Chi Town

So here's the deal. My little fam and I moved from Nashville, TN to within about a 30 mile radius of Chicago, IL. I was so excited to come to explore a new city and still am but honestly, the move was a lot for me to adjust to. I really had no idea what to expect. Sounds exciting, right?! Wrong. When I first moved, I was so overwhelmed. Trying to figure out directions, parking and how to get where I needed to go is a task in itself. After my first view times of driving in the city my anxiety on a level 10. I told myself I would just rather stay in Indiana. It doesn't help that I can be a bit dramatic as well so I really just stayed in, didn't explore much and just kept to myself. Oh..and of course on top of all of that it was the coldest cold and winteriest winter I'd ever experienced! I'm from the south so we had snow but not really. At one point this past winter, I was standing in 10 ft of snow shoveling a driveway (people really have shovels and snow blowers here) and digging my poor little car out of the biggest mountain of snow I'd ever seen. I quickly called home like, "Hey. You guys know NOTHING about winter!" sent some pics and videos and laughed it off.

Towards the end of the winter, I caught the flu and a sinus infection for weeks and thought my life was over..really I did. Hey, I said I was dramatic. 

Truthfully, when I first thought of the move, I thought of all the fun, sight seeing and opportunities that I'd get to explore. Upon arriving, reality hit me and I realized there were and still are a lot of challenges, a lot of learning to do and a lot of adjustments to make. Even with all that, I'm thankful I made the move. I'm better because of it. It totally forced me out of my comfort zone. In fact, I have no comfort zone at this point lol. So if you are planning to move or thinking of moving to a new city, I have some tips for you that could be helpful:

Prepare - In our situation, we moved way sooner than expected. We moved our lives in three weeks. Yep, three weeks was all the time we had so there wasn't that much preparation involved. We kinda just packed, left and hoped for the best. In hindsight, I definitely believe being more prepared would've helped ease some anxiety for me and help with a better overall adjustment. I understand life can come at you fast, as was the case with us, but if you have time to prepare do so to the best of your ability.

Stay Positive- With adjusting to a new city, environment, meeting new people, etc you can easily begin to feel overwhelmed. I know I did. But try to keep a positive attitude and see the upside to everything. I decided I could look at this like a pain in the butt (the commuting, parking, crazy driving) or I could choose to see the good in the situation and enjoy the amazing skyline, architecture, pizza/food, and the many unlimited things to do and experience that Chicago has to offer. I mean, we're here now until further notice so I might as well get my life! That's my ultimate attitude for everything. Staying positive doesn't mean that I don't have negative moments or want to quit life (I've got to stop this idea specifically as I realize now typing this it's really dramatic lol) but it's really how I feel in the moment! I just means that I don't stay there. I choose to not keep a negative mindset mainly because it's unhealthy and unrealistic. I choose to make the best out of every situation while keeping a positive outlook. And that's the difference.

Make A Wishlist- Pinterest is my friend because I've been able to make a Chicago wish list for all the places I want to see and visit and that keeps me motivated and excited. I realized something about myself recently and that is the fact that I love experiences. Not only do I love new experiences but I am motivated and inspired by them. Everyone is motivated by different things but I love to experience new places, cultures, food and just life in general from perspectives other than my own. One thing I learned in Nashville is that there are gems everywhere and sometimes exploring where you currently are is just as exciting as exploring far away places. I seek those things that will challenge me and help me grow as a person so I'm constantly adding things to my wish list and that keeps me focused.