Texas -> North Carolina

1,172 miles later, and we finally made it to Charlotte.

I know that it was challenging, but it really did feel like a breeze looking back at it.

How We Did It

We sold most of our furniture, which I highly recommend for anyone doing a cross-country move. We packed up our bed, 2 bedside tables and 1 dresser. We donated, sold or threw out over half of the things that we owned so we could fit only necessities into our U-Pack (also, highly recommend their service. So easy, and the cheapest option for us!)

Why Charlotte?

Ah, the common question among our friends and family. No, we didn't move because of job offers. We don't have any family or close friends even close to the city. Thankfully, we have gotten connected to a few folks through friends that live here, so fingers crossed we cultivate relationships soon!

Kalvin is from Indiana, and I'm from Texas. We both were living in Austin for a little over 3 years. Neither of us liked our jobs. We fell out of love with the city the longer that we lived there. When we pictured our life 5 years down the road, we didn't see a lot of happiness in Austin for many reasons. So we started exploring!

We listed out pretty much every major city in the US (I tried to consider other countries - Kalvin rejected that option LOL). Denver, Nashville, Atlanta, Phoenix, Chicago... the list went on. Being a native Texan myself, I quickly slashed all of the cities where it heavily snowed during winter. I just can't.

We considered housing market, nearby adventure (mountains and beaches), technology job options, culture, traffic, weather, and more. Every time we narrowed down through process of elimination, Charlotte kept rising to the top. We visited the city over a weekend to tour some apartments and visit a few places we may enjoy going like the US National Whitewater Center. We tried to act like we lived here for a few days to see if this was somewhere we could picture ourselves being happy long term.

It just felt sooooo right. Every meal we had was amazing. Every interaction with humans were pleasant. The weather was perfect. The city was the cleanest downtown city we'd ever seen. Traffic was nonexistent (this must have been a God thing because of course traffic exists). The apartments were cheaper than we were paying for in Austin and way nicer and closer to the city. It just felt like... home.

What did we wait for?

If you don't know me personally, I must tell you that I am an extremely passionate and impulsive person. That's quite the dangerous combo. I've bought last-minute flights out of the country on a few occasions. I've quit jobs I was incredibly unhappy in without any other prospects. I typically let my "feelings" and "signs" drive my decisions.

There is something about the unknown that I find so invigorating. Call me naive, but I always believe that things will always work out - maybe because they always have. All that to say, when we were leaving Charlotte I was IN. I was ready to quit my job, sublet our apartment and move immediately - with or without jobs.

Kalvin and I could not be more different in this area. He's methodical, strategic, and logical. Lord knew I needed more of that in my life, and brought me him. So we planned to wait until one of us had an offer before we made the jump. That was a cute idea and all, but life has a way of fudging with your cookie cutter plans.

Kalvin's consulting job was trying to put him on a project that began the following week, which meant he would be traveling full-time to California again. It'd been about a year that he had been traveling every week, sometimes Sunday-Friday. So I panicked and realized that if he took that, it would be extremely difficult to move. It would all fall on me, and I didn't know if I could do it without him, nor did I want to.

Lots of discussions

So we had a few really hard conversations. I knew in my soul that we needed to be here, but I also knew that Kalvin and I handle these kinds of situations very very differently. What is second nature to me (being breezy and carefree in big life decisions, quitting things I'm not happy in without anything else to fall back on, etc.) is not how Kalvin is wired (thank God for this man).

After a few days of talking things through, Kalvin decided to decline a final onsite interview for a Product Management position in Austin - something he was eagerly trying to get into. This was tough for him, obviously. He decided to take vacation for 2 weeks followed by a 3 month leave of absence from Accenture. He could return at the end of his leave so long as he could find a project, which was never an issue for him. This allowed a couple weeks to sell all of our furniture, find an apartment in Charlotte, and make the move. Without jobs.

A quick moment of gratitude for Kalvin. I cannot express how thankful I am that he was willing to do something that goes completely against his nature and make the jump without either of us having offers on the table.

Things worked out!

Thankfully, he received a job offer less than a week before we moved, and started working 3 days after we arrived! Praise Jesus. He always has our back. It took another week for me, but I thankfully recently received a job offer as well! Not even a week after we arrived, we both had offers on the table. This is exactly what I was praying would happen. If we were meant to be here, we would fight to make it happen and things would work out. And they did!

Kalvin is doing Product Management at Passport, and I'll be a Program Manager at Tech Talent South in Jan 2020! The amazing thing is that these jobs are EXACTLY what we both wanted to be doing. We didn't have to settle just to get cash flowing again. These are jobs that we both struggled to find and get in Austin, but in Charlotte they came so quickly.

We're still acquiring furniture. We are currently without a couch or dressers. I'm borderline broke after the move, selling plasma to float me until I get a paycheck (PS highly recommend doing this even if you don't need the money). I sold my car to get out of debt and am currently hanging around in our apartment until I start my job in a month. We stood in the line at the DMV outside (it was cold and my toes were frozen) for 2 hours trying to get our NC drivers license's, only to finally get to the front of the line and be turned away because they were closing. We had a whirlwind of complications getting internet for over a week. Man oh man, this has not been a breeze. But it is oh so worth it.

I challenge you!

Is there a decision you've been contemplating for a while, but have been too nervous to make the jump? Whether it's moving cross-country, finding a new job, or something else entirely... I challenge you to do it! Things won't always work out the way you expected, but at least you are moving forward.

If you've made a leap of faith recently, I'd love to hear about it! Shoot me a note below.

194 views1 comment

Let's connect!

© 2023 by Train of Thoughts. Proudly created with Wix.com

This site was designed with the
website builder. Create your website today.
Start Now