In 2016, I quit a six-figure job as a senior legal counsel at one of Brazil’s largest banks and moved to Melbourne to start over.
I had never been to Australia.
I landed with two suitcases and no real plan.
Only the certainty that staying would cost me more than leaving.
At the time, I was six months into my first marriage after five years together.
I had no idea what would happen next.
But somewhere deep down I knew I had to choose differently.
For most of my life, I had been saying the right things, doing the right things, becoming the person others approved of.
From the outside it looked like success.
From the inside it felt more like a well-decorated cage.
So I began living differently.
Two years later my marriage ended.
It was painful, but it clarified something important.
Life becomes lighter when you stop trying to perform it.
In 2018, I met someone.
She showed me what love could look like.
She reminded me that being fully yourself is not only possible — it is necessary.
In 2023 she died.
The memories remain.
The unusual path does not promise safety.
In my case, it led me to the love that changed everything.