Do you ever feel like you've had enough of Houston? (Dallas: best cities, big house)
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Here's the thing. I've had this debate with many of my friends. I have lived in NY, FL, St. Louis, Chicago and spent a lot of time in Houston and CA. I've have often dreamed of moving to London. Flirted with the idea of moving back to NY. Even thought about moving to Australia! So I go on the web and look at rents and apartments. After about 20 minutes, I scratch that idea. Of course there are "better" places. The grass is always greener on the other side right? The problem is, unless you are loaded, you are not going to enjoy those places. Sure London looks great in the movies, but how about living in a 300 sq foot flat with Bosnian immigrants well outside the city? LOL. LA has great weather. But not for you. You'll be living in the valley where it's 110 degrees because that is the only place you can afford a small apt or ****ty 50 year old ranch house. NY is lovely in the fall. We've all seen the nice pictures and movies of Central Park in the fall right? Nope, that won't be you. You'll be living in Spanish Harlem in a 500 sq foot apartment paying 1800 a month in rent.
If money were no object, then yes, absolutely, move! That's the nice thing about money is that it affords you mobility. But if you don't, then I think Houston probably gives you the opportunity to have the best lifestyle in an area that might not be your first choice.
If all your missing is friends, then you need to make the effort to get involved. Get involved in Church or the arts or join a recreational sports league, golf outings, nature walks, etc. Go to meetup and go to various outings.
I'm curious, for those of you who complain about the heat in Houston, do you have air conditioning? LOL. I'm almost always down in Houston right in the middle of the summer and I hardly feel the heat between spending time in the pool and the AC in the house and the car. I go outside in the evening and jog, but it's only 75 or 80 then and I love it!
I moved here from Wisconsin about 4-5 years ago. The loss of good network of friends has been the worst blow. Although, with my job, and owning a house I have much less social time. I do travel a bit, so I get to see friends in Cali, Chicago, Nevada, WI etc. If I had enough money to buy 100 acres with lake access, I would move back to WI, or northern Illinois in a heartbeat. All things considered, its easier to make more money here, and cost of living is enticing.
Many people feel like they've "had enough" of a new location. Sounds like you've given Houston a good chance to grow on you, and it hasn't. Life is too short to live somewhere you hate. Time to come up with a plan that would make living somewhere else financially feasible.
Was going to say the same thing. If you have gone years in a place without liking it, the odds that you are going to change your mind are very slim. Life is too short to be unhappy with where you are.
There is no such thing as a city that everybody loves. We could list out every city in the US and some people would love it, some would hate it. Each has its pros and cons. Generally speaking, if you have broad exposure to other cities, Houston is a little more difficult to fall in love with. We chose to return to Houston (actually chose is a big word - we were somewhat limited by having a focus on energy) and we like Houston. However, I do find myself from time-to-time thinking about how nice it would be to live in Chicago, Seattle, etc.
From the responses to this thread it seems that people.. If they had money they would move in a heartbeat. So basically Houston is the cheap alternative to have a great life.
Houston is the city with more "bang for your buck". If you have a bit more money then you should probably go to Chicago, NY or many other cities around the country or around the world. But for us not to be as fortunate to live in those cities then we have to settle for Houston, where we make the best of it.
It certainly isn't the best city in the US but we have a job and can afford a big large house(for some of us is an absolutely necessity ) and we make the best of whatever we have...
was going to say the same thing. If you have gone years in a place without liking it, the odds that you are going to change your mind are very slim. Life is too short to be unhappy with where you are.
There is no such thing as a city that everybody loves. We could list out every city in the us and some people would love it, some would hate it. Each has its pros and cons. generally speaking, if you have broad exposure to other cities, houston is a little more difficult to fall in love with. we chose to return to houston (actually chose is a big word - we were somewhat limited by having a focus on energy) and we like houston. However, i do find myself from time-to-time thinking about how nice it would be to live in chicago, seattle, etc.
I was born in Houston in 1979... before I even knew any better my family had moved to a small town in east Texas. When we moved back when I was in the 1st grade; I was amazed at the big city! So many things I had never seen before like skyscrapers, malls, freeways (which I thought were extra wide roads), Astroworld, Waterworld, NASA... wow!! Well, I watched the city grow throughout my grade school years and by the time I went to college I was ready to get out of Houston. I was accepted at Texas Tech University and I knew that when I left Houston I would probably never be back. When graduation time came, I had an option to move to either Denver, Dallas or Houston. I chose Houston. After all these years I know I made the best decision. Every time I visit a new city, I constantly compare it to Houston and after all these years I have found that no place comes close to being as great at Houston, Texas! Houston has drastically changed in my 32 years of living. I have witnessed with my own eyes a transformation of this place. I cannot tell you how proud of Houston I am. If you know me from other posts on here you have noticed that I praise Houston ALOT, well now you know why. I grew up in Houston, I grew up with Houston and I absolutely love Houston!!!
How would you know that Houston is all that great compared to other cities? You havent lived anywhere else!
For the people that have moved here from other states do you ever feel like you've had enough of Houston, you tried living here, adjusting to your surroundings, do you ever feel like packing up and going back to where u came from?
Some background info, been here since '06 moved here from the los angeles area. left 3 yrs ago and came back because of financial reasons.
Lately I have been thinking of going back to cali for good, I have tried adjusting to the weather, the "life" out here...but its just not happening. I miss L.A. and the lifestyle it offers.
Me and my husband have no children, no friends, nor family here. Lately I have been asking myself a lot....why not be where u really want to be???
My wife and I are moving back to Columbus, Ohio this weekend. We have lived in Houston for four years and it has been good. I really feel like we came of age in Houston and it is the city of my daughter's birth. We made good money and bought a big house in the suburbs, we had everything we used to talk about early on in our marriage. But with age comes perspective and for my wife and I came to the realization that quantity did not equal quality. Our time was passing too quickly, go to work early come home late, wake up and repeat. This past fall with the birth of our daughter it became clear we wanted to go back. There is just too much we miss about Columbus and we want to raise our daughter in Ohio. We have learned that no amount of money can re-create the leaves turning orange on the trees, the taste of freshly pressed apple cider, going to the pumpkin patch to pick out a big one, and most importantly money can not make up for time with family. We are downsizing our lives and while we will make less money (not because of lower salaries, but because I am going to stay at home for a while and raise our child), we will also be more satisfied with life.
My tip for you is to go back to California. I coach high school football and I tell the freshman every year that they have 4 years of their lives when they can play high school football and they have 60 years of there lives when they can regret not playing high school football. There is no rewind button on life. If you don't go back home, 10 years from now you may go back to California and be extremely happy and the ten years in between will be gone forever leaving you with nothing but regret for not moving sooner.
Go where you're happy! Trust me on this. I went from loving Boston (during college), to tolerating it, to absolutely loathing every day I wake up in this city. I seriously think I reached clinical depression at some point there.
I've learned, in my short time here on earth, being where you're comfortable is most important because you'll feel stuck anywhere else. Leave Houston for the Houstonians--there's nothing wrong with that. And to the people who say this is a cheap alternative to the great life, you're wrong. Some people like it in Houston and that's fine, too. For some, this is the great life.
If money were no object, then yes, absolutely, move! That's the nice thing about money is that it affords you mobility. But if you don't, then I think Houston probably gives you the opportunity to have the best lifestyle in an area that might not be your first choice.
There's got to be something more affordable than LA and not as cheap as Houston--somewhere that would give the OP more of what they want.
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) and we make the best of whatever we have...
