I spent years building a career specifically so that one day, Australia would be possible. Not as a tourist. As a professional with a story worth telling there. Nobody told me how lonely that plan would be.
I have always considered Australia the South Europe of the world. :) The weather is spectacular, the people are warm, the food scene is genuinely world-class, and life just feels a bit more relaxed. Close your eyes on a perfect Sydney evening — fish and chips in hand, the harbour catching the last of the light — and you feel you are just in the best place on earth. I knew early on that I wanted Australia to be part of my story. Not as a holiday. Not as a gap year adventure. I wanted it to be part of my professional story — a chapter I had earned, not stumbled into. Which meant I could not just go. I had to build the kind of career that would open the door first.
"For years, I made decisions with Australia quietly in mind. Every role, every decision, every skill I added — part of me was asking: does this get me closer? Does this make me the kind of professional they cannot say no to?"
The Dream Nobody Took Seriously But Me
I will be honest about something that does not make it into most career narratives: I spent a long time carrying this plan completely alone. When I talked about it — really talked about it, not just dropped it casually into conversation — the response was almost always some version of the same thing.
That is not really possible. The distance is too great. The visa system is too complicated. You have a good career here, why would you risk it? There are easier paths.
And there were days — many of them — when the dream felt genuinely far away. When the pathway was unclear and the people I trusted most were gently, kindly, telling me to be realistic. Those days were hard in a way that is difficult to explain to someone who has not lived inside a plan that nobody else can see the point of.
I kept going anyway. Not with bravado. With the quiet, stubborn certainty that the path existed even when I could not see it clearly. That if I kept building — kept adding to the career, kept moving, kept making myself undeniable — the door would eventually open.
It did. But nobody handed me a framework. I built the path myself. And met the most amazing people on the way who actually opened this door for me. I will share that part of the story as well soon.
A Dream That Has a Name Now
Even though I have moved back to Hungary, I don't think I ever completely left Australia behind. There is a part of my heart that is still there — in the friendships I made, the places that became familiar, the feeling of possibility I found there. And another part of me is here in Europe, surrounded by the people, places and history that have always been part of who I am. Sometimes it feels like my heart has been pulled into two parts.
And perhaps that is one of the less talked-about realities of building a life across countries: you can be genuinely happy to be home and still miss another home at the same time. I have learned that you don't always have to choose which part of you gets to exist. But carrying two places in your heart can be lonely. The hardest part of pursuing a dream is not always the distance, the logistics, or the uncertainty. Sometimes it is simply feeling like you are the only person who understands why it matters so much to you.
That is why I have become so drawn to the stories of other women. Because somewhere in another woman's story, there is often something that makes you feel a little less alone. A decision you recognise. A fear you have felt yourself. A path you had never considered. Or simply the reminder that there is more than one way to build a life. I think we need more of that.
More women sharing what actually happened behind the polished career stories. More honesty about the choices, the doubts, the detours and the unexpected people who helped along the way. Not because we need to follow each other's paths. But because sometimes, hearing another woman say "I did it this way" gives us the courage to ask: "What if I did it my way?" That is one of the reasons I created Where She Leads. I want to collect stories of women who have taken different paths, made bold choices, started again, crossed borders, changed direction, and built lives that made sense to them.
And maybe, somewhere along the way, we can encourage each other to keep going. If you have been carrying a plan that nobody else believes in yet — I write for you. Subscribe to the Where She Leads newsletter at wheresheleads.me and let's keep going together.
