I took a trip to Colorado this summer and it was the first time in my life I ever really left the south. It just blew my fucking mind. I love where I’m from, but there’s just so much fucked up shit that I just thought was how it was. I’m a white cishet, so I’m not vulnerable to the worst of the south, but it absolutely blew my mind seeing somewhere that you didn’t just have a background level of distressing shit in view at all times. The most striking thing was how there weren’t any ruins around. You get used to seeing overgrown, dilapidated buildings dotting the side of the road pretty much everywhere you go. It was wild to me how rare that was, comparatively, once you get to the other side of Texas. There’s a million other things, but honestly I didn’t spend enough time there to really know if all of them are the norm or if I’m just making shit up. As shitty as I feel saying it, it would also be nice to try dating somewhere there weren’t quite so many ““country”” girls.
My only regret would be leaving behind all my friends and family. That’s just such an insane leap to me, and I have no faith that I’d be able to find new friends elsewhere now that I’m out of college. I know I’m experiencing a massively cliche impulse and all that, and that there’s lots of problems that will follow you wherever you move, but how do I know if I’m insane or not? Does anybody have advice for trying to find a job somewhere you don’t live? I’m sick of all these damn pine trees.
Maybe try finding a local job that can be done either in-person or remote. Start off in-person, then switch to remote when you move. And if you find moving was not for you, just move back and the job is still there.
What kind of work? Remote work simplifies things a bit, with some different risks potentially.
I’d say go for it, having no idea what that looks like logistically. I uprooted before, meeting new people wasn’t as difficult as I thought, and I’m demographically similar.
I’m trying to get hired as a software developer (just graduated in April, job hunt has not been going well) so remote is very realistic and all that. It’s just that every remote position I’ve seen pays substantially less if you’re from a poor state, so I’d been living on a really tight budget moving somewhere more expensive.
My only regret would be leaving behind all my friends and family
Literally the main reason I stay where I am so I completely feel you
Colorado is totally worth moving to. I’m an hour away from anything I could want to do outdoors. Within a two hour drive I have some of the most beautiful places in the country all to myself. In eight years of constant adventures I’ve barely left the northeast corner of the state and it made me a whole new level of naturalist.
At least with Texas you’re within weekend trip distance. It’s a 12 hour drive to Dallas from Denver and there’s bus service in the Front Range cities.
15 minutes away, with lots of little beach coves to kayak camp at. An hour away there’s a huge set of sand dunes where Pacific storms deposit shark teeth against the Rockies. Four-ish hours away is the absolutely surreal Great Sand Dunes National Park: https://images.app.goo.gl/hcxfRwEjYGpv3HxU8
I think before moving you should try to see another corner of the country. All of America has problems but they are all a little different. Some are easier to live with than others.
From the south and went to Colorado? I would say try the opposite, go towards the northeast, or you could try my home state of Michigan. Plenty of sites to see too, get a national park pass and you could camp in several states!
