Goodbye Rochester, Hello…

“Sometimes it takes 10 years to get that 1 year that will change your life” 

Words can’t describe what it’s like to wait years for a dream and to finally achieve it. I’ve thought about this moment a million times in my head over the years and now that it’s finally happening, I just can’t believe it! I’m finally moving out of Rochester. 

Despite being born and raised in Rochester and living here my whole life, it’s never felt like home. This resulted in spending years trying to decide on a new place to live (not an easy task!) and feeling as if there’s no place that feels “perfect” and fits all my requirements. Over the years, I thought about moving to Los Angeles, NYC, Miami, New Orleans, and even to Istanbul! Yet I’m an intuitive person and always listen to my gut feeling and knew that none of these cities felt right. Then, as my last days in college came to a close, I began to “think like an adult” and made a list of what my requirements are and thought about things on a realistic level (which is so hard for me since I’m always living in my head! I’m a Pisces haha). I managed to narrow down my requirements to a warm climate city that has no winter, good job opportunities in the media industry, good shopping (so important cause we don’t even have an H&M or a Zara here in Rochester!), and of course a place where the rent isn’t outrageous and I can actually live a better life financially as well as mentally. Afterwards, I began to look at popular cities that millennials are moving to and that’s where I discovered the incredible qualities about Dallas. A city that has never even crossed my mind until I discovered that list. The more I did research on it (and I do mean A LOT of research), the more I loved it and I could completely imagine myself living there. 

I knew I was making the right decision when instead of feeling anxious or doubt, all I felt was peace and calmness. If you knew me in real life, then you would know how out of character this is for me since I’m always overanalyzing everything! Yet being stuck in the same old city for years and years and living a boring and mediocre life has made me realize that there’s one thing that’s more painful than change: your life always staying the same.

To anyone, that feels like they’re stuck and they’re just waiting for their life to change: create a list and ask yourself what you want, do tons of research, take small steps to move towards your goals, and after you’ve done everything you can, trust the process and believe that everything will work out for the best. It’s taken me years to move out of Rochester, but the time that it takes to accomplish a dream isn’t important. Staying persistent and finally accomplishing it at the end will make everything worth it ♥

Thanks for reading,