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I recently moved to Nashville after a short stint at a job located in my hometown. I’m originally from a small town in southeast Alabama where the wild thing to do in high school was to ride out to someone’s peanut field, build a bonfire, and fill yourself with enough beer to make Wade Boggs envious. While I have little desire to move back, I do have a nostalgic feel for the hometown. I made some awesome friends who I could not see for four years and still start the conversation with, “Hey, fucker!” I was always the first one to say how much I hated the town in high school; however, looking back on it now, I wouldn’t pick another place in the US of A to go through all of my awkward adolescent years.
From rushing the field and throwing up on the 50-yard line after a blocked kick to win the game (the testosterone in me wants to say I crushed a case of Bud Light, but in reality I probably had three Gatorade and Vodkas and couldn’t see straight. “It goes straight to the blood stream, man”), to sitting in a friend’s living room arguing about what we were going to do on a Friday night. We had some damn good times.
I currently work in advertising, and my personal goal is to move to New York City after I gain a few more years of experience here. It’s the mothership for a lot of careers, especially in advertising, and it’s freaking New York City. It’s the hot 10 in high school all the girls wanted to be, and all the guys wanted to be with. I know rent is $4,000 a month to live in a cardboard box, BUT IT’S NEW YORK CITY. I could wax poetic about the city for the next two paragraphs, but I’ll spare you that torture. I’ve sacrificed a lot to keep this dream alive. I know people say your career isn’t everything, and it’s not, but it’s really damn important to me. I have a lot I want to accomplish before I find a girl, settle down, and become the old man yelling at drivers to slow down in the neighborhood.
My dilemma is that I almost feel internally guilty for having this dream. I never imagined it would be so tough to leave behind best friends, family, and everything that’s familiar to you. When I see the old crew back together via Snapchat, or hear about a night of drunken debauchery in our GroupMe, I would trade a lot to be there knocking back some cold ones with the fellas. Basically, FOMO is a fucking bitch. It’s become rare to see friends after moving six hours away from my hometown. I’m able to make the occasional tailgate, holiday, or wedding now that we’re all getting older, but it’s awful to know that people I used to see every day will only be seen 3 or 4 times a year.
Growing up is a bitch. I know that’s not any type of earth-shattering statement, but maybe this next part will be (or probably not since I would rival any fall Instagram for basicness). Shit is going to change whether you want it to or not, and if I stayed in my hometown, married, and settled down at the ripe age of 23 like most people in the south do, I would have been miserable. Every day would have felt like cruel and unusual punishment.
And if I had stayed? Things would have inevitably changed when we all got serious jobs, married, and had kids. You can’t cling to the past, no matter how badly you want to. The fact is, in life you’ve got to do what makes you happy. I knew that moving away and pursuing my dream was something I had to try so I could lie down at night and feel good about myself. Does it fucking suck sometimes? Is it tough to make new friends? Hell yes, to all those questions. At the end of the day, you’ve got to do you, and you shouldn’t feel guilty about it. Know yourself and know what makes you happy, and go get it..
Image via Shutterstock
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New York is a lot like that dream girl. It seems perfect until you realize it’s bursting with disease and crazy.
And then nobody believes you when you tell them.
As someone in almost your exact situation and who’s spent some time in NYC, stay in Nashvegas. New York sucks ass.
NYC is cool for awhile but the costs are insane. Chicago is an amazing city especially for advertising. Leo Burnett, Havas, Ogilvy & Mather, and Saatchi & Saatchi all have offices there.
Very true! I’ve visited Chicago many times and love the city.
It’s really easy to get sentimental about life in NYC when you don’t live there. $1000 gets you a nice 1-BR in Nashville. $1000 doesn’t even give you a back alleyway in NYC.
Welcome to Nashvegas, it’s a great city with a lot to do especially for a young professional.
Grew up in Nashville and now live in SE Alabammer. What have I done to deserve this?
One thing people fail to realize about NY is that it’s insanely transient. Every friend, roommate, acquaintance, won’t be here a few years from now. You’ll eventually find yourself a year into it game-planning moving back.
Careful with New York though, as someone who’s lived here for a little bit, its a roller coaster. When its good, nothing else compares to it, but when it sucks its the goddamn worst.
Some serious advice, if you’re going to do it, do it now while you can tolerate living in that shoebox with 3 intolerable new best friends. I highly doubt you’ll want to stay after 6 months, so it’s better to not package your long term career goals with it. I did the same thing as you’re wanting to do, but I choose somewhere 1) affordable and 2) not as impersonal as NYC.
Fuck everyone who is saying “NYC sucks ass blah blah blah” By the time you make it to NYC, based on your timeline, you will have some solid experience, and be able to afford a nicer place than you think.
I am all about chasing your dreams and doing something different than what is expected of you. Just a few months ago I relocated to a tropical destination, while taking a pay cut and living in a city where the cost of living near NYC’s, and so far it has been the best decision of my life.
If you took a pay cut with the cost of living near NYC’s, you either lack good decision making skills or I want your old job.
Meh, its not hard to attain a comfortable lifestyle on a decent salary, just have to make sacrifices. Luckily, in my industry it would pretty easy for me to slide back into my old position in my old city.
I don’t want to make sacrifices. If I want to go to a city with a crippling cost of living, I’ll fly in for 3-4 days, enjoy myself, get tired of it, then go back to where I don’t have to make sacrifices 🙂