Two years ago, if you asked me where I would have seen myself in 2022, I don’t know what I would have said. I probably would have laughed a little, joked about owning some business, and said that I definitely wouldn’t be working as much as I was at the time.
Two years ago, I was finally out of my grocery store job, into an office, and I thought I had it made. But I was working long hours, working a side hustle that was going nowhere fast, and just engaged. Now I’m married, living in a different state, and working more, but the catch is that I work for myself. So, in essence, half of the time, the work is just me flexing my brain, learning something, and conversing with one of the many dozen of clients I handle regularly.
Life looks completely different in 2022 than it did in 2020, not just for work and personal reasons, as the tides have shifted for us all.
Something We Can All Agree On…
Life has improved for some, dwindled for others. Life has changed, ebbed, and flowed, and the world has shifted.
Blowing out candles is now taboo, and we wear masks about as frequently as most of us wear underwear (I speak on the assumption, not based on actual results from a survey or something).
Most of us avoid the “C” word because it has flipped our world upside down. So instead, we call it something else. The plague, the virus, the icky, whatever you choose. It all led to revelations, changes, and expectations that have shifted.
As we all know, our reality looks very different today than it did in January of 2020.
Today, I’ll speak for everyone on either side of the political sphere: we all have our complaints in various areas, and it’s okay not to enjoy where the world is. It doesn’t make you weird; it makes you normal and human.
The Dangers of Isolation
Speaking for myself, last summer until now was a dark place. A very, very dark place. I know I’m not alone when I say that the world led me down the path of anxiety, depression, and soul-searching again. But I’m happy to report nothing but bright lights, sunshine in the sky, and rainbows all around as I write to you know, completely vulnerable, honest, and unfiltered for the most part.
My world completely shifted in the last year. I was fortunate that the tides led me down the right path. Like Jack Sparrow aimlessly wandering around the sea with nothing but a ruddy old compass, I was led down the right direction, right to what I believed to be true all along.
Changes in Latitudes and Attitudes
Moving to Denver was supposed to be the move that changed everything, but the life that we envisioned was gone. We returned to not recognize any of the cities I had been to a handful of times. Things were not the same, and I’ll be blunt when I say that we spent a great deal of time working, plugging away at every little project we could.
We made plans. We prepared. We knew what we wanted to do. But, we had realized a few things during our move, and now, our subsequent departure from here:
- Just because you think a place will be amazing doesn’t mean it will wow you and rock your socks off.
- Just because you hated the last place you were at doesn’t mean you actually hated it.
- More chess pieces at play can cause you to hate something, but indirectly. Only once you leave do you gather a clear idea of what you dislike.
These realizations all led me to realize that the location was not the problem, but the people I was entrusted to give us keys to the future were the issue. We were headed down someone else’s path, not our own.
Here’s the cold, hard truth: There are 1,000 other ways that you can make money, get passive income, and earn yourself a liveable (beyond sometimes) wage that will carry you forward towards your goals. And before you say it, ANYONE can make themselves a success story. Let me repeat: ANYONE.
So just because someone approaches you with the next best thing doesn’t mean that you have to do it. Find what works for you. Seriously. It took me this long to admit I was wrong and see that Florida wasn’t the problem. It was what we chose to do in Florida.
To Tranquility and Freedom
Florida is a god-send, and sure, in my last post, as I review it eight months later, I realize how my perspective has shifted. All that work that we put in this year in Denver was not for nothing but for achieving a clear head, view, and plan that we want to achieve.
So now we are planning our return to our home, to the place that we left less than a year ago because we know now that it is home. It always was, and always has been. What was disrupting our sense of residence was not the place, but the people, the activities, and what we chose to do.
So much has changed over the last year, and I’m proud to say that I’ve learned my lesson. I’ve conquered emotions and responses that I never had quite experienced before. Now I’m yearning for the feeling of the sand beneath my feet and the water rushing around my toes. I knew that all those stories I wrote in the summertime were not for nothing, but my inner child wanting nothing more than to be in Florida, where the days are full of sunshine, and the people are full of zest.
I don’t expect everyone to understand precisely where I’m coming from, as everyone has their own perspective, their own desires, and their own plans.
I know for me, myself, and I–and my husband–that Florida has and is the place that we call home, and I can’t want to go there, set our feet in the sand, and take a deep breath.
Everyone has their happy place, but Florida is ours. So I’m excited for what the next chapter brings with us, both controlling the steering wheel, ready to really capitalize on the second chance that we have earned for ourselves, but most importantly, for the future kids we will have someday.
Finally, it’s time to go home and follow the shifting tides once more. This time with the proper framework and the right foundation to make our lives there as peaceful, beautiful, and tropical as we like, all to our heart’s delight.
