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I guess I will chime in here. My husband and I are born and raised in Texas and we love our state, but being from Dallas and him from the Houston area we were conflicted on where to live especially due to my husband's job prospects. Let's just say it's been a roller coaster ride over the last 10 years. Dallas to Florida, Florida to Austin, Austin to Limbo/Midland, Limbo/Midland to Dallas, Dallas To Austin and Austin to Dallas again. I am so over this mess!!! All we want is to be settled and not have to move anymore. Austin and Dallas have proven that they are not going to supply the jobs for my husband, so we are looking to see where we should move again. We have entertained the idea of moving anywhere in the Texas Triangle, for a permanent position. Contracts always have us moving around so we are wanting perm. The only places we have not lived are San Antonio and Houston. Being a Dallas girl it is hard to wrap my mind around moving anywhere else in Texas, but I am willing to do it for quality of life. So, we are looking again despite friends and family putting the other cities down. Sigh..
I'm in the exact same situation as the OP and am from Atlanta! I'm living in OKC, and have been here since September. I sure do miss Atlanta. This place is terrible. No reason for anyone to move here other than the cost of living and strong economy. BUT as a single man here, it is awful. Aside from the obvious terrible weather and having to dodge tornadoes, good luck if you're single! The available pool of women here are unattractive and have 2-3 kids. There aren't any women between 30-40 who have never been married with no kids. Absolutely none! As a 44 year old man who still wants a family, this is a nightmare. I have to try to meet a woman in Dallas and have a long distance relationship until I can maybe move there. So I'm with the OP, and will plan to move to Dallas in a year or two if my company will let me work remotely. I pray they will because its a great company. If not, I'll look in Dallas for a new position.
I hear you.
Oklahoma City is a rough place unless A) you were born and raised here or B) are married with a family.
I consider myself an adaptable person, but this city just doesn't do it for me. I've been here for a year and I still haven't made any friends and spend most of my nights alone. Unfortunately I don't see myself getting the option to move away. I miss Charlotte terribly. I too have thought about moving to Dallas but I have commitments here I can't get out of. I'll just save money over a few years and then move if I have to.
I'm in Maine and want out. 15 years ago my husband finally decided he'd had enough of living in his home town in western PA, and having had many trips to Portland ME in his business, decided we should move to southern Maine. It was fine with me, I'd been tired of western PA, I had moved several hundred miles from my home city when we got married.
I wasn't sure about moving to Maine. I had never had any interest in New England at all. We had autumn color and winter snow in Pennsylvania. He took me to Portland for a 4 day weekend to look around, it seemed ok, better than where we were living.
It's been 15 years now, and I've been ready to leave for the last 10 - aching to leave for the last 5. Our youngest has 2 years to go in college up here. That's all there is to hold us here. My son has no particular desire to stay here after graduation either. I've mentioned to my husband that it would be a good time to start looking at other parts of the country. He admits that the job prospects for our son here are dismal even if the national economy was good.
Our other kids and grandkids live hundreds of miles away, and rarely come up here. I have a few acquaintances I chat with now and then, no friends. My husband knows the people who live on either side of us. There's nothing to hold us here, but my husband doesn't want to leave. We live a mile from the beach. He's been there 3 times in 15 years, spent about 15 minutes each time.
The best I get from him is the idea of buying a condo in Florida to spend part of winter in. The other day he suggested a condo in Florida and another in Maine. I have hobbies, I paint, I work in miniatures, I've built 1"scale houses out of wood from scratch, I have a large library of books. I can't live in a little condo for a month or two then move to another condo.
I want to visit Tucson again and see if I still want to move back there. I lived there for a few years when I was young. I find myself looking at houses for sale online. Although he hated Florida when we went to Orlando, and loved our trip back to Tucson 25 years ago, I can't get him to even consider the possibility of visiting Tucson and checking it out.
My son just says, face it mom, you're stuck here and you're going to die here.
Old thread now I guess, but have to say if I had to live in Tucson, or Phoenix, I'd slash my own throat. Same with OKC. And yes, made the mistake of moving from a place to one of the most pristine locations in the SE. Nostalgia. Turned out to be boring, inconvenient despite the natural beauty. After a couple of years, sold out and returned to the original spot. Lesson learned. Never again.
Old thread now I guess, but have to say if I had to live in Tucson, or Phoenix, I'd slash my own throat.
Living through multiple "summers," 4-5 mths. long over 100 does get on your nerves or rather your heat sensors. Last few summers, in August, the temps were 112-114 every day, nights 90+.
Ah, yes! In the 90's and early 00's, I had visited Seattle a few times on business and fell in love with the city - most of these trips were in summer when the place just glitters. So, when I got a job offer (with a generous relocation package) from a company there, I jumped at the opportunity and moved to Seattle from the city in the South that I was living in.
The first winter I realised that the cold, dark and overcast gray sky was a real struggle for the long 4-5 months that it lasted. No sun for days at a time. But, on the positive side, I travelled out of Seattle at least once a month on business, to sunnier climes (then again, any other place that I went to was sunnier!), which meant that I got a break from the gloom periodically. So, I thought I could manage the winter. But, in my second year, it just became hard to get out of bed in the morning and I felt this overwhelming urge to get out. At that time, I had thought that the desire to move was due to other factors - noisy place where I was living in, a job that I was beginning to hate, being in a far corner of the US, etc., which were all valid to some extent.
So, after two years, I decided to quit and move to a city that is sunnier and warm. It took me a few months to find a job, but, I finally got out of Seattle after 2+ years. Came to realize after a year, that what I felt in Seattle was severe SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), which I had confused with other reasons. I just knew I was unhappy there, but, didn't quite see climate as the strong, primary factor affecting me. After the move, slowly but surely, my mood lifted, my sense of humor came back, and, life seemed brighter (literally and figuratively). That's when I realized why I had felt the way I had felt in Seattle.
In retrospect, I was seduced by Seattle's beauty and had moved there without really doing my homework, and, despite warnings. For example, a friend had pointed out that Seattle has the highest suicide rate in the US - for a good reason. While the city and Washington state are great - I still consider it a gorgeous place - and the people polite and friendly, I am not made for that weather.
The observation from several posters that the place and environment you live in matters and that it even shapes you significantly is so very true. Give enough thought and consideration and make a conscious effort to evaluate whether a place suits you before moving there. At the least, be willing to accept that it's time to get out if a place doesn't feel quite right. It might take some time to accomplish the change - but that acceptance of how you feel is key. Listen to what your gut and heart tell you - if it feels uncomfortable and difficult, there's a good reason why it feels so. Try changing things around and see if it gets better; if they don't, work towards getting out of the place as soon as you can. Even if friends and family and people around you tell you otherwise, and, beyond a time limit that you set, don't stay on hoping things will improve.
Of course, it does take mistakes in life to get to a point where one can choose wisely - so don't be hard on yourself for making mistakes, for there's no wise man that didn't start life as a fool. :-)
OP, I wish you all the best.
I wished I would have listen to my gut years ago on this and never moved to city of Chicago. It did not feel right back in2006 and ended up in the suburbs.
I am planning to leave but afraid to move to California with debt, and it is already so expensive.
True before I came to Chicago I was a pretty happy go lucky laid back fun individual. Now I am defensive, gained weight, do not go out much and just hate the gritty urban environment.
This thread is inspiring to me to do something sooner.
I moved to LA in February. I definitely won't be here past this summer. I'm realizing now I should have gone to NYC all along. Luckily, I'm in a situation where I can just leave easily.
I'm so glad I'm not the only one. I just left beautiful Orange County for San Antonio, TX and so far it's a hell hole (sorry Texans). It might be a great place for some, just not for me. I hate it and want to head back soo badly, but I've already registered/paid/begun classes out here so I'll need to wait at least a semester before I can transfer back. I'll probably stick it out until May, but there's no way I could live here long term. The silver lining is that people out here are generally pretty friendly and nice, but I can't stand the landscape and I miss the beach. No one seems to know how to drive, and contrary to popular belief, it's not that much cheaper to live out here. My rent is a few hundred dollars lower, but that's a few hundred dollars I would gladly pay for the convenience of living in South Orange County.
I'm thinking of moving from Tampa back to Denver-I moved here for love (WTF was I thinking)! No offense to anyone from Florida but this place is a sh**hole, I've been mugged, almost had someone kick in my back door when I was there-(thank god I own a gun), been in multiple car accidents (none my fault) and have been unemployed off and on for years-I think I need to save myself-I've gained 10 pounds and I'm not even the same person anymore..
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