#31 Do something crazy

I’ve been needing a drastic change in my life for a while now… I love living and working in the NYC area, but I’ve been here for almost nine years... that’s a long freaking time.   

I’ve wanted a change for several years, but have felt tied down, maybe even paralyzed, by my current situation… and let’s be honest, I’ve also been afraid of changing my situation because I’ve grown so comfortable with it… it’s very easy to keep living a life that you’re “just OK with” because there is really nothing wrong with it, but you’re also not at your happiest for whatever reason… maybe it’s the job, or the apartment you’re living in, or the people you’re around, or the location of the country you live in.


Companies always have mission statements, visions, and strategic plans for how to achieve their goals... why not apply that same concept to our personal lives?  So I sat down, browsed the internet for questionnaires and advice to help me figure out what would make me happy, and after a few hours of looking for someone to tell me what to do, I was just brutally honest with myself… what am I "just OK" about right now? What have I always dreamed of? What do I want to achieve? What’s my mission?


And during this process, I also wrote down all the reasons/excuses for why I felt I couldn't have what I wanted... and then I began working on breaking each reason down, one. by. one.  It took a lot of time, as well as some hard decisions, but once I started making the moves to propel my life in a different direction, I started to gain momentum and excitement, and well… 


#31 on my list: I'm doing something crazy:

• I'm selling my apartment (for a bit of a loss).
• I’m taking a job that is 2-3 steps backwards from a responsibility standpoint (and also a giant paycut).
• And I'm freaking moving to Florida.  

Three giant, crazy decisions, right? Yeah. Here's how I look at it though: Last year, I had the privilege of hearing Peyton Manning speak, and he talked about his decision to go to college at UTennessee instead of his dad's alma mater, UMississippi.  One of the things that Peyton said that resonated with me was that, whatever decision you make in life, you do whatever you can to make that decision the right one.  Any reporter (or friend, in my case) that says "I don't think you're making the right decision...", well, do whatever it takes to make whatever decision you make be the right one at the end of the day. Peyton worked hard, and made the decision to go to Tennessee the right one, and no one, at the end of the day, had the opportunity to say it wasn't the right decision. 

I'm not going to let anything stop me.  I'm going to make this work, come hell or high water.  This new job, even though a "downgrade" from my current career trajectory, is going to open me up to a new world of possibilities and a completely new career trajectory... and hopefully be a huge upgrade.  Sometimes you have to take a step back to go two steps forward.
 
So why move to Florida?  When I envision happiness, I envision warm weather and sun 365, easy access to the beach, the sound of the ocean, sundresses, flip flops, a Jacuzzi dip at night to gaze up at the stars, rollerblading on incredibly flat sidewalks, and eating fresh shrimp cocktail for happy hour. All that is found in Florida.  I'm meant to be there, and I've wanted to move there for YEARS.

Even though it might be crazy, now that I've made "THE DECISION" to take my talents to Palm Beach, I'm literally freaking out with joy.  

So... what do you think?!?!