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Yes, I moved from San Diego to Michigan for college. It was great in the regard I was able to focus on school, and I had extended family in the area. It was awful because the weather blew, and the natural enviornment wasn’t my style. Detroit was very close, and Chicago wasn’t too far either, for non campus weekend/holiday fun, but nothing in that area is like Southern California. Luckily I came back for my summer breaks.
Despite some great job offers, and a low cost of living, I couldn’t wait to get back to San Diego. Maybe it’s just me, but I would never live somewhere for more money, and/or a lower cost of living, if I wasn’t happy there, it’s not worth it. Life is too short, and money can’t buy happiness.
Humans are adaptable when that's not the best policy. We normalize things in our mind and they don't seem so bad when they are actually awful. Even an oyster will build a pearl out of a piece of grit. Once you leave a place and look back you see it for what it is. That's my story -- I wonder how on Earth did I stay there as long as I did. But I know people who have done the opposite and can't wait to get back. If the only redeeming value in a major move was practicality and I hated everything else I would not move...life is too short.
Good post, and we're all different. Different strokes....
I heard miserable things about OKC area I wont lie. Thats somewhere I'd NEVER go to. I'd prefer the possibility of living in Alabama even. Thats pretty bad if I'm saying that.
At least in Alabama you are close to the coast and you have natural beauty. As regressive as the state is, I would take living in Birmingham over OKC by a longshot for this reason. OKC is simply too isolated and in my opinion, is one of the worst cities in North America. You have Dallas (3 hours) and Kansas City (5 hours) if you need to gain a little bit of sanity. I'm stuck here for two more years but I cannot wait to finally be able to leave.
Some people really "love" or enjoy living in places such as Texas and that's ok. A buddy who moved to Texas from California finds Texas to be the best place he has ever lived. I've acknowledged the positives in this state however, I told him that its not home for us, no matter how "practical" others find it to be. He cannot understand why I don't love it here the way he does. My only issue is when "some" folks here try to convince me that this is the best place for me.
I believe we should trust our intuitions, and follow that feeling. If/When we do that, I believe that we know when we are in the right place.
In another thread, one transplant commented that Denver just didn't feel like home. This may seem subtle compared to COL and the local job market. But if a place doesn't-eventually-begin to feel like home, perhaps some other place would?
In another thread, one transplant commented that Denver just didn't feel like home. This may seem subtle compared to COL and the local job market. But if a place doesn't-eventually-begin to feel like home, perhaps some other place would?
I wonder this. I've been in OKC for six years and while I've learned to tolerate it (some days are easier than others) I have an angst about living here and a FOMO problem that just won't go away. I can't stop reminiscing about my old life in Charlotte NC, where I lived previously. OKC is a significant step down from Charlotte in almost every way, feeling like I moved from a vibrant mid-sized city to a small town. It's not just looking back at the "good ole days" because I left there in 2012. I have very little nostalgia for anything since moving to OKC. There is an old saying that "wherever you go there you are" and while there is some truth to that, I think different places can be good fits or bad fits for certain people. The only positive I can think of for OKC is it was doing quite well economically when most of the country was in the deepest depths of the recession. In 2018, Oklahoma has a "meh" economy while most of the country has come back to life.
I moved to Midland-Odessa,Texas because it was practical but i dislike it now....its a love hate thing since its home and has a roaring economy.I hope to move to other cities or towns in Texas at some point.I am even thinking of living out of state since the big cities dont appeal to me.
I moved to Lawrenceburg, TN back in 2014 for a job offer. Seemed like a great position at the time - salary, work content, and the people in the town were pretty friendly. It was a smallest town I had ever lived in (about 10k people - about 40k total for the county). Closest cities were Huntsville (1hr 10min) or Nashville (1.5hrs). I thought "alright....great salary and cheap COL; what could go wrong with this combo??"
Yeah....I hated it after a few months lol and would've left swiftly if it wasn't for my career. Once you see or do the few little things in town, you start coming up dry. That place had minimal entertainment options and negligible culture. I could see it being a benefit if you're a homebody, but I'm the type that likes to go out and do stuff locally. Another problem: although the folks of the town were nice, making social connections was insanely difficult if you're not a member of a church and/or you don't have kids in the schools (I'm non-religious and child-less). There weren't any places to go out and meet people, aside from a couple of dive bars that were kinda clique-ish. I eventually made friends locally, but even then I couldn't quite relate to them. I mainly spent weekends travelling to other cities (so much for saving money with that small-town COL haha) and made closer friends elsewhere.
I gave it 3 years strictly due to the job, then I moved on to a much better area (Greensboro), and I'm much happier. No regrets about living in Lawrenceburg, though; it definitely taught me a lot about myself and what I like/dislike in a location.
Houston has excellent weather in the eyes of anyone from the Northeast and Upper Midwest. Are hurricanes and humidity really worse than Snowmageddon and -20 degree wind chills? If so, tell me why snowbirds flock to Florida.
As for scenery, was the Hill Country (i.e. Western Austin) not enough for you? Or what about the bayous, pine forests, cypress swamps, and spanish mosses in Houston? Or the pristine, white-sand beaches of South Padre Island, with warm, cyrstal-clear waters? Or the rugged Chihuahuan deserts of El Paso and the Big Bend?
For the record, Austin is a very liberal city. Ditto for Dallas proper (Dallas suburbs are conservative, but face it, the suburbs of most American cities outside of the West Coast are conservative.) Houston is a bit less liberal, but still fairly liberal. The only major city liberals might not like is Fort Worth.
Well.. maybe those snowbirds are bird brained They sure drive like it!
I grew up in Florida and lived in Texas between ages 20-23 and I prefer the Upper Midwest, especially the weather. Hell, summer is my least favourite season (not to say I hate summer, I just prefer fall, winter and spring more) I cannot wait for fall to come again! And snow doesn't destroy homes like hurricanes. I lived through Katrina and Wilma in '05 and that was no joke. Also, Texas had that insane horrible summer in 2011 with fires and crap. How is that better than subzero temps? I dare anyone to find a winter in Minnesota that rivals the summer of 2011 in Texas.
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They sure drive like it!
