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Hi there. Well, I know this is going to sound madcap and crazy, but honestly I just don't know what else to do. Due to some circumstances that happened to me, I have this now or never window to leave Hawaii and move back to a city I have always wanted to return to, but for various odd reasons and thinking that I would 'still make it good' here in Honolulu, I always put it aside.
I wont say where I am going, as it's not relevant. It is a major city and the opportunities are far far more than here in Honolulu. I have good friends there who work in large companies in the city and have contacts too, so it is hopeful. After about 8 years here as of this July, I just have not made it to how I would have liked to. Jobs here pay much less than the mainland. It's still a local oriented business community and people here just do not leave their jobs, so there isn't a whole lot of movement. I have some great skills and very marketable ones too and have had some good jobs on paper, they just didn't pay well. I mean we are talking earning $20,000 less today than I did in 2002. I left a job there, well, laid off due to merger and HQ moving across country, in 2002 making mid 40,000s and my first job in Honolulu as a marketing coordinator started me off at $28,000 and during the econ bust in 2009, I was laid off. I have been erratically employed for the past 3 years, doing temp jobs with some great companies, getting good skills, but not earning a lot. I've made as 'much' as $15/hour to as low as $12.00. and lately most seem to want to pay $11/hr and I'm not kidding, I've seen ads for "up to $9/hr for mortgage assistants!! I have not had dental in those years and any bona fide vacation. I've been close to being hired by two of the companies, but due to management changes, it never really materialized and the job market, for me, just isn't materializing like I would like. Ive had great reviews, but I've seemed to have exhausted every major Bank in this town.
I can either stay here and deplete my funds and accept some $11/hr job which is barely liveable, or make a move for a city where there is much more opportunity. i know there are no guarantees. Trust me, But I've got a friend willing to put me up and it's just one of those things in life where I 've got to make a move.
I am single, no dependants, no car. Just me. I am moving with less $ than I would have hoped for. Probably enough for 3 months, due to some unexpected circumstaces, but the options like I mentoned are to just hemmorage funds here in Hawaii. Trust me, I've known many people who have lived here and have moved back because, even though they may have had good skills, just couldn't get around the pay here.
I know some of you live your life very carefully and would't even entertain moving without a job. I've always been a free spirit. Maybe it's the Assinaboine in me (mothers family lives on the reservation in Montana).
But anybody else just figured they are in a worse position staying where they are vs. moving? I think I have reached that point.
I'm not sure what your question is - you've tried for 8years to make a go of it in Hawaii and are making less and less as each year goes by and little to no chance of improvement and now you have a oppprotunty to move to the city you want where you have friends, job opportunites, etc... and you're not held back by kids, spouse, other obligations... I would move!
FWIW - I love Hawaii , we go several times a year and my husband has been offered jobs there several times but I have no interest living there for a number of reasons (less job oppportunites for me, better schools for our daughter, less visits and visiting with family stateside, etc)
I lived on Oahu for 3 years in Kailua! It was a great experience but coming back to the mainland was definitely the right choice for my family! Sounds like you have already made your decision so just go with your feeling and make the move!!
I lived and worked for a few years in Hawaii, things fell into place very quickly for me, almost in an uncanny way. But then came a period where I couldn't seem to connect and I suddenly had a feeling it was time to go. I grieved to leave a place where I'd been so happy but there was another chapter coming up in my life and it seems that Hawaii wasn't the right place for me. I made a "sudden" leap similar to what you're contemplating and moved to one of the largest U.S. cities, living right downtown, and I was very emotional for a while. Culture shock in a way plus letting go of what had been. But soon I was working 2 jobs that I liked, progressing in a field, making more money and taking advantage of opportunities.
I think if you've lived there for a while you know there's something "ineffable" about Hawaii, a bit mystical in spite of the tourism, overdevelopment, etc. If you get a sense it's time to go then pay attention, it may be! You could put out one last call for what you need now and if things don't come together trust that it's time to grow in a new place.
I treasure my time in Hawaii but I know I made the right decision when it was time to leave, a lot of good came from it.
Oh, and I had no job and less money saved than you (though I had lived in the city a decade earlier and had some old contacts to look up). It took about two months, I started with temp work, but soon I was working and doing fine. I got my first full-time job through a random conversation with a person on a bus! Synchronous things happen everywhere when you're open to them.
Just a reminder: Be gentle with yourself if you feel a little wobbly when you return to mainland life!
hawaii is a hard place to live comfortably. being broke, worried about life at 12 bucks an hour is no way yo live even in paradise. make your move before you go completely broke. you can always move back to the islands later in life
Go. Go, go, go. Are you staying because "everyone" says that Hawaii is paradise? (Does "everyone" live there)?
It's not a place you can easily physically leave, not like moving from, say, Delaware to Pennsylvania. If you have a safety net and a place to go that might work a whole lot better, go. You'll make enough money to vacation wherever you want and Hawaii is best for said vacations, not for a daydream of living in paradise without enough money to buy a pair of flip-flops.
Best wishes.
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