Most people feel like they need to “have it all together” in their 30s. Despite crushing interest rates, astronomical inflation and a seemingly never-ending stream of “unprecedented events”, millenials still feel enormous pressure to have already ticked off all the boxes of a “happy life” by now, or at least be well on our way to doing so. But what if we haven’t yet, and are nowhere close? Or worse, what if we HAVE and are still miserable?
As someone who has lived in 6 cities as an adult (if you count my three months in Granada, Spain for a semester abroad, which I definitely do!), I can tell you with certainty that my experience of living in different places have been the most significant and enjoyable parts of my life. I recently moved to Miami – which I had been planning for over 2.5 years – and it changed my life in a way that nothing else could have. I feel happier and more fulfilled than I have ever felt before!
I am not necessarily saying you should move to Florida – although sunshine, palm trees and the ocean DO seem to solve a lot of problems – but rather that if you have been living in one place for a while (or your whole life), it may be time to switch it up!
Here are some benefits to moving in your 30s:
Add Some Excitement to Your Life
This first one is probably pretty obvious – moving somewhere new is exciting, because everything is well, new! Even for my move to Miami, after visiting at least a dozen times prior, I feel like there is so much novelty and I am loving it! There are new restaurants and cafes to discover, new streets and scenery to drive past, new walks to go on, new people to meet. It’s been a huge breath of fresh air! I know that by the time I left the DMV for the second time (after moving back there for 7 years, which is way longer than I intended to stay), everything felt SO stale and old and I was beyond ready for some newness and excitement. For some people, the newness can be scary, but that’s the beauty of leaving your safety zone and heading for uncharted waters – you don’t know what to expect, and anything can happen!
Change Your Perspective
I am so grateful to every place I have lived and every chapter of my life that I have lived in those places for giving me the outlook and perspective I have about life currently. Between the drastically different topographies and climates of different locations, different lifestyles, foods and cultures – and even different languages – you can learn so much by living your day to day life somewhere new! The effect of living through the lens of different people is that it opens your mind to different ways of experiencing things, from the mundane to the profound. You don’t realize how similarly minded (or even small minded) people in your environment are until you leave to live somewhere else, and I believe if more people did that, we would have a much more open minded and accepting society overall.
Shift the Energy in Your Life
As I mentioned before, living somewhere for too long or staying somewhere that you don’t fit in can leave you feeling stuck, but it’s not just a feeling. I am a big believer in energy, and when energy is stuck and stagnant, there is no room for it to flow out or for new energy to flow in. I remember feeling like the manifestation powers I was so in tune with in San Diego just VANISHED when I lived at home in Maryland/DC, and it was the most frustrating feeling. At a certain point, no matter how hard I tried to do anything, I just kept hitting walls and dead ends. I felt like I was forcing everything, things were way harder than they needed to be, and I just felt very unhappy and unfulfilled. Things in my external world reflected the way I felt internally, and it left me feeling really low at certain points.
Since moving to Miami, there has been a very noticeable shift in energy and things seem to be flowing MUCH more easily! It has reflected in the ease of doing every day things, manifesting bigger life goals, meeting the right people, and just feeling happier overall. The best way I can describe the feeling is that I feel more aligned – physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually and energetically. It is a great feeling!
Add a New Chapter
Looking back at my life so far, I can distinctly divide it into chapters based on the places I have lived. I love the way I can recall certain memories from each chapter, and feel like I have lived multiple different lives in each one. As someone who tries to live as much life as possible, I have always made it my mission to get as much as I can out of each chapter. Even in chapters that I did not know would be temporary, there was always a sense of wanting to live in the moment, rather than waiting until later to do something. For instance, I went on as many road trips as I could while living in California, and that was my favorite part of that chapter! At the end of each chapter, I always made sure to check off everything I could from my bucket list and emotionally make peace with the end of the chapter, which gave me a very satisfying sense of closure and completion. Being so intentional about closing each chapter allowed me to make peace with it, both the good parts and bad, and let go of what I no longer needed so that I could clear my energy to make space for new energy in the next chapter. Anyone who has purged a lot of their belongings in a move knows how good this feels – just imagine that on a more energetic level!
You Will Never Be This Young Again
They say 30s are the new 20s but with money, and it’s true! Most of us don’t have as much much money as we want to have at this stage (or thought we would have), but I know I certainly have a lot more financial stability and knowledge than I did in college and my early 20s. Between that and the emotionally maturity and self awareness I gained throughout my 20s, I feel strongly that this recent move to Miami was way more monumental than my move to San Diego 10 years prior, even though that was a very exciting time of my life. I now have a level of self respect and determination that I did not have back then, and feel so much more in tune with my intuition. I love that I have all this knowledge and experience to bring with me to this new chapter, but I also feel like my life is really starting now for the first time. The excitement and newness make me feel young again, and I love that I don’t know exactly what to expect from my future – it’s not all laid out in front of me, which is both scary and thrilling at the same time. Granted, I am single and have no kids, so this move is a bit easier for me, but I know a lot of people who are around my age who are single and childless and could very well move but just won’t! If you are in a similar position, this blog post is your sign to take a leap of faith and make the move!! ✨
