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I love that quote too. A net is a good thing. But, I am also worried about the economy and the wisdom of leaving my secure situation for the unknown in New Mexico. The place is calling me though and I think,despite it all, I will take a chance soon and go for it. I have researched and visited several times so it won't be a blind leap but still.....
So much wisdom on this forum. Thank you all for your contributions. I find it very comforting to know that I'm not as crazy as the people who know me think I am.
I feel the same way. My boss, surprisingly, is one of the people (and my sister) who have been the most encouraging - and I will be leaving my full time salaried position with the company and doing work on a contract/hourly basis once I move. I wanted him to know so he could plan and because I didn't want him hearing from others. Plus I wanted to keep working for the company in some capacity so I figured it was best to just be honest with him.
Several weeks ago, I sat down and talked with him again - about if I didn't move if I would still have a full time, salaried job, etc - because I was feeling very uncertain whether leaving all the security I have now was a wise decision with the way the economy was - I discussed all my concerns and fears and he gave me some very good advise and encouragement.
He said he thought I should have stuck to my original plan and moved in October. Said he thought January was a bad time to move - to wait until March. Then he asked me - what's the worst that can happen?? You get there and you do struggle and lose everything you own - then what?? You can come back home and have a place to stay - right?? And I would. And I would know I tried - no looking back wondering what if.......
I have a wonderful family and awesome friends - including a great friend I have known since grade school that lives in there - and her family - which I know quite well. Plus, I will have a decent chunk of work coming from my current employer and my friend owns her own business and is planning on me helping her out with some things as well.
Okay - longer than I intended. ChristyLou - your not crazy - at least no more crazier than I am Stick to your plan! Feel free to DM me - we can help encourage each other and keep ourselves focused! I have the quote taped to my computer - and read it every day!
Last edited by KansasChick; 11-07-2008 at 10:00 AM..
Reason: forgot to add something
When I was on the beginning of this thread, way back in 2007, I mentioned all the places my partner and I had lived over the years. Now you can add Oregon to this list. Here we will stay from now on! Promise!
We were living last in Athens, Georgia. Just not for us! Humidity that was much worse than in Florida. No restaurants to get a decent meal that were not part of a chain, traffic was dismal, and the whole place was boring beyond belief! Only excitement was a shooting on our front lawn one midnight , found the murder weapon in our carport next day ... Lots of excitement... and this was in a decent neighborhood. Guess that can happen anywhere, but we decided to move closer to family, and love Oregon.
When I was on the beginning of this thread, way back in 2007, I mentioned all the places my partner and I had lived over the years. Now you can add Oregon to this list. Here we will stay from now on! Promise!
We were living last in Athens, Georgia. Just not for us! Humidity that was much worse than in Florida. No restaurants to get a decent meal that were not part of a chain, traffic was dismal, and the whole place was boring beyond belief! Only excitement was a shooting on our front lawn one midnight , found the murder weapon in our carport next day ... Lots of excitement... and this was in a decent neighborhood. Guess that can happen anywhere, but we decided to move closer to family, and love Oregon.
Glad you found somewhere to call home! Wow - a shooting in your front yard - that would freak me out!
My husband and I up and left our hometown and all of our family right after we got married. I never thought I would leave the town I was born and raised in! That was back in 1996. Now we are even further away from home, with kids, and I cringe at the thought of going back for the holidays. Both of my parents have passed away, and deep inside I regret not being able to spend the extra time with them. I regret having their grandkids so far away from them (6 hours). I was there when my dad died and got to say goodbye, but mom died suddenly, and I wasn't there. That is something I will live with for the rest of my life.
But on another note, we are hoping to sale everything and move to Australia as soon as all of are ducks are in a row!
We did it twice. The first was in 1990, we moved from Indiana to California. DH took a buyout from his 20 yr. job at a GM division & got hired by a company that moved us to CA. That move was easy but took me about 3 years to feel "at home". I had always lived in the same county all my life!
The second time, in 2006, I got this idea that we needed to move somewhere less expensive as retirement gets closer. After a lot of agonizing & some research, we decided on Tennessee or North Carolina. Our only visits to the area were honeymooning in Gatlinburg & one weekend trip to Johnson City a few months before we moved. We just put the house on the market & notified our employers of the plan. No family in California to leave behind, all the family is still in Indiana. The only mis-calculations were overestimating the average wage here and not realizing that VERY few employers offer health insurance.
Would I do it again? Yes! even though we make half of what we used to, our expenses are so much lower. And my advice to anyone is to be ruthless about getting rid of stuff. In other words, don't take those in-line skates with you if you move here- there's NO flat place to rollerblade!
We did it twice. The first was in 1990, we moved from Indiana to California. DH took a buyout from his 20 yr. job at a GM division & got hired by a company that moved us to CA. That move was easy but took me about 3 years to feel "at home". I had always lived in the same county all my life!
The second time, in 2006, I got this idea that we needed to move somewhere less expensive as retirement gets closer. After a lot of agonizing & some research, we decided on Tennessee or North Carolina. Our only visits to the area were honeymooning in Gatlinburg & one weekend trip to Johnson City a few months before we moved. We just put the house on the market & notified our employers of the plan. No family in California to leave behind, all the family is still in Indiana. The only mis-calculations were overestimating the average wage here and not realizing that VERY few employers offer health insurance.
Would I do it again? Yes! even though we make half of what we used to, our expenses are so much lower. And my advice to anyone is to be ruthless about getting rid of stuff. In other words, don't take those in-line skates with you if you move here- there's NO flat place to rollerblade!
So what part of the mountains did you end up in? I love them all, but really miss the Boone and Blowing Rock area! But if I had to choose sides, it would be Tennessee, with no state income tax. Plus we just do not have leaves that change color here in this part of Texas!
I was wondering if anybody else has ever walked away from their life and took a leap of faith to try moving to a different state. Specifically I mean moving away from somewhere where you had a good job, your family was there, you spent your entire life there without ever living anywhere else.
What was your experience? Do you regret it? Did you end up moving back home? Would you do it again and why? Where did you move from and to?
Just thought that I'd pull up the original post as a bit of a refresher. What a wonderful, evocative question. Many, many months later the responses are still coming in.
I was in my 20's when, after a rather short engagement, I married a guy in the Army. We moved four times in a little over two years. A bit of a shock, but I think that I handled the whole thing rather well. After that, I had to adjust to staying in one place for eight years. I was ready and eager to move again.
I've been living in NJ for over ten years. Overall, I've enjoyed it. I live closer to family here than I did in the preceding ten years. I'm not in love with the area any more; there's too much building going on.
My husband is employed by a company in the mid-west. He works from home and travels. We may end up moving out there. I'll handle it if the time comes, but I'm not sure what I'm going to do without an ocean, or a gulf, or even a bay.
I found this thread and while it is old, I couldn't help but revive it.
I left everything I know in Kentucky and moved to California. Excellent decision.
In Kentucky, I left behind great parents, a loving grandmother (since deceased, may she rest with God!), 2-3 very close friends, and a more superficially friendly Southern culture (rural Kentucky, where I'm from, is different from Louisville and Northern Kentucky, which aren't quite as full of friendly people IMO). Yet I also left behind a terrible job market, a miserable and sorely underpaying-commensurate-to-my-stress-and-demands full-time job, a lousy social life even in my 20s, some extended family with plenty of white trash/redneck drama (not everybody by any stretch), an absolutely annoying state culture, and a "best friend" whose wedding I was even in who turned out to be a jerk. My undergrad university there paid for all of my tuition, for which I was and still am grateful (graduated debt-free), but I hated the university experience and the city (Louisville) itself.
In California, I encountered a b*tchy/hostile boss at first, had to adjust to a high cost of living, and had to start over again with developing any kind of social life. Yet I have built a semi-decent social life in SoCal after only a year here (I also lived in the Bay Area for two years prior), currently attend grad school at a highly-ranked UC campus, have worked some great and valuable internships (including for one of the most populous counties in America and one of the most important transportation agencies arguably in North America), have got to dabble some in the tech industry, and have traveled from Humboldt to Imperial Valley. What's more, I'm temporarily moving to Western Europe for school, and my employer, although part-time for now, will allow me to work remotely for them while overseas; if that position were full-time, it would pay...well enough for a single guy, that's for sure.
So, I'm in my 20s still. To think, in three years, I've gone from a $25k/year job in which I was miserable and micromanaged to what is approaching a 200% increase in earning potential in a much more interesting field. Yeah, I'll take that!
I still visit Kentucky 2-4x annually, mostly because of my parents, but that's the only reason. They know I don't want to move back home--and they don't really like to hear that, but there's no point in hiding from them what they have already suspected.
Last edited by EclecticEars; 07-26-2014 at 01:39 AM..
EclecticEars, I enjoyed reading about your experience moving away from Kentucky. I originally started this post May 2007 when I was considering leaving California where I grew up. Well just 4 months later we decided to go for it and moved to Washington State and we are still here and love it. Sometimes I miss things that I had in California, places that were familiar to me where memories took place etc. Places I loved to eat that we don't have here, but since moving I feel like we have improved our situation quite a bit. We have better jobs, friends that we really enjoy spending time with. We can afford to live near better schools for our kids who were born here. Our quality of life is much better. I feel like we found a place where we are a better fit for our lifestyle. It was totally worth it taking a chance.
Last edited by dd94595; 07-26-2014 at 11:47 AM..
Reason: spelling error
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Stick to your plan! Feel free to DM me - we can help encourage each other and keep ourselves focused! I have the quote taped to my computer - and read it every day!
Moved again!
, found the murder weapon in our carport next day 
