“I needed to sacrifice a lot to achieve my dreams”

I have not had a good relationship with my family but we always treat each other with respect. Ever since I was a little child, my mother has worked a lot in the hospital because she was a nurse and dad worked on a job where he had to commute a lot from my small hometown Alinsås to Sweden’s capital Stockholm. This means that me and my sister only lived with our mom on the weekdays. Mom worked a lot so we were pretty much alone if we ignore the time of the day when the cleaning ladies were home. But on the weekend a lot changes, then dad comes home with a big smile on his lips and a present for me in his right hand and one to my sister in his left. It was always like that, mine was on the right side and hers was on the left. The lack of dad I think made our relationship stronger as we spent a lot of time with each other when we met. 

But everything changed when I moved from home when I was only 16 years old.  I chose to start at a boarding school with a focus on hotel & tourism to meet my dreams. My biggest wish since I was 10 years old has been that one day I want to own my own hotel, which has now become a reality. But I have had to sacrifice a lot to achieve my dreams. Moving away from home as young as I was , was a big change from me but it was still quite nice. 

I did not tell my mom that I had applied to a boarding school so there was only one month left until it was time for me to move out when I told her. I was afraid to hurt her, afraid to lose my contact I had with her. We didn't have much in common and we did not have such a deep relationship but I could always tell her everything without it feeling strange.

After I graduated from the boarding school in Härjedalen, I chose to work for a few years in the restaurant industry, or rather during the winter I worked in the mountains and in the summer I worked on the west coast. But after that I moved to Stockholm and here I am still today…..

I basically lost all contact with my family during my years in Härjedalen, I think that I was home only five times during the three years. I chose to prioritize my career higher the highest, family and friends come second. It helped me achieve my dreams but as I said I needed to superficie a lot. When I went out of school and started working I almost never spoke to the family. But everything resolved itself with time. Now I have a really good relationship with my whole family, which is important to me. Since I am careful that my three children will grow up with their grandmother and grandfather just as I got. It is actually my absolutely foundest and brightest memory from my childhood, to be able to spend the summers at our mansion with my grandmother and grandfather. 

Filippa J 9a