Two weeks ago, I was texting with an old friend when she mentioned how cold and chilly it was in Portland. “You gotta come here,” I said, referring to Florida. “Nah,” she replied. “Too much humidity.” I countered with the fact that humidity is only during the summer months, not year round. She still wasn’t convinced.

“I don’t like hurricanes,” she added. And I thought, wow, I’ve heard that many times before. It’s one of the most common misconceptions people make about Florida. I’m not saying that Florida doesn’t get hurricanes — it certainly does, but that mainly applies to southern Florida and the Panhandle. Where we are (Central Florida) chances of a hurricane occurring are less likely.

Look, I get it. Florida is not for everyone. It can get hot and chaotic. But then again, with climate change, that can happen anywhere. I’m not trying to convince you that it’s the “right” place to live but after being here for six months, I can say with confidence that it is the right place for me to live. Here’s a recap of what it’s been like for the past six months.

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Not always sunshine and rainbows

In my three-month post, I wrote, “Florida takes a lot from you, but it also gives you back a lot” and I still stand by this statement. Florida does take a lot from you — from the crazy drivers to the tolls to the housing cost to the insurance to the heat, it can be a minefield to navigate.

Our first three months here were filled with heat and self-doubt. Sure, we went to the beach and the pool to cool off, but when we were home, we were saddled with the thought that we might have possibly made a terrible choice. I mean, to move across the country to a place where you knew absolutely no one with no job lined up? That’s crazy. Nobody does that. EVER.

And yet, we did.

I’m only speaking for myself, not my husband, but I think we had similar thoughts. “What the heck were we thinking?” and “How long can we last here with no job?” and “What happens if we don’t find a job? Do we go back to the west coast or move to a different place in Florida?”

One thing was for certain: we were not going back to Oregon. Apologies to my Oregon friends and family.

Prior to moving to Orlando, I was living in sunshine land. My brain had already detached from my west coast memories. I was ready for something new. I thought (foolishly) that we would have no trouble finding a new job. After all, we were mid-career professionals with college degrees. It should have been easy.

Boy, I was wrong.

Once the job search started, we learned that the market had changed. This is perhaps a conundrum that occurs when one hasn’t searched for a new job in years. Your beliefs stagnate, residing in the past, the way it used to be. You have no idea how employers view potential candidates, how they vet candidates, how to write cover letters and resumes that will actually get the attention of a real human being, and what other tips and tricks might work to land that interview. And even if you get an interview, there is no guarantee that you’ll get the job.

There were many, many job search days where my husband and I sat in two separate rooms — me in our bedroom, him in the dining room — hunched over our computers searching, searching, searching…and applying, applying, applying, and occasionally, yelling across the room whenever we found a new opportunity. We even dressed up to go to a career fair with no luck.

We discovered the cold, hard truth — that competition is fierce, more so than before, that we might have to start at the very bottom. Weeks went by where our hopes bobbled up and down, and with it, our confidence. Finding a new job in your late 30s/early 40s is a lesson in humility. It’s realizing that you’re about to be dunked into a large tank and you are completely naked and there is an audience watching. It’s like coming to a party only to realize you weren’t invited.

Finally, something changed

After three months, things slowly began to change. The humidity had mysteriously disappeared. One day in early October, I took a walk down to Panera as part of my regular daily stroll and I realized that the air felt cool. Usually, I’d start sweating after 15 minutes of walking but that morning, I was as dry as a bone. The breeze felt so good and it kept on coming.

Since then, we’ve had a few strangely cold days but for the most part, the weather is truly pleasant here. The sun hits at just the right spot, giving me the vitamin D I desperately needed. Lastly, I still cannot get over how beautiful sunsets and sunrises are here. It’s phenomenal.

And it’s more than just the weather. Our job situation changed as well, albeit slowly. My husband had gotten a part-time position working for a large retail chain, and he moved on to full-time. Meanwhile, we kept on applying for jobs that were closer to what we wanted. I ran into a conundrum where I had not one but three job offers and I spent several days being indecisive. All three had their pros and cons. I knew that getting three job offers was a privilege and I was terrified of making the wrong choice.

Ironically, the one I ended up taking was the one that initially seemed the least promising but the one that ended up being the best fit for me. It just goes to show that perceptions can be wrong. This position working for a university took a long time to get. I applied to UCF 15 times and was rejected 14 times. As much as I like to think that I have grit, I also think grit is developed when one has little choice in the matter. I had to get a job because I wanted to stay in Florida. Honestly, I didn’t want to fail because as you know, I don’t like to fail.

How we’ve all grown

Despite the challenges of the first six months, I think we’re here to stay. The biggest reason? Personal growth. Because of this big move, the four of us have grown and developed in astonishing ways.

For example, I am a person who takes the freeway now. My 9-year-old now walks to and from school by himself and he’s gotten on the honor roll twice. My 12-year-old takes the school bus independently and can cook dinner with little assistance. As for my husband, he’s truly honed in on his woodworking skills and has become significantly better, both in selling his products and in making them.

These are all things our old selves never would have done or considered. But our new selves in Florida just do it, and that’s pretty amazing.

The future is in Florida

It’s strange how our thinking has changed in three months. We went from saying “Oh boy, what have we done?” to “I’m so glad we moved,” as in I’m so glad we made this BIG, SCARY JUMP at the most inopportune time in our lives but it really was the best time because if we hadn’t done it now then we never would have done it at all.

So much has been said about regret and I just knew deep down I didn’t want to be part of the Regret Club. I don’t want to be in my 80s asking myself, “What if I had done that thing I really wanted to do?” Now I don’t have to because I did it. 😀

We took a risk that really should have not worked out, but it did. Is that luck or just plain perseverance? Perhaps a little bit of both? Only time will tell.

Other life updates

You don’t miss what you don’t see

At some point in the past month or so, I stopped checking Instagram, partly due to my frustration at the app not showing me what I wanted to see — posts from my friends and family, or people I know in real life. Instead, a barrage of ads appear whenever I scroll through the app. Nobody wants to check socials only to be hit with endless ads about things one should buy, so I stopped checking. And Instagram has noticed this because it started sending me emails telling me what I’m “missing.” No, thank you.

My point is: you don’t miss what you don’t see. Honestly, I thought I was going to miss not seeing updates from my friends but then again, the app wasn’t showing me what I wanted to see anyway. If you have Instagram, Threads, Facebook, or whatever social media app you use, I recommend not checking for at least two weeks.

But what if I want to know what’s going on with people?

An excellent question. I say, if you really want to know, just text or call them. Or write them a letter, stick a pretty stamp on it and mail it to them. It will take longer to get a response, if you get one at all, but sometimes the wait can be better than the results themselves.

What else are you “not missing”?

Another excellent question. A few years ago, I stopped eating red meat. I don’t know why, I just didn’t feel the need for it. Perhaps it was around the time that groceries became more expensive and I had to watch where my hard-earned dollars were going or risk spending $1000 every month on groceries. Long story short, I cut out steak, pork, and other red meats from most of my meals and I don’t miss it one bit. Sometimes I eat pork and/or sausages but that’s rare.

A fridge audit

One of my New Year’s “resolutions” is to be a more environmentally conscious consumer and I have to say…I’m not sure I’m doing a good job thus far. Yesterday, I did an audit of my fridge and discovered there were vegetables growing mold inside the crisper drawers. On top of that, many veggies were floppy, old, or unusable and smelled awful. The end result: five small bags of garbage. As someone who has major issues about letting good things go to waste, I need to work on clearing out my fridge more often. I recommend that you do the same, both to save money on groceries (so you don’t buy what you already have) and to prevent things from growing inside your fridge.

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