I’m here today to address this attention-seeking nonsense. And, in doing so, will say: “Adeus and send a postcard” to the não-sayers, but, more importantly, attempt to calm the nerves of the Portugal-curious who might benefit from an equally partial, yet I hope fairer, assessment of the Portuguese dream and their (maybe your) part in it.
By way of some background, and off on a characteristic tangent, I’ll share with you that it’s taken me about 50 years to begin to ‘regulate my nervous system’, a phrase now bandied around by therapists, especially those working with trauma that in other and everyday words means ‘truly relax’.
I thank Portugal, and my own long-held dream to come here, for giving me a conducive backdrop for that deepened ease and allowing me to ‘come to my senses’. A lifetime’s work for this Gen X’er who never felt quite right in the UK in my formative years.
Little did I know, however, a couple of decades ago, that my eventual life here would not be entirely free from the forces that prompted my migration. I came here to escape the worsening excesses of my native land, seeking a quieter life in the calmer culture I fell in love with here.
However, that creeping, petty pace of change that I found unpalatable in England is now lapping Portugal’s shores (as it seems to be everywhere) and, with it, new global threats and societal challenges that are spooking and spurring others into similar migratory action.
I’ll not dwell on those numerous and nagging hostilities now, but you’d need to be living under a rock, like one of those Monsanto marvels, to concur and also see that these next few years will be pivotal for all, regardless of location.
Back to YouTube though, and, for best results, may I suggest you cast your line (of Portuguese enquiry) or net (of justifiable concern) a little further out into the deeper and more vast waters of information and insight. It’s here where I like to think I swim with national commentators and global researchers who can provide a richer, more long-term picture of Portugal’s suitability and sustainability for you.
For a life-changing move of such scale and intensity, and in these particular and pressing times, you’ll need more than just a whinge about dog-poo on slippery calçadas that had an entitled-sounding expat announcing their departure like an airport tannoy, all the way to the airport, on a selfie stick.
My own deep-water research has me surfing great tides of geo-political polemics, turbulent swells pondering human transformation, and the squally breakers that agonise over Portugal’s politics, past and present.
And despite the consternation and confusion that can ensue, as I try to make sense of the situation, I’m still willing to ‘bet on red’ (and green, and that flash of yellow). Yes, Portugal is facing the harsh challenges of the post-Covid, Trump era with a peppering of populism, but what place in the world (that you can actually imagine living in, safely and securely) isn’t?
And whilst seeing the ‘compared-to-what?’ value of placing oneself here, it’s also in this country’s intrinsic perfect storm of past predicaments that I take comfort and feel more secure. A country that knows tangible oppression within living memory, and is delightfully cynical about its national and continental politics, is a good place to be; a country that is actively questioning its values and seeking to preserve its life-enhancing values is a good place to be; a country that hasn’t entirely sold its soul to materialism and still sees value in ordinary, family life is a good place to be.
Furthermore, it’s not Portugal’s job to make any of us happy, as some of the social media moaners I have already referred to seem to think. It’s your job to make you happy, in Portugal, or anywhere and everywhere, especially in this next phase of the human project.
Regardless of what comes our collective way, I urge you to remain clear about your own and most noble intentions. Improve also your ability to manage how you see and react to the results of your actions, and you will most likely enjoy an engaged, fulfilling and improving life.
This is not a time for victims. This is a time for the purposefully intentioned and brave, two notable qualities embodied and enshrined in the Portuguese DNA and culture, in which you might take inspiration and make a home.
Personally, I will continue to trust in this life-supporting culture that owes us nothing, but can give us so much to be thankful for, and thrive in.
