I Want To Move!
You’re sitting in the office again, bored. To avoid staring at the wall, you’re wandering the internet looking at random articles, like this one. I should move to a new city or country wanders through your mind, again. You’ve been thinking about it forever. Maybe today you pull the trigger. Before you do though, let’s talk about your reasons for moving.
Many of us consider moving to a new location because we think it will result in a better life. Instead of a simple yes or no answer, let’s talk about some factors to consider before you pack up and start your life over. Reviewing these ideas should give you greater clarity about whether it will be worthwhile to move or not.
Consider the following questions:
- Are you trying to escape yourself?
- How confident do you feel about life?
- Are you moving for new opportunities?
- Do you feel like you need to explore?
- What’s waiting for you there?
- Are you starting from scratch?
- What are you leaving behind?
- How long will you stay?
- What do your finances and other logistics look like?
- Have you prepared?
Are you trying to solve internal or external problems?
These are just a few questions to prime your mind around the idea of leaving. We need to understand if we’re moving for internal or external prospects. For example, if you’d like to be more social but haven’t developed conversation and relationship skills, it’s likely that problem will chase you. It’s an internal, skills issue. If, however, you enjoy going out to bars but your town is too small, moving to a larger location will help with that! If you’re moving because you want to explore the world, that’s something you can’t do from a single location, but if you’re moving because you feel unaccomplished, that may not change.
Before packing up and taking off, make sure the problems you’re hoping to address are actually related to your location. One of the most disheartening experiences I hear are people moving across the country, only to find themselves worse off. Their confidence was just as low or lower than it was when they left. They have even fewer social connections. Some problems must be worked out internally and a change of location won’t help. For other problems, it’s the only solution.
After You Decide To Move
Let’s say you do want to move though. Many of us have an itch we need to leave, but never flush out the details. This is one of the primary roadblocks individuals face around moving to a new place, the idea sounds great but the execution never happens. If you decide you want to move, start looking into the small stuff. Piece by piece you can build up a plan around how and what you’ll do to travel.
On a related note, many people never take the first step because they feel uncertain about the outcomes. Getting into the details will reduce that fear. Map out the worst possible scenario and how you’ll recover from it. What if you absolutely hate the new place? Worst case scenario you lose some money, come back, and look for another job (or even get your old job back depending on how things go). Many of us create horrible scenarios out of the unknown, when truly we have quite a bit of ability to influence outcomes.
Do You Have To See The World?
One last note, some people feel like they’re supposed to travel, even though they don’t feel particularly drawn to it. While travel can open up many new and interesting experiences, it’s certainly not a necessary component of life. If you enjoy the area you live in immensely, there are plenty of ways to continually introduce new experiences into your life (if that’s even something you want). Don’t feel like you’re obligated to something you’re not interested in. There are other ways to push the areas of your comfort zone and grow as a person (travel just happens to be one of the most well-liked).
All in all, living in or visiting new places can be a highly valuable experience. If you’re procrastinating, start mapping out the first few details! If you’re looking to solve problems, take some time to think about what opportunities you’re hoping to find and how moving will improve those prospects. This way, when you go, you’ll be sure it’s going to be a valuable and beneficial experience. Best of luck!
Exercise Questions:
- If you could travel anywhere in the world where would it be?
- How can you make these travel plans a reality?
- Would you like to travel for internal reasons or external ones? If you find they’re internal, are there other solutions you could try before moving?