Migration

What does migration mean to you?

As humans, as we grow, we make decisions that mark a before and after in our lives. Decisions that, when we look back on them, make us wonder if, at the moment we made them, we were truly aware of the impact they would have on our lives. Sometimes, our expectations are high: we dream of a future that does not yet exist; other times, we let life teach us, gently or forcefully, where these decisions might lead us.

The truth is that, when a decision is planned, thought through, and organized, we often reap rewards. Because even when things do not turn out as we expect, we always gain something: experience, learning, and growth.

And one of the most profound decisions a human being can make is to migrate: to leave home, city, region, or country.

Here arises a question that often accompanies us, quiet and persistent: what does migration truly mean to me? Not what others say, nor the universal meanings that have been given to this word, nor even what we might wish it were. What matters, what truly defines us, is what each of us feels and understands from within. That personal definition is what sustains us, what drives us to continue building our lives, stone by stone, step by step.

Personally, I have asked myself this question many times, and many others—coworkers, acquaintances, or family members—have asked me as well. At the time, perhaps I did not know how to answer. But today, after pausing, taking a breath, and looking inward, I can say what migration means to me.

To migrate means to leave a warm and comfortable place, a space I knew, a space I felt was mine. It means leaving behind flavors that were born with me, landscapes my eyes have recognized for as long as I can remember, friends who shared laughter and secrets since school, streets we walked every day on the way to school, university, or work. It means condensing our life story into a suitcase: a suitcase that travels with our dreams, aspirations, desires… and also with our deepest fears, crossing oceans, lands, and continents.

To migrate is to leave the pool where we have always swum and face a vast, unknown, immense ocean, where no one imposes limits on us, but we discover them as we move. And in that ocean, we learn that we can go beyond what we once imagined.

Of course, this journey has different stages for each person, because every story is unique and irreplaceable. It is not about generalizing or replacing experiences: the way each of us navigates this change is our signature, our identity. The first step is always to recognize ourselves, accept ourselves, and understand what migration means to us personally.

You might wonder if this is important. And the answer is yes: it is vital. Because it allows us to know ourselves, to understand how we think, how we feel, and how we connect with our inner self. It helps us give meaning to what we do and to what we are yet to do.

When we understand this, we become stronger, more confident, better prepared to face the fears and obstacles that appear along the way. When frustration comes, we are ready to give ourselves a deep and sincere hug. We are ready to live with solitude, to converse with silence, to fall in love with cold winter afternoons. We are ready to travel alone, eat alone, dance alone, sing alone, walk alone… and discover that the most authentic company is ourselves.

The most beautiful part is that this process allows us to make a home of the place where we are today, without forgetting our roots and without betraying our past. Today we feel that we belong here, in this new land that saw us arrive from so far away, that welcomed us, and that transformed us.

And now I ask you this question, because it is your story too:

What does migration mean to you?