Setúbal, Portugal feels like home and I have never been there.
I have been thinking about leaving the United States since 2016. Not casually. Seriously. But I live on a modest fixed income, and I could not see how it was financially possible. So the thought stayed a thought. Something I filed away under “maybe someday” and tried not to think about too hard.
Then on April 5th of this year I sat down with Claude, Anthropic’s AI, and typed something like: “Where can someone on a modest income relocate abroad?”
Six days later I booked an apartment in Portugal. Eight days after that I secured my first night’s hotel room.
Claude did not make the decision for me. That is not what happened. What happened was more interesting.
A Thinking Partner
I had a thinking partner who could hold the entire picture at once — research and reflection at the same time. I would say what mattered to me: racial diversity, LGBTQ+ safety, affordable healthcare, a walkable city, a culture that builds taking care of yourself into the landscape, and Claude would help me think through what I actually meant, find the numbers, surface the options, and push back when something did not add up.
I have been teaching a framework for change for years. Get centered. Know your values. Move toward outcomes that align with them. I did all three in that conversation, in real time, with an AI as my thinking partner.
What Came Out Of It
Portugal. Specifically Setúbal, a coastal working city of 90,000 people on the Sado estuary, an hour south of Lisbon by train. A poet’s square at its heart. A fish market locals say is one of the best in the world. A pace of life that does not apologize for being human.
I’m Going To Find Out If I’m Right
On May 3rd I am going to find out if I am right. Not to decide. To validate. The decision is already made in the part of me that knows things before the mind catches up.
I know how that sounds. I also know that I have felt this before — with Judaism, with Baltimore, with the work I have been building for the past decade.
There is a quality to recognition that is different from analysis. The body settles. The noise quiets. Something that was restless stops moving.
I felt it the first time I looked at Setúbal on a map.
I will be writing along the way. If you have ever stood at the edge of a significant change and felt it pulling before you fully understood it — come with me.
I leave May 3rd.
Written in Calgary, Alberta, Canada on April 19, 2026. This is part of a series of essays written about my travel to Setúbal, Portugal in May and June 2026. Small Steps Lasting Change is a practice for people living with chronic illness and changing capacity. Read our other posts in The Portugal Series.
We are in this together,
🌀 Nora
About this post
This post is about Protect, one of the four Pillars of Small Steps Lasting Change. It’s about the recognition of belonging to a place and a community before ever setting foot there.
Read our other posts about Protect.
About Small Steps Lasting Change
Small Steps Lasting Change is a wellness practice for people living with chronic illness and changing capacity. The four Pillars (Move, Nourish, Rest, and Protect) and the six Patterns for navigating change as it actually happens in a human life anchor the practice.
Begin where you are.
Nora Chaus is the founder of Small Steps Lasting Change. She is a retired registered nurse, a facilitator, and a work in progress. She divides her time between Portugal, Canada, and Baltimore.
