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For me, it depends on having a job. If I was in Newport Beach, CA and couldn't find a job, it wouldn't matter where I was...
I could live anywhere if I had a good job, respect on the job, decent coworkers, good pay, and the ability to live in a safe neighborhood.
I think all cities have their pros and cons, and economic status and quality of living are very important to me. I lived in 4 major cities now, and that economic thing is the biggy.
I'm going to say two months. The last move I made, I felt like I belonged there after just about two months. Where I am now, after two months, I began to worry that I was not ever going to "adjust". I was right. Two years later, I'm moving.
Location: Upstate NY native, now living in Houston
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I think I probably could live anywhere, as long as I have a job and am with my husband. I only have one part of that now and I am miserable! (hubby is with me and I need a job!)
It took me two weeks to find out that I would and did like Greater Cincinnati.
It took me two weeks to find out that I would and did dislike Louisville, KY.
When I was in sixth grade, I woke up and realized that my hometown sucks. That was ten years ago; the more I'm here, the more I slowly but surely grow very disgusted with it.
I'm confident I would like Texas, Chicago, or Atlanta; of course, I can only find out by moving to one of those places.
Yeah EclecticEars, i've seen a couple of your posts and it seems like we are kinda in the same boat. I live in South Carolina, and since I was 10 i've always thought of this place as lame and boring. And I've always wanted to get out and explore. It wasn't until a few days ago (20 days from moving from SC to CA) that I started appreciating things in the city, and that I don't take advantage of what all there actually is to do. I shouldn't have to move to get excited about life but for someone reason it is hard to get excited about things here.
I'm older and pretty know within two days, and during that time, I'm out exploring grocery stores, neighborhoods, driving during rush hour, etc.
That said, if I had to be there, I'd give it six months.
I know that I can live in just about any medium-sized city in the Midwest and find things to like. I'm from here and it's my culture.
If I had to make a move to Atlanta or Dallas, that would be a different story. I could learn to make do but I think my normally positive attitude would take a nosedive during the endless hot summer weather, and some others from there who've had to move to Des Moines want to go home after one of our winters. I do understand!
6 months is probably the norm, but I would say GO WITH YOUR GUT.
/\ This. Many years ago it took me a while to determine whether I liked a city or not. My now-ex wanted for me to move to where she was from (unnamed Midwestern city). I've been there with her to visit her family, I knew that I'd hate living there. She hated where I lived, and it cost us our marriage.
I've gone thru so many love/hate periods living in Las Vegas for 18 years, I now just ride out the never-ending roller coaster ride! One time, 12 years ago, I had everything packed up, ready to move to Sacramento, and then stayed, gave it another shot, and went for years until another hate period came by, then waited for the love to return.
I lived in Minneapolis for 21 years, and as long as I was in love, in a very good relationship, I loved it. Take that away and I hated it!
So many different factors can come into play when you move somewhere. Like even meeting some great next door neighbors you just couldn't ever live without.
How long should someone give a place to decide whether or not they like it or not? I dont know but sometimes it takes me only a couple weeks to decide if I like it or not.
I stayed in Fort Worth (Ugh) for about 4 months, but by the 3rd week I had already figured I didnt like it. Miami on the other hand...took me about 8 months to realize, even though I didnt hate it, that it wasnt perfect either.
So..Is it fine to be able to know in a few days whether you dont like a place, or should you give it say...4-6 months? What if I dont want to stay someplace for 4-6 months. What if I decide I dont like it within 2 weeks? Is that ok?
First lets remember, no place is perfect; sometimes it takes a long time for the honeymoon to wear off and we think a place is great, then decide it isn't for us. Sometimes we think a place is awful, only to start realizing there may be lots of good things about it, and we are too quick to judge.
The best anyone can do is weigh the pros and cons. If people keeping looking for the ideal location, they may spend their entire life looking and never finding what makes them happy.
We made a couple of moves that were not good ones for us: one time we realized it immediately. The job was not right, the environment was not right and the weather was not right. The only good thing, it was easy to get great fresh Crab and Salmon, but we couldn't exist on just that. In a little over a year we were out of there. Our first retirement move, it took us about 5 years to realize, it wasn't what we had expected. We kept telling ourselves we would adjust; we didn't.
When we moved to the Dallas area, we knew it wasn't utopia, but we choose to stick it out because we wanted to be around our 2 granddaughters as they were growing up.
If you are young and want to see the country, keep on looking, but the time will come when you have to settle down; decide what it is you want and accept you will have to make decisions and give some things up.
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