listening to long-held longings and honoring parts of the self that may have been set aside for practical reasons.
Who might resonate most with this conversation?
This episode may be especially meaningful for people in midlife transitions, those doing deep inner work, or anyone feeling called toward a dream they once thought was no longer possible.
Does the episode offer a specific framework to follow?
Rather than a step-by-step process, the episode offers reflection on timing, healing, and discernment, emphasizing trust and integration over certainty.
Read the Full Transcript
Today I want to share something very personal. It’s a life update that has been decades in the making and a story about following your inner compass, even when the path takes much longer than you ever imagined.
This story begins back in sixth grade, when I had to choose a foreign language in school. The options were French or Spanish, and long before I had to decide, I already knew I wanted to study French. I can’t explain where that pull came from. I had never been to France and didn’t know anyone who spoke French, but something about the language and culture felt like a recognition.
In French class, we chose French names, and I chose Simon. During those classes, I felt more like myself. Later that year, I memorized and performed a French poem and won both the school and state competitions. I continued studying French through high school, including AP French.
In high school, my boyfriend had studied abroad in Paris and encouraged me to apply for the same program. I applied, was accepted, and initially felt thrilled. But at the time, my parents were in the middle of a painful divorce, and I was deeply rooted in my boarding school community. Leaving the country during my senior year felt overwhelming, so I declined the opportunity.
While I understood that decision, part of me carried regret. It became one of those moments that stayed with me, a quiet “what if” that resurfaced over the years.
Fast forward to the early months of the pandemic. I was living alone, the world was paused, and I had the space to go deeper into my IFS work. I began looking at areas of my life that still held emotional charge. One of those was my freshman year of college, which had been an extremely difficult time marked by isolation, disordered eating, and a sense of being lost.
During an IFS session, I revisited a moment from that year and was able to meet my younger self with compassion and presence. That younger part shared her regret about not going to Paris and her longing for a different path. For the first time, I fully felt the weight of that decision on her.
In the session, we asked where she wanted to go, and the answer was Paris. In my imagination, we went there together and allowed her to experience what she had missed. My mentor then asked if I would be willing to give her that experience later in life. I said yes without hesitation.
From that moment on, France reappeared again and again in my life. I spent time there after college, lived at an ashram in the south of France in my twenties, and traveled there with my partner years later. Each time, it felt like home.
When my partner and I began discussing our future more seriously, France resurfaced as a possibility. Initially, it didn’t seem practical, but as we explored other countries and visa options, France re-entered the picture. This time, the logistics aligned, and more importantly, it felt right in both of our bodies.
This decision also coincided with a deeper inner transition for me, connected to perimenopause and a period of soul excavation. It felt like a time to ask what is truly mine to do in this next season of life.
We are getting married in August, taking a honeymoon, and then moving to France in early September. We plan to begin in Bordeaux and commit to at least a year, remaining open to what unfolds.
As I prepare for this move, I often think of that younger version of myself who felt lost and disconnected from her dreams. I want her to know that those dreams were never gone. They were waiting.
This journey has taught me that it’s never too late to honor a deep longing. Sometimes our soul’s callings take decades to unfold, and that doesn’t make them any less real. I share this as a gentle invitation to listen to what still whispers within you and to trust that your inner compass knows the way.
