Moving to a new city is not an easy thing. Especially when you’re a young adult. It requires courage, strength and a lot of determination to get yourself to take that giant leap of faith from the world you know and love, where you are so comfortable, into a world of all kinds of uncertainties and fears.
It is exciting to think about and look forward to a new life where you can live on your own terms, where there are new opportunities and possibilities that shine brightly. But at the same time, you can’t even begin to think about the pain of leaving your loved ones and just carry memories of your soon gonna be “old life”.
Transitioning into a new city is hard, no joke there. According to some studies, it takes about six months for a person to be able to feel settled in new surroundings. I second that, because it was a similar time-frame for me when, after college, I had to move to a new city for work.
There are things I wish I knew before I moved out of my cute little bubble. But well, I guess you only learn these things better out of experience.
Just to give a heads-up to those who plan to move to new places, here are a few pointers to keep in mind!
- You will feel alone at first, but it can be a good thing.
When you move to a place where you don’t know anyone, you will feel very alone in the beginning, especially if you’re a people person and are used to having people around you all the time. But this is not necessarily a bad thing. Use this alone time to get to know yourself better. Do things that interest you – join a gym, go swimming, read books, go shopping, take up cooking as a new hobby, pour yourself into anything you find interesting and worth your time. Hidden in the process of doing all these things you will find the golden truth that being alone is not being lonely. Spending some alone time is good for your personal growth. You learn to take care of yourself.
- You will make friends, but slowly.
It can be depressing when suddenly you have no friends at all. All your existing friendships become long-distance relationships and speaking to them over the phone is not the same feeling as hanging out with them, going out for a movie or planning a party. But patience plays a huge role here. Friendships will bloom, but slowly. The process takes time and you must let it grow. Just give it time and keep nurturing those little buds. They will eventually bloom.
- A new city makes you independent and tough.
Now that you have to do everything by yourself, where you cannot really depend on other people for a lot of things like you used to, say hello to the breeze of being independent. You will hate it at first because you have to do everything on your own. But slowly, when that becomes a habit and you learn to take care of yourself, you realize that you are now officially a grown up! You are teaching yourself to do things that you never would have done before, at least not without getting help, and let me tell you, it feels very accomplishing! You now feel the winds of being strong and independent, and it is beautiful.
Go ahead, spread those wings. Discover, learn, grow.
