When’s the last time you followed your heart?
Like, reeaallllyy followed it.
For me, it’s been a while.
I feel like my ability to even hear what my heart is telling me has declined drastically from when I was a kid.
My heart is playing hard-to-get. I never know what she’s thinking.
I don’t want to blame social media for this, but it’s totally 100% social media’s fault and I take no personal accountability for this problem.
Kidding.
But I do think that because of today’s constant inflow of other people’s voices and ideas, it is easy to drown out our internal voice and forget who we are.
And you might not even know it’s happening!
We become little regurgitation monsters, running around the world wreaking havoc by regurgitating other people’s ideas and desires without having any of our own.
And that’s no way to live! We aren’t meant to be monsters!
SAN -> JFK
Today, I leave San Diego on a one-way flight to NYC, the Windy City*.
I’m trading in my car for a subway ticket.
My sunblock for a parka.
My wallet for a wallet with less money in it.
Inside jokes for cold intros.
Burritos for pizza.
And a place I’ve called home for a place with an unknown future.
I first felt the urge to move about a year ago.
But it didn’t come to me like you’d expect.
No epiphanies, no moments of clarity.
Not even a damn “aha” moment.
But rather a subtle feeling that something was off.
It seemed that all my friends were gradually moving into new chapters of their lives.
And while comparison is typically counterproductive, in this circumstance seeing their life transitions gave me the foresight to sit down and ask myself some of the big questions.
What do I like about my life?
What do I not like?
Where do I need to make changes?
What changes do I need to make?
When should I make those changes?
What are my next set of goals?
And in the nature of full transparency (I love full transparency - I think I’m an information nudist), here were my answers to those questions.
What do I like about my life?
Amazing relationships, priority on health & fitness, the lifestyle of San Diego is amazing, my blog finally crossed 100 readers
What do I not like?
I’m feeling a lack of purpose in my working life, I feel a bit aimless with the career moves I’m making, I feel like I have more to offer the world than what I’m currently doing, too much time consuming social media, not enough action. I feel like I’m not growing / learning as much as I used to. I’m not taking enough risks.
Where do I need to make changes?
Career / work, personal habits (consuming too much without taking action)
What changes do I need to make?
I need to put myself in an environment that will push me to grow / change. Moving to a new city that is faster-paced than SD would definitely do that
When should I make those changes?
In the next year
What are my next set of goals?
Use the skills and network that I’ve acquired thus far to build something meaningful for the world and meaningful to me. Be myself more often. Work on projects / companies that have a life of their own. Escape the freelance hamster wheel.
BOOM!
Solid answers, no?
One thing I noticed through writing out these answers was how important it was for me to feel like I was progressing and growing.
And that is not unique to me.
We all want to grow. To get better.
I realized my growth had stalled.
And that’s when things started getting weird.
Again, it wasn’t a sudden weirdness.
But rather, a slow, gradual weirdness.
It felt like I was slowly losing sight of myself and what made me, me.
I wasn’t being as bold anymore.
I still had opportunities coming to me, but most of them were from previous bold actions, nothing I was currently doing.
It felt like I was falling behind.
I knew that to feel like myself again I had to force myself to grow.
And a surefire way to grow is to throw yourself into a new city where you don’t know many people that also happens to be one of the most expensive cities in the world without a normal 9-5 income to rely on.
Sounds fun, right?!
So that’s what I chose to do.
Write your own story.
There’s nothing more empowering than realizing that you have control over your own life in some capacity.
By making a bold life decision you prove to yourself and your subconscious that you are in the driver's seat.
That life isn’t just happening to you, but that you are happening to life (kinda corny sorry).
I’m not saying that moving to New York is a great decision. It’s too soon to tell.
Who know’s, maybe I’ll hate it in NYC and run back to San Diego in a year.
But I’d much rather regret going and hating it, than regret not going.
And while we cannot control everything that happens in the world, we can control our actions & decisions.
So I’m deciding to send it.
Deflate my tires.
My intention is not to pump my own tires here but rather to inspire you to consider taking a chance on something you’ve always wanted to do.
It doesn’t have to be anything major, but I know there’s something rattling around in the back of that big brain of yours.
A little hope, dream, or idea that just needs a little life breathed into it.
You hear very few stories of people taking leaps of faith and regretting it.
And it’s not because everything always works out perfectly for you if you jump.
It’s because even if it doesn’t work out, you learn so much about yourself and realize that YOU ARE CAPABLE of doing big and great things.
Wrap Up
I’d like to thank all my friends and family in San Diego.
Couldn’t have asked for a better group of people.
I love you all moosely dearly.
And if there’s anyone out there who’s considering making a life change / career shift / moving cities / etc. hit me up and we can chat about it.
I’m going to do my best to document my NYC chapter both here on this blog and also on Instagram / Tik Tok.
I’ll probably be an influencer soon, so watch out.
Thanks for reading.
Until next time San Diego,
Flickman
P.S. If you know of anybody considering a major life change, send them this blog, maybe it’ll help them out :)
*I know the Windy City is Chicago, it’s just a little funny joke
LOVE-LOVE-LOVE your thoughts, observations and remarks. Wishing you well with the move. Waiting for an address to share my thoughts….
I needed this more than you could ever imagine -therealjdhd