Moving Away
Leaving home, or the community you’ve come to call home, is never easy. Often we leave behind not just friends and family, but a sense of comfort, familiarity and confidence. It will take time to become familiar with this new place, make new friends, and create a new routine. Eventually you will learn to grow and thrive in your new circumstances. Below, I outline the difficulties of moving and ways of helping you accept the change and grow through the process.
It’s going to feel uncomfortable
You’re in a new city, you might not know a soul, and you’ve left your entire support system behind. You could even be in a different time zone now and it’s harder to speak to your family and friends when you’re feeling most alone. The discomfort and sadness you feel is natural. Don’t fight against yourself and expect to fit into your new surroundings right away. Give yourself time to heal from the shock of uprooting yourself. Keep talking to your loved ones as you go through this. You may experience doubt and wish you could simply move back and pick up your old life. But this will be an amazing experience for you, once you heal. Heal first, then grow into your new surroundings.
Explore!
You don’t know anyone, you can’t find your way around the city without getting stressed out—you just want to stay inside and hide. Don’t! There’s an amazing new place to explore outside your doorway. Go for walks, take the metro, drive. Give yourself time and don’t expect to learn the city in a day. It will have many surprises for you. Try to find a favorite coffee shop. Go see a movie at one of the nearby theaters. Find a park where you can wander and breathe the fresh air. Exploring will help you grow into the new self that you’ve become after this move. Ask locals for advice—you will be amazed at how excited they are to share their favorite restaurants and hikes to go on during the weekend. Exploring a new place is the foundation for becoming familiar with it and getting comfortable with it. After you have grown, you will be ready to thrive.
Embrace the positive
Once you have healed from the shock of moving and grown into your new surroundings, take the time to appreciate where you are. Depending on your situation, you might come to love the landscape, the weather, the people, the architecture, the restaurants, new activities, a new job, your new home or apartment… Because you moved, you are now experiencing these things. You are growing into someone new, and you are thriving in a setting that you’ve come to understand and value. Now it’s time to meet new people.
Make new friends
Often this can be the most difficult part of moving to a new place. The culture of the city might be different, you might not know a single person, or you might be so busy with work and getting accustomed to your new surroundings that you feel like you don’t have any time to meet people. Try anyway! Volunteer, join activity groups, meet friends of friends. New friendships take time. Searching for the right match can be difficult, but ultimately it will be rewarding. You’ll have a friend you can share you day with over weekend brunch, friends you can have over to your new place and watch shows with. Your life will be fuller because you’ll have a new community of your own. You’ll have people you care about, and you’ll know that they care about you too. This will help you truly feel at home and thrive in your new setting.
Moves are never easy, but you will survive them, and through healing and growth, you will come to thrive in your new situation. Take care of yourself, stay positive, reach out for help if you need it, learn to love your city, make new friends… You will experience so many surprising, exciting things now that you’re in a new place. Check out the some products I’ve added to inspire, motivate, and support you, whether you're recovering, surviving, healing, growing, or thriving, at www.the-profound-store.myshopify.com for reminders of your strength and endurance while you go through this process.