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I would be actively looking for employment in my field in both TX and OR. I think you are feeling "homesick" right now and it may be clouding your thoughts. Someone suggested giving it 6 months and I think that is a good idea but do keep looking for employment in both locations. You have to really be at loose ends not being able to find a suitable position and there are many, too many people in your situation right now. When we moved to southern AZ, I thought it was the ugliest place I had ever seen but I grew to love the unique beauty that it was. It was so different than all the very green places I had lived. One word of warning though, life as a student will not be the same as life as an adult in the general population and time changes so many things, people and places and we found it very hard to return to those special places because they were so different after a relatively short time. Life moves on. Wishing you all the luck in your job hunt and your decision about moving back to OR.
Life's too short not to live where you want to live. It's hard to break that attachment from your parents. It took many years after I turned 18 to break it. But it's all you now. It's YOUR life, not theirs. I'd get back to Oregon ASAP if you know that's where your heart is. You may have to settle for something outside your field of work for a while. Like someone said, even a job in restaurant or something at first. Or a couple part-time jobs, to get on your feet. Then do what you can to inch your way into your field. It may even take a few years. You can also apply for stuff that is sort of out of your field, but that DOES require a degree, which you have. You may have to stick with that job for a year or two before you find something in your field in Oregon, but it would be worth it, because it would look good on your resume to have been at a job 2-3 years.
Step one is to get back to the area you want to live in. IMO, nothing is worth it until that happens.
SS... Your TX situation is temporary & although you don't like it there as a long term option, you don't need to stay forever & your parents are giving you incredible support... you've very lucky as many don't/never had that. I'd say, yes, move back to OR... but, use this time to send out resumes like mad & gain employment in OR before moving back. You're close enough to visit for interviews, if necessary, using a friend/boyfriend's address on your resume, also temporarily.
If that's completely objectionable, can you move in with someone in OR now so that you're not financially floating by working a PT job out of the field in which you have a degree?
If you can stick it out, enjoy your time with your parents, understand you'll be back home in OR within a few months & you will be less stressed out overall. You were miserable there if they convinced you to come home to "get your head on straight" & you're miserable now. The problem is your impatience with not finding a job as quickly as you'd like. Relax a bit, stay in touch with friends/boyfriend, a few months is not the end of the world & you won't lose all your friends in that time. Send out resumes asap, secure a headhunter in OR... you can always visit in the meantime. Get a PT job asap... it will keep you grounded & you'll feel better having money coming in.
Best of luck to you. You'll do just fine if you just breathe a bit & know this time is not forever. Really.
You guys have been really helpful; thank you. I'm still feeling like I made a mistake moving here, and I don't know if could last six months, especially since I know my heart is in Oregon and I doubt I'll ever like Texas as much. Now my major problem is going to be breaking it to the folks. Guess it'll be like pulling off a band-aid. I feel like I'm always disappointing them in some way. I turn 24 in a few weeks, I need to learn to stand my ground with them though. This is what I want.
It's a tough spot to be in ... caught between your well intentioned parents help and guidance and your own yearnings to live where/how you want to be.
If you hear that call of Oregon to you, you'd best follow it. It's your life to live, and you'll have to do what you have to do to make it there ... work the hours at the jobs that pay enough for you to survive where you want to be.
Will it be written in stone, will it be everything that your folks would want you to have? maybe not, even if you can find that higher paying job in your career field. But at an age where you have no big responsibilities, no long term committments ... what does it matter? If you've got food/shelter and are happy, then that's what counts for you, personally.
Follow your heart and use what you've got to capture the opportunities that present. Your parents cannot live your life for you. At 24, you're well past an age of dependency ... if you've done OK for the last several years on your own, you've already demonstrated to yourself that you can be independent, even if it wasn't up to your parent's expectations. No excuses needed to your folks ... they've already done their job teaching you the life skills you need to have. Best now to show them that your happiness is tied to your good decisions for your own life, your own productivity, your own acceptance of personal responsibility and fulfilment. Not saying here that it will be a cakewalk and life won't have it's up's and down's ... but these are the challenges that you must accept and deal with to have any satisfaction of living your own life.
As a parent, it wasn't easy to "let go" for my children when they were your age. I wanted them to have the best and be the best they could be. Circumstances weren't always so forgiving for them, but they survived ... and now they appreciate all the more what they have accomplished and acquired. To some extent, it was "tough love" on my part to cut them loose and expect them to use their education and life skills to achieve their own success. It's all the more valuable to them now then if I'd handed it to them on a platter .... And they do far better financially then I ever have, because they were motivated to show themselves and me that they could stand on their own two feet. Did they make some poorer decisions along the way? You bet ... but they learned from the experience in a way that no amount of talk from me would ever teach them. They had to make do with what they had for opportunities, and worked at waiting tables ... learned how to "sell" themselves and perform to a level of earning $500-1,000 per week +++ in tips at fancy high dollar restaurants. But it gave them an appreciation for how to "sell" themselves into their respective career fields for top salaries after starting with some very low paying waitstaff jobs. What they learned was that there's a lot more to a professional career with a degree than just showing up at an employer's doorstep with their degree in hand, expecting top salaries from the get-go ... they learned a lot in the school of "hard knocks" that excuses don't equal performance, or that life is "fair" ... it isn't.
There's no better time than the present to start living your own life. If you're like me at 24, everything you own of importance will fit in your car for that trip back to Oregon. Sounds like you even have some job opportunities there which will help get you started. Drive safe ....
I have moved a lot in my life. I am about to move again out of state as well. A few thoughts but at the end of the day you only know what is best. When one is unhappy it is easy to think somewhere else may be better. Now sometimes it can bring better times and opportunity but sometimes not. Problems can follow you depending on what they are. I think for anyone who moves being in a financial state to do so is very important. With my moves I have run into expensive issues that happen in life and if I was not able to afford it I don't know what I would of done.
You said part of the reason you moved home was cause of finances so what would be your plans for that out of state? I can relate to family influence and also being confused with oneself. Also feeling like a let down. I hope by talk to your family it may help. At the end of the day I think they just want you to be happy. I was telling my mom though the other day that sometimes parents and kids disagree but as an adult one has to make their own choice Good luck and I hope you feel more up soon.
You know your heart, and you have to follow it. If that means Oregon, then go for it. That said, as others have mentioned you have only been in Houston for 3 weeks, and you are homesick. You have left your boyfriend and all of your other friends and all that is familiar behind. Most anyone would feel the same way.
This reminds me of the phone call I got from one of my kids after he'd been away (out of state) in college for about a month. He called almost sobbing telling me how going there was the biggest mistake of his life, and he wanted to transfer out as soon as he could. But he stuck it out, and now he loves it there, and when he is home, he can't wait to get back to school. I am not trying to discount your feelings, but maybe you are just feeling lonely and homesick.
Also, I have lived in Katy and it is definitely not a place for a young single person. It is a family suburb. I would think it would be almost impossible for you to meet new friends living there. I'm sure you are bored out of your mind there. Houston has a very active social scene for young professionals, but you aren't ever going to find it in Katy. You're gonna have to move to someplace like Midtown for that.
As others suggested, I would begin searching for a job in both places. If you get a job in Houston first, take it, so that you can begin to get yourself in a better financial situation, but don't quit looking in Oregon. A job in Houston will help you build a better resume/job history, while still looking in Oregon. Nothing says you have to stay in Houston forever.
If you decide to go back to Oregon, your parents will understand. They may be disappointed, but not because of your decision, but because they will miss you. That's what we parent do. We worry about our kids when they aren't near, and we miss them when they are gone.
I can totally understand the Houston thing...the last place I would ever want to live. But, I agree, that you are homesick right now. At your age, the boyfriend thing can really mess you up too. I'd wait a bit, thru the holidays (at least give your parents that that), talk to them about your unhappiness, and maybe go visit Portland again for a couple of weeks (since you aren't working anyway). That would give you a better idea of how you feel...without making a big move back.
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