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What would you do right now if you could change your life? In my case, I seem to have gotten it into my head that I might want to modify my living location once again. This could mean moving to another U.S. city...but it could also mean going to an entirely different country.
There are no definite plans; no city or country identified; no job. I have an apartment lease and a brand new gym membership. This isn’t something that would happen in a matter of months -- it’s just an idea that hatched in my mind and won’t go away. I’ve felt for years, ever since I did a semester abroad in college, that I might end up leaving the U.S. again for a period of time. It’s an option, and I like having options.
I've always enjoyed reading memoirs written by people who have moved to foreign countries -- they write about their experiences, both good and the bad; what they learned; how their lives were changed. When I read about these people, I always think, “I could do that! I want to do that.” It almost scares me to admit it publicly because I usually make definite plans before I let other people know what I'm thinking. But I have a feeling that, this time, this is the best way to go about it.
At this point, I’m thinking another year would be the minimum amount of time I’d need before I was ready to make another move. There’s plenty of stuff that can be done in the meantime though, and I’ve identified some steps I can take.
Most importantly, I’m going to make sure I’m ready to welcome change into my life by being ready for that change to occur. How will I know which city or country I want to move to if I don’t know enough about these places to make an informed decision? I have to do research; I have to explore. Visiting a number of locations would be an ideal option, but that would be prohibitively expensive. I have a few places that I’d really like to see in person (an option for one overseas visit just presented itself last night), but for the others I could at least start doing some research online.
Another part of being ready for change is getting rid of unnecessary clutter so I don’t have to deal with it later. The apartment I live in doesn’t have a ton of storage space, but there are still things that could be weeded out from my closet: old paper files, clothes that are too small, shoes I don’t wear. On top of that, I have boxes of books and mementos stored at my mom’s house, and also in my little sister’s attic. It’s not a ton of stuff, but if it isn’t anything I really love or I’m positive I’m going to use again, there’s no reason for me to keep it (or ask other people to do so).
The thing is, I really like the fact that I’m contemplating this change while I’m happy with my life as it is right now. I like living in Alexandria; my job situation is good; I live close enough to immediate family members that I can reach most of them within a few hours. But I also like that I’m being proactive. I don’t want to wait until I’m tired of how things are, and get to the point where I’m miserable, before I start looking for alternatives.
I’m not 100% sure this will happen. I could always change my mind. A year from now I might say, “Hell, no. No way. Look at how fabulous my life is right now; I’m staying where I am.” And if that’s the case? That’s wonderful. It means I’ll have made an informed decision to stay where I am -- and if I do that, it must mean I’m happy and that’s where I should stay. But if I continue to have this nagging thought in the back of my mind that maybe, just maybe, I should do something else? If I don’t explore it, a year from now I’ll still have all those months of research and decision-making in front of me. It’s best to start now.
What do you guys think?
Related Reading:
Mandi at No Apathy Allowed moved to
