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There is no easy solution to this. From the psychological side, it appears that the OP left the milieu of her youth, to pursue an education. For whatever reason, she returned - but in a Tom Wolfe sense, "could not go home again". Home evolved, and not for the better. Meanwhile, this "homecoming" separated her from the community towards which she'd spent several years adapting. It was a double loss: loss of the idyllic memories of home, and loss of her more recent friendships and environment.
As others have noted, the core issue is whether the OP's job is truly unique. I can relate... I relocated from the urbanized East Coast to the small-town Midwest, in pursuit of a career. The job was remunerative, rewarding, and stable. But it could not be replicated in DC or NYC or Boston or whatnot. To forsake this job would mean to shunt aside my career. So, I stayed... for decades.
My recommendation? Do nothing. Focus on the job, and its internal rewards. A solution to problems outside of work won't magically appear, but at least one can dull the ache with the palliative of work.
Very few jobs are truly unique, to me the bigger question is whether the specific conditions of the job can be replicated. For example, my girlfriend is an experienced quality chemist. She can work pretty much anywhere, but the question is whether she could find direct employment or be expected to go through a staffing service like most entry level chemists. I work in a client-facing financial services role, I could get a job in most places but I have seen job listings for my same position paying $6-8 less per hour than I make.
to me, job is very important, if you like it and it is as good as you say it is, make it work.
to me, once you have a good job you love, then the rest falls into place.
First, I sympathize with the OP and know the feeling of being stuck in your hometown but wanting more in life. I had the great luck to go back to school at 28 and change the direction of my life...not everyone has that luxury. It's not so 'easy' to pick up and move to someplace new without a job or even connections and in many ways a new town (depending on it's vibe) can feel even more lonely than where you came from.
If you are dead set on moving (which is fine), have a 3 year plan to make it happen. Target a city, get to know it visit it say 4x in a year and start building small connections each time you go there. Save money like crazy and then have a vision towards getting a job there that is a pay cut just to get into the city and then work back up to where you need to be. It's not easy and a lot of sacrifice. But think where you want life to be in 5 years and work towards that.
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