The older I get the more I realize that I'm not a big fan of big changes.
We've had a few friends make BIG moves lately. Not house to house, or even town to town, but BIG moves. Leap of faith, leave it all behind, plane ride away moves. So of course, as that happens, it inspires conversation. Would we ever do that? Could we ever do that?
To me, it makes me very uncomfortable. Probably because our life here IS so comfortable. I love our town and our house and our friends and everything we have around here. I have people to put on the "in case of emergency" spot on forms. I know how much time it takes to get from home to the dance studio. I know that our house isn't perfect, but I know it well.
Plus, I'm pretty confident that NOWHERE is perfect and you exchange one perfectly imperfect life for another.
It's interesting to figure out when to move on and when to stick it out.
In the vein of "nowhere is perfect", we do have conversations from time to time about the places we are. Again, we see friends of ours making choices. Leaving co-ops, leaving dance schools, leaving clubs, and moving on.
We actually made a few changes this year - we got the new car of course, and went through all those discussions about what we see our needs being in the next few years. I left a mom group I've been in since Reagan was a baby, simply because it was time. And we made a church switch, which felt like a big deal.
Those endings and new beginnings are tough. I knew that we weren't totally happy there, for a variety of reasons, but I also knew that it would be hard to leave. We knew the routines, we knew the people, and it wasn't ALL bad...so why couldn't we just stick it out? We had a few friends who felt the same, and it seemed like they were going to stay. So...we should stay, right?
Well, we didn't. And once we made the decision to cut the cord, we did, with no waffling or plans to just go back if we didn't find the perfect spot. But the problem is that now we're figuring it all out. We need to figure out if we found a better place or just a different place. We need to figure out how to work through the holidays when we aren't 100% sure how to navigate. It's different. And different can be scary.
But making choices about beginnings and endings is hard. You need to be smart. Change for change's sake isn't always great. Split second decision making when you're frustrated with something isn't smart. But staying in a comfort zone JUST because it's comfortable might not be smart either.
From the everyday to the big picture - beginnings and endings are tough.
