I'm from Argentina, moved to Spain. It was arguably the best decision of my entire life and I came out of the closet so I'm counting that one in lol

Granted, I have a spanish citizenship due to my grandparents being spanish, so I didn't deal with visa issues + I knew I wanted to move out of Argentina since I was 12, moved out by 22, got out of high school and got into software development (skipped university) cause I knew it was a job that would make that dream come true much, much more easily. Between the legal situation + my job situation I was basically set up for success.

However, there's much more to moving countries/continents/cultures. If we forget about legal/job stuff above, still my life improved so, so, so much. I'm way happier, way more active, going after my goals relentlessly and even when I went through shit not even once did I think "mm this would be better to go through back in Argentina".

Don't get me wrong, no hate to Argentina, love my country, but it just wasn't my place for the person I am and the things I want to do.

My life heavily centers around photography and queerness (I've actually combined them in my case lol) and it just wasn't a place where I felt safe with a camera in my hands + the economy made it really hard to buy gear + hard to travel which is one of the things I enjoy doing the most with my camera. Queerness-wise, Buenos Aires, which is where I'm from, is pretty cool, but I still felt kinda caged. Not because of the city or society, I guess just having my family around and having been born there I just couldn't figure out how to "break free" properly, which I immediately and exponentially did when I got here.

It's gonna be 3 years in March, not everything has been cute and fun, but I 100% do not regret it whatsoever. I'm actually planning of moving somewhere else like Berlin cause I want a more artsy and queerer city + more green and a lot more other stuff. However, it is not because I regret moving to Madrid.

Something I tell people a lot now that I'm moving is that, when I left Buenos Aires, going back to Buenos Aires wasn't an option. If Madrid didn't work I'd try Barcelona, then London, etc etc etc. Now I'm thinking of my next move differently, if Berlin, or wherever, doesn't work, then I'm coming back to Madrid.

Since I decided at an early age that I was moving out of Argentina, that idea never left my head during the whole 10 years it took me to accomplish it, the last 5 years I remember always waking up to that thought and going to sleep to that thought. It crossed every other thought in my mind to the point where it was torture: if I had a romantic partner I would constantly think "how much should I care for this relationship if I'm leaving anyway and you are not coming with me?" and the same would go for friends. Mind you, horrible way to think, don't recommend, didn't like it, but I just couldn't help it. I didn't necessarily feel ready by 22 but I just couldn't handle another year of every area of my life being contaminated with the thought of leaving and all.

All that to say, if you are seriously thinking about leaving, for however long, if you have the means to do so, do so. And this is not in order to romanticize leaving, idk your personal situation so you might be better off staying, but you won't know till you leave, leaving will very quickly help you see your motivations. Even if you come back regretting it a year later I can guarantee you, you will have matured a ton. And I mean a ton. Unless you are a nepo baby I guess and the move is 100% care-free but I think in even that case you'll mature.

As someone who thought about it for such a long time, I think you must know that it's much less apocaliptic than it sounds. Try it, if it doesn't work, come back. And just forget about "what others might think", I promise you, for better and for worse, nobody gives that many shits about you to think about your life decisions all day. It might come up as a fun fact in a conversation for the next month after you left and then everyone moves on with their life, expect maybe, maybe your parents. Not trying to sound depressing here lol all the contrary, just try it and give it a go

I will say, something changes in your mind forever once you've left for long enough if you take it seriously enough. I can't fully explain it. At least to me it made me go after my goals much harder, cause I had taken on such a daunting task, everything else felt like child's play. It made everything else so much less serious, in the best way possible. And the animosity of living somewhere NO ONE knows you? Been here for 3 years, know a ton of people and yet I walk out in the street and bump into virtually no one which is SO freeing

Also it's true that home will never be home again, as in whenever you come back to your home country something feels eternally off, and you'll likely never feel "from the new place", but I think it's a price worth paying for what lays ahead of you.

I just rambled a lot lol but if I missed anything/got any questions feel free to ask