Crossroads
Hello. This is my first blog post and I am going to share my journey with you. I hope that you get some value from this and that you will start your own journey, without fear.
Many times in my life, I have stood at the crossroads and wondered which path to take. Most of these crossroads were small and the end was in sight.
However, those crossroads that were wide and did not allow me to see the miles stretching out in front of me were the crossroads where I had to either let my past dictate my future or choose my new path to a new future.
I thought about who I had become, how I had gotten to that point and what decisions I was glad I made, what decisions I had wished I had made and what each decision would mean in the here and now.
I won’t talk about getting married and getting divorced or taking the first job I took on this journey in my life. Those experiences definitely made me who I was and set the wheels in motion to get me to where I had arrived. This post is actually about a much larger decision so many people I know are scared to make.
My daughter did not have great medical care and the closest place for us to take her was around 8 hours away. I didn’t want to keep having to do this, because my dad drove us and I knew that this was a huge inconvenience for him. He didn’t say it, but I knew it.
We had to give up entire days of work and such and we had to plan her treatment extremely well. This was inconvenient to us as well and we just had so much anxiety about the whole situation. My daughter was turning 18 and we both just wanted some independence with handling our lives. We didn’t want to have to rely on someone else to do the things we needed to do.
We researched what cities had excellent treatment for her condition and we researched each individual place and took into account the reviews, the crime rates, the housing costs and transportation services available.
We chose a city in Arizona, where the weather was warm most of the time and it was a larger city with a “little town feeling.” We were coming from a little town, so that resonated with us.
We packed and unpacked the minivan about 7 times before we decided what we could and could not take with us. We could not haul a trailer with the van. We wanted to, but it just was not possible for the type of vehicle we owned. It took us two more days than we had originally planned, we had some setbacks we did not expect, we had to let go of some items we really didn’t want to, but we would do it all over again if we had the choice.
Many people say they don’t know how to pack up their entire lives and move all the away across the country. The truth is, it is hard work. You have to plan at least 6 months ahead. You have to decide how much room you really have, how much you are actually able to part with, what risks you are willing to take and what has to be set up before you leave.
Some people have the money and time to fly there and see the city, maybe pick a house or apartment, apply for jobs (or have a remote job already set up), and have everything shipped there ahead of time. We didn’t and we still made it work. If we can do it, you can too.
When we arrived, we looked at ads for apartments and just found something affordable that was renting month to month. Our goal was permanent housing within 30 days of arriving. Before I left, I had made sure that my resume was tip-top shape and I was ready to share it.
There were 2 hospitals and I had worked with hospitals, so I applied to them and had interviews within the week. There were plenty of fast food restaurants and retail stores to fall back on and I applied at as many as I could. I went to interviews and I decided on a fast food restaurant near where I lived and I kept working with the hospitals where I had applied.
I finally decided on one of the hospitals, accepted the job, and kept the fast food restaurant as a second job. It was expensive to move, after all, so any amount of money I could make was helpful. We also liked the apartment we got, and our neighbors, so we ended up staying there for about a year.
We have worked a lot, often two jobs at a time, to make this work. After five years, however, we are starting to build a really great life and we love it here! We recommend to anyone to go ahead and take the plunge. Never think you have to stay in the box you live in. You may not know there is a whole world of opportunity out there, but I assure you it is not as scary as it seems. There are plenty of people to reach out to who will be happy to help you succeed!
Reach out to the Facebook groups where you want to live, reach out to the apartment communities, or over 55 communities. You can usually find phone numbers for them. Ask others from there for suggestions, recommendations and advice. Have potential jobs email you an application, or reach out to them by sending your resume. Whatever you do, the first step always seems scary, but you will find that you can do more than you ever thought you could.
