Recently I moved from Grand Rapids, Michigan, to Portland, Oregon, for a job. A few months before that, I had just moved back to Michigan from Seattle, where I had had a summer internship. Six months before that I was living in Orlando, Florida, while I worked at Disney World. I moved to Michigan from California because it was cheaper to live and go to school there. In short, I've lived in five states over the last five years. One thing I've come to realize though is that most people only stay in one place their entire life, and I have come to realize that it's good to get the experience of living in different places.
It's easier to get a job.
When I was graduating from college, I applied to jobs all over the US. I was willing to be flexible with where I lived. I had friends who said, "I'm only willing to live in Grand Rapids." That made it so much harder for them to find jobs by limiting them to just one geographic area. It's different if you have kids or certain family responsibilities, but I highly recommend people graduating college to be open minded to resettling.
You meet new people.
While I was at Grand Valley, I heard people constantly complain about how "This feels just like high school." Many of the people who said that were at a school that a quarter of their graduating high school class was at, and many of them still hung out with their same group of friends that they had had in high school. I went to college with no one I knew from high school, and it was actually kind of a blessing; I was able to go out and make new groups of friends. Moving so many times has been the same way. I join Meetup groups for things I enjoy and go make friends based off common interests. Some of my closest friends are scattered throughout the US, and with texting, I'm still able to geek out over the latest Marvel movie with my best friend in Florida and share pictures of cute dogs with my good friends in Michigan.
You learn about other places traditions.
Growing up in Southern California, I used to surf and eat Carne Asade fries at least once a week. Once I moved to Michigan, my lexicon shifted to referring to soft drinks as "pop" and I began to use my right hand as a map to figure out where different parts of the state was. Living so many different places, I feel like I'm better able to connect with people who have very different backgrounds than me. Even if I talk to someone who is from a place I've never been, I feel more confident being able to relate to them and make a connection. This has helped me be able to network.
You learn to be more independent.
There's a sense of accomplishment when you can put a piece of IKEA furniture together all by yourself or figure out your way around a new city. I was 17 when I moved across the country from my parents to go to school. There were times it was diffidently very hard, but I really did grow up a lot in a very short amount of time. I remember there was one time a professor told me how he had students that were 22 years old, had never left their parents house, couldn't do their own laundry and would call to check in with their mom after they got out of class.
I can kind of tell now if someone has lived the same place their entire life. There is nothing wrong with that, but I do think it's important to go out and explore the world and place yourself outside of your comfort zone. I have lived in five different states and I am so thankful I did that.
