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I was wondering if anybody else has ever walked away from their life and took a leap of faith to try moving to a different state. Specifically I mean moving away from somewhere where you had a good job, your family was there, you spent your entire life there without ever living anywhere else.
What was your experience? Do you regret it? Did you end up moving back home? Would you do it again and why? Where did you move from and to?
Never have but in the future I want to. Utah is such a sheltered enviroment and the Church overpowers everything here (even the News).
Perhaps not exactly what you are looking for...but we did a huge leap and went from rural Arkansas to St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, on a job transfer that was supposed to be for at least 5 years. We both come from fairly insane, although close-knit, families. We both love the ocean, diving, what we thought was island life, constant temperatures rather than the ups and downs of seasons. We're baby boomers, no kids at home, great job on the other end for spouse and I took my i-net based job with me.
It was lovely, don't get me wrong. It was also an entirely different culture where just the language barrier alone was enough to have me sitting on the ledge most days. All amenities were pretty much gone...any chore took twice as long (island time) and cost at least twice as much as we were prepared for.
We had done what is touted as a pre-move visit for about nine days....and nine days can't possibly tell you all you need to know. You can stand anything for nine days and it was just quirkly and unique. Living it every day, though, just wore on my nerves. My husband's job was far from "island time" and he was about to stroke out from stress. At the end of 13 months we looked at each other and did the "oh no - what now?" thing. And there we were under contract for 5 years! My husband told his employer, a major U.S. corporation, that it just wasn't working for us...we were committed to doing what we had to do based on giving our word, but we weren't going to be happy about it. Fortunately, they had an opening in the same town we left in Arkansas and were delighted to have us come back here...and after spending a butt load of cash and learning a lot of lessons along the way, here we are again.
I hate learning lessons this late in life, and I hate that we blew through so much money to find out nothing was as we'd pictured it, or even hoped for. The weather was beautiful and the diving was great, but we pretty much never found our spot. Just a few months before our departure I found a couple of mainlanders (and there are a ton of them) that I really grew to love...had I met them sooner, maybe things would have been different. As it was, we were several thousand miles from our crazy families, whom we suddenly developed a fondness for....we missed the holidays, we missed being with my grown kids, we missed the seasons, we missed everything that was familiar to us. My husband is originally from New Jersey, so he knew about big moves and even he just wanted to come "home".
So much will depend on your personal situation and your adaptability. We look back on The Year Long Vacation now and smile -and we did learn things and see things and live a life a lot of people can only dream of...but it simply wasn't for us. I don't think it would have been any different if we'd moved to Colorado or Virginia - we were too far away from the things and places and people that we love for it to work for us.
I admire those with an adventurous spirit who can just roll with whatever comes no matter where they are....we found out, it ain't us. I wouldn't take anything for the experience, but I'd never try anything like it again.
I moved to Southern CA just out of college. I was born and raised in the Boston area and moved with my family up to NH while in the seventh grade. Couldn't wait to get back to Boston for college.
After living in CA I moved to MN. It is harder when older, especially with tight finances and alone. But I can't believe how many people (both coasts) never try it, even the ones that say they will.
My suspicion is that if your family is supportive, they will always be supportive. My family is not very supportive and I expect that they would not have helped much with the hard times had I never left.
Yes, a lot depends on circumstances and personality but I can't imagine never having done this. I continue to be in a tough patch in life and but the tough times come anyways.
It's like experiencing cultural anthropology to move around the US. You learn a lot about people and a lot about yourself. I have no regrets about relocating. Many people return home within a year or so. I think it takes about 2 years to really settle into a new area.
I was wondering if anybody else has ever walked away from their life and took a leap of faith to try moving to a different state. Specifically I mean moving away from somewhere where you had a good job, your family was there, you spent your entire life there without ever living anywhere else.
What was your experience? Do you regret it? Did you end up moving back home? Would you do it again and why? Where did you move from and to?
Yes, I did. I moved from TN (where all my family lived) to TX (no family there) with my 2 very small children following a divorce. It's hard to say I regret it; because it is what it is and has made us who we are today. However, I underestimated the impact it would have on my children. I don't know I would do it again. You couldn't stop me back then. Looking back I can't believe I did it. Eventually I (we) did move back home, several years later. There is no place like home. I guess I found what I was looking for; but it came at a cost - like everything does.
When I was young and worked for Corporate America, I moved a lot. I lived in four different cities in six years (and didn't know a soul in any of them when I got there), then I moved to L.A. and became self-employed. Moving is much easier when you're young and unencumbered, because the risks seem small and the benefits great. It's harder when you're older or have children, because the risk-benefit ratio swings the other way.
When something feels right, I think you should go for it. Few decisions are irreversible and not doing something can cause just as many, if not more, regrets as doing it. If you don't like it, you can always go back and if you do like it, you'll be glad you took the chance. The fear of the unknown separates people from their dreams more than anything else. Happy trails!
Great response goodbye. You give me hope about choosing to move our family across the country. Like you said, you can always move back. I will always regret it if we don't take the chance and experience more than what we have always known. To me that is really living.
I was wondering if anybody else has ever walked away from their life and took a leap of faith to try moving to a different state. Specifically I mean moving away from somewhere where you had a good job, your family was there, you spent your entire life there without ever living anywhere else.
What was your experience? Do you regret it? Did you end up moving back home? Would you do it again and why? Where did you move from and to?
I did more than that...I moved to a different COUNTRY. It didn't work out. I don't recommend it.
I am the original author of this post. At the time I posted I was going over the idea of moving away from where I grew up. Well, I did it. I moved away and I am now living in a different state. I moved from CA to WA. I was really scared to walk away from everything that I had ever known, but it has turned out pretty great so far. Change is scary, but once you try something and have a little success your confidence goes up.
My husband and I left two good jobs where we lived. I was worried about leaving a perfectly good job, but it was just a job. The job situation worked out just find and my husband ended up finding a position that he liked much better.
I think that the idea of taking a leap and moving away from your comfort zone is very scary, but the actual action is not as bad.
For those people who are living in CA I would definitely recommend leaving. We were barely getting by down there dreaming about how we could ever purchase a home. Everyone acted like it was crazy to leave CA, the weather, the job market... whatever. We found jobs because we were willing to, my first trip to the grocery store was shocking because food cost so much less. My electricity bill came the other day and it was less than half of what PG&E charged for a smaller home.My insurance on my car dropped by $200 and the money we save up for a down payment on a house went from 10% down to 20% down on a house with $25,000 left in the bank afterwards
Our thought was that if we moved we might take less money or have to start over, but by leaving it would allow the things in life that are important to us like being homeowners, having kids, not sitting in traffic, having free time and living life and it is well worth it.
Last edited by dd94595; 10-27-2007 at 02:15 AM..
Reason: grammar
I am the original author of this post. At the time I posted I was going over the idea of moving away from where I grew up. Well, I did it. I moved away and I am now living in a different state. I moved from CA to WA. I was really scared to walk away from everything that I had ever known, but it has turned out pretty great so far. Change is scary, but once you try something and have a little success your confidence goes up.
My husband and I left two good jobs where we lived. I was worried about leaving a perfectly good job, but it was just a job. The job situation worked out just find and my husband ended up finding a position that he liked much better.
I think that the idea of taking a leap and moving away from your comfort zone is very scary, but the actual action is not as bad.
For those people who are living in CA I would definitely recommend leaving. We were barely getting by down there dreaming about how we could ever purchase a home. Everyone acted like it was crazy to leave CA, the weather, the job market... whatever. We found jobs because we were willing to, my first trip to the grocery store was shocking because food cost so much less. My electricity bill came the other day and it was less than half of what PG&E charged for a smaller home.My insurance on my car dropped by $200 and the money we save up for a down payment on a house went from 10% down to 20% down on a house with $25,000 left in the bank afterwards
Our thought was that if we moved we might take less money or have to start over, but by leaving it would allow the things in life that are important to us like being homeowners, having kids, not sitting in traffic, having free time and living life and it is well worth it.
I was wondering if anybody else has ever walked away from their life and took a leap of faith to try moving to a different state. Specifically I mean moving away from somewhere where you had a good job, your family was there, you spent your entire life there without ever living anywhere else.
What was your experience? Do you regret it? Did you end up moving back home? Would you do it again and why? Where did you move from and to?
Yes, I did just that. I moved 975 miles away from everything I had known for 42 years. My experience has been one of many ups and some downs. I have learned so much about myself. Whereas before I moved, I had little confidence in myself and my abilities; I have come to believe I am capable of doing anything if I am willing to work hard.
I don't regret moving at all. It has been 8 years since I moved and I have no plans to move back. And yes, I would do it again. I moved from Southern Illinois to Central Texas
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