Today as I was driving down the road, alongside palm trees and a sign that says Carolina Forest and Darius Rucker’s new song ‘For the First Time’ came on the radio. Do you ever listen to lyrics and its like that song really understands you? When was the last time I did something for the first time, I thought to myself? I have made so many changes in the past few years that I never thought would happen. So many of us say we like change, but when it comes time to actually change, we are scared. I was so scared. But I didn’t let that hold me back.
Its been almost three years since we decided that it was time to pack up and move to a new city, a new state, and start a whole new life. Some days I still can’t believe it. We had always talked about moving to the beach, but did I ever think it would really happen? No.
But now the sandy beach, salty air and beautiful sunsets are my home.
No new friends. Well I can promise you I probably wouldn’t have made many new friends if I would have stayed in my hometown. When you move to another state, there is no such thing as not making new friends. I guess technically there is, but what fun is that? My husband moved 2 months before I did, he made friends at his job and one of them was married. He talked about how much fun they were having hanging out on the beach. Of course I had to look up his friend’s wife and stalk her Facebook. All I could think was “she’s never gonna like me” Well guess what…now she’s pretty much one of my best friends. I never would have met her if we wouldn’t have moved.
Moving here was definitely a way for me to come out of my comfort zone. This has been a huge deal for me. I am more of an introvert so I had to come out of my shell if I wanted to have any kind of social life outside of my family. I had to talk to people, find places on my own, it was like everything I did was an adventure.
Starting a new job. So this isn’t that special I mean everyone starts a new job at one point in their life right. Well I started a new job, in a new city, driving a bus with kids, and I had no idea where anything was in this town. We moved in June, school started in August which meant work for me started in August. 2 months of driving around town and I still had to use my GPS to get where I needed to go (let’s be honest some days I still use it). So, I had to get on a bus on the first day of school and yes I was given a route description but boy oh boy that doesn’t help much when it comes down to it. That was an interesting experience but I survived and am now going on my third year and I love it, I love my co-workers and of course all my kids on the bus.
I know it may seem scary, but stepping out of your comfort zone and trying something new or making a change, it could possibly be the best decision you have ever made. It was for me. Life is far too short to think about the what if’s, don’t let your fear hold you back.
After a few months of living here I realized there is nowhere else I’d rather be, I’ll probably never sound like “them” because of my horrible yankee accent but this is home now.
So when was the last time you did something for the first time?