Today I am talking about why you should move away from the town you grew up in and that includes the town you spent your college years in. Starting over in a new place is both terrifying but also offers you the freedom to start over and endless opportunities. It is something I did and while it was challenging in the beginning and still presents its challenges today, it is an experience I will be forever grateful for. While I was kinda familiar with Philly, I still had a lot to learn and I didn’t know a lot of people.

You have the freedom to do whatever.

That new career path you always wanted to try? Do it. That trendy neighborhood you always wanted to live in? Try it for a year. The best part about moving somewhere is that you can always just give it a year and if it doesn’t work out, you can try something else. When I moved to Philly, I had just left a job that I loved but it was consuming my entire life. I couldn’t make plans because I had to work and never had time to see my friends or date. With this move, I wanted to have a job that wasn’t that stressful and allowed me to spend more time working on making friends and simply having more of a life outside of work. The possibilities are endless, you just have to decide what you want to focus on and do it.

You will be forced to overcome your fears real quick.

Okay, so this may sound super dramatic I know but there were a lot of things I had to learn how to do on my own when I moved to Philly. Simple things like where to buy groceries, how to submit a work order for when something breaks in my apartment, how to get Comcast to come to fix my wifi and cable that keeps breaking… it’s the little things that you may have always known where to go or who to call (dad) when something needed fixing.

You have to do everything on your own.

I am pretty sure I said “I’m fine” a hundred times a day my first few weeks living alone in a new city. Not that I ever relied too much on my parents when I was still living at home, but it was nice to have someone to call when I forgot something or having dinner waiting for me when I got home. Living alone means that you yourself have to make sure you get out of bed on time in the morning and food will only appear in your kitchen if you go out and buy it. At first, it can be a little scary because you have to do everything yourself but after a while, I loved the freedom it gave me to do the things I wanted my way. I got to decide what to eat for dinner and how to spend my free time.

Pay Bills, etc.

When I first moved to a new city, I had a good amount of money saved up in my savings account to help cover moving costs, buying furniture and first months rent. Then a few weeks passed and I discovered that I had more money going out of my savings account than going into it. Right now,  I just have basic expenses like rent, college loan, car insurance, and my health insurance. Luckily, my parents are still paying for my phone bill! However, every time I swipe my American Express, I am the person who has to be able to pay it off later that month. I am happy that I am making good money at my job, however, a lot of my paycheck goes to rent not leaving a lot left over at the end of the month. Before I shopped a lot or had the funds to buy Starbucks whenever I wanted. Now, I am back to a strict budget watching where all of my money goes. With that being said, I still try to put as much as I can on my American Express so I don’t miss out on life experiences with my friends. If my friends want to go out for drinks or grab dinner somewhere, I will just put it on my card instead of worrying that I can’t afford it.

Learn how to make friends.

This is something I am still personally working on myself. It took awhile, but I was able to become friends with some people in my office. Making friends is weird in general and even weirder when you move to a new place. I had to learn how to start up a conversation or be the first to make plans to get coffee.

It’s scary, but you learn to just keep going.

There were nights that I questioned if I made the right decision. Now looking back, I know that I have grown as a person because of making this move on my own. Living alone can be a little scary so at night I would turn my tv on loud while I made dinner or did stuff around the apartment so I could hear voices. I still like to have the tv on when I am home alone but have also learned how to enjoy the silence in my apartment too. The biggest thing that has kept me going on this journey is knowing that tomorrow is another day to try again. A friend told me before I moved that no decision is ever permanent. If things didn’t work out, I could always move somewhere else once my one year lease ended. When things are getting overwhelmed, I just remind myself to try it for a year. Luckily for me, I found friends and a boyfriend that make life a little more tolerable and help me with the annoying adulting tasks.

You will learn to love yourself more.

First, congratulate yourself on having enough courage to try something new. Moving in itself is a difficult and daunting task and moving to a new city is even more stressful. The little things you achieve during the day turn into little life accomplishments. From waking up on time to having a clean apartment, I started to give myself the proper credit for every little achievement. At night before bed, I like to read one of my many self-help books or go to the gym to spend some time on me. When you move to a new place, you actually have a lot more free time than you know what to do with. I started to go to the gym a lot and snuggle in bed by myself with a good book and a scented candle. Take this time to “date” yourself and discover more about who you are as a person.

Going home becomes more special.

I worked so hard on my apartment to make everything perfect. It took  a few months, but now I think everything finally has a home. I love coming home after work and sitting on my comfy couch or cooking in my kitchen. My bedroom is girly chic with touches of Rosie all around but also peaceful since I kept it minimalist. Since I was the only one who picked out the furniture, decided where to put it and put everything the way I like it, the apartment has turned into my happy place because it is everything I wanted it to be.

Just try it for a year before you give up.

Instead of freaking out about all the things that can go wrong or that are currently going wrong, I try to just remind myself that in a year I can try something new. This apartment is only temporary, my job is only temporary and I still have time to work on my life to improve it. The most important thing is to try and when things don’t work out the way you wanted them to, you can always try again tomorrow.

Hope this blog post was helpful to some of you. I have a coworker recently accept a job in Colorado last minute and we had a long talk about her moving her life to a new city for a job. We talked about how scary it was but also how exciting it was to try something new. I reminded her that she had the support system back home and could reach out if she needed a friend but I know she will do just fine!