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Imagine the following scenario:
Although you’re the last person they hired before the company had a hiring freeze, you exceeded all expectations.
Initially, your sales quota was below par, but you took some sales coaching classes in the evening, learned the art of persuasion, and practiced your skills on the job.
Slowly, your results improved. You took everyone by surprise when your sales were only $100 short of the top salesperson in your company, who had been there for 15 years compared to your 11 months. Then, in the next quarter, you blew past him.
When the boss called you into his office after breaking the record for highest sales in your division, you expected a warm handshake and kudos. Instead, you got a promotion and he asked you to be a sales manager at their office in Denver.
Now, you’re home alone, sitting in your apartment wondering if you should go. You’ve never left your hometown to live anywhere else before.
Should you go? It will double your income. It will change your life beyond recognition. But you have no idea what it’s like to move to a new city.
You’ve clicked through your smartphone and found that Pikkup is the latest disruptive moving on demand app that will help you handle all the logistics of moving your stuff.
Your last excuse about not having a way to move has just been removed.
Here’s the thing: you’re fine where you are. You know everyone in your small town. Your family is close. Your friends think you’re wonderful. Your life is going well, and your new career is now soaring.
You still remember the desperation you felt before you got the job. You had been unemployed for almost half a year and were about to be evicted from your apartment, but now you’ve turned everything around and life is inviting you to go even farther.
If you give all this up, what do you have waiting for you in a new city?
This will probably not be your exact scenario, but your moral dilemma may be similar. Should you leave the town you live in and venture out to a new city where you don’t know anyone? Is it a wise or foolish move?
Think On These Things
Here are a dozen ideas to contemplate:
1. It’s an act of courage. It’s stepping into the unknown. You’re defying the odds. If you take the plunge, it will force you out of your sheltered world.
2. You’ll be forced out of your comfort zone and be exposed to a world of opportunity. With great risks you might experience equally great rewards.
3. You don’t have a spouse, a mortgage, or children. You have nothing to tie you down, other than your sense of loyalty to your family and your friends since childhood.
4. You’re scared and you’re thrilled all at the same time. On the one hand, it might be dangerous. You might get lost just walking home in a strange city. You might need help, and nobody knows your name. On the other hand, you may have wonderful things happen, too. Unexpected things. New discoveries.
5. You’ll meet people from all walks of life, from different ethnic backgrounds with diverse traditions and interesting perspectives on how the world works. You’ll broaden your understanding and enrich your worldview.
6. You will no longer be subject to the subtle psychological constraints placed upon you by your family and friends. You will meet people who have no expectations about you, and you can reinvent yourself. You will broaden your interpersonal skills.
7. Your current social life is boring and predictable. You have the same dinners at the same restaurants, go to the same movie house every third weekend, and shop at the same stores, buying variations of things you already own.
8. In a new city, you’ll make new friends, go to different places, be exposed to new cultural ideas and themes. You might go to an opera, a live play, or stroll though fascinating art museums. You’ll touch, see, hear, and feel things you’ve never known before.
9. You may take up new interests, hobbies, or studies. You might learn to dance, cook Thai food, or learn how to code. You’ll discover new parts of yourself you never knew existed. Perhaps, a hidden spontaneity; perhaps, a bold new talent.
10. You may just meet people who change your life. People with deep ideas, open hearts, and a sense of possibility you never considered. You might even find love and lifelong friendships.
11. You’ll be safe. You’ll have a good job, and it won’t be difficult to find a nice place to stay. In a week or two, you’ll be all settled in.
12. You can always come back, visit your friends, and enjoy Christmas vacation with your family. They will be amazed at how much you’ve grown and you’ll no longer take them for granted. You’ll appreciate the old ways more because you’ll be a new person looking in at the way things used to be.
Should You Go or Stay?
Ultimately, there is no right or wrong decision. You’re not a coward if you stay. Just sensible. You understand your environment and can predict your destiny. Your courage to move may go unrewarded, or you may find ways to change your life beyond description. Existentially speaking, there are no right answers, only plenty of questions about what things mean.
