Some people willingly pick up and move frequently, others prefer to stay put for a lifetime and then there is everything in between.
Where do you fit, and why?
I’m a “stayer”. I have changed careers when faced with the prospect of tranfers and I always answer “No” for the job related question “Are you willing to relocate?”. I love to travel, but have no desire to live somewhere else. My family has deep, deep roots here which may be a big part of the reason, but I suspect that there is something genetic involved as well.
I have lived in my house for 43 years, but my wife and I are facing the necessity of moving because we have no family here and we think it prudent to relocate to be near one of our kids. All three would like us but one is married to a physician who is all set to navigate us through the arcane US medical “system”. But I would happily stay here (save for all the snow). I am clearly a stayer.
I have changed.
I used to move all the time. Across town, across state, across the country. Some times for minor reasons. After I went away to college I had 25+ different addresses in 12 years or so till I was 30. Then I stayed at a place 3 years or so and got fairly settled. They I put all my stuff in storage and kicked around for a year or so to 4 different places, and missed my stuff which was in storage. Then I stayed in a place for 6 years, and really dreaded the thought of moving. Now I have a house, and really would hate to have to move.
I guess a lot of it is that I used to have a truck and a good knees, and friends with good backs. I could move to a new apartment in 4 trips in 8 hours, no big deal.
Now I got a shitload of crap, and bad knees, and hate,hate,hate the idea of it.
I guess that sums me up as well. If I had the money to just write a check and go fishing until showing up with the move done, hell ya. But real world, no thanks.
I’m 36 and I’ve lived in the same neighborhood for 36 years. Moved from my childhood home to a place down the street 10 years ago.
Oddly enough, there are 6 other people living here right now that also grew up here. One is a victim of circumstance who moved home with her family to crash with grandma & grandpa because they are broke. But the other 5 own homes here.
My family is all here in NEO except for the ones who were already far away before I was born. I need to be with my family. And I think Northeast Ohio is a big part of my identity.
Although sometimes I wish I could live out-of-market for Indians games so there wouldn’t be blackouts on MLB.tv.
I’ve lived in the same county I was born in for my entire life. The idea of doing something different is a little scary, but as it happens, I may be on the verge of moving across the country in the not-too-distant future, and I am fairly excited at the prospect. So I guess I’m a stayer with a willingness to make (at least) one big move.
As an Army brat, we packed up and moved to a new base every 3-4 years. During university and grad school I was in the same spot for 8 years. Starting work in the O&G industry got me back on the regular moves. I expect after retirement we will slow down a bit but not much.
I’d really love to stay in one place for a while, but having moved ten times in the past four years, I’m not expecting it any time soon. If things go well, I’ll be moving a few more times within the next year or two, and I am so not looking forward to it.
I’m a mover married to a stayer. And I made the mistake of buying “her old family homestead” back. I would love, especially now that we’re older, to roam around the state and possibly around a few other states, spending a year or so at each stop. But the only way she is ever going to leave this house is feet first. And even then I expect drag marks.
I guess you could say I’m a combination. My husband worked on various contracts for his employers for years, starting when we were first married. We bought a house in my home town (at my urging, I’ll say that up front), but traveled all over the country and the world as he worked on the various contracts. The length of the contracts varied between 6 months and 3 years, so in 25 years of marriage, that was a lot of moving around. But as long as I still had my ‘base’ to come back to, I could always feel like I never really moved. Then, a dozen years ago, my husband accepted a transfer to Denver which was to be a permanent gig. So this time I HAD to move. Permanently. It was tough and a lot of pushing and shoving was needed to remove me from my ‘place’. I’m a Taurus. We nest. It’s what we do.
So yes, I get it that one has to move for career purposes or family purposes, but I will never enjoy it. I’d rather have a root canal without anesthetic.
I’m a stayer. Not because I have no desire to live anywhere else, but because my sense of family is stronger than that desire. Plus I really like where I live.
I’ve always liked living in different places (I’ve lived in California, Maryland, Florida, Michigan, Illinois and Massachusetts), but I absolutely love where we live now, so it would take a lot to make me move from here. So I was a mover but now I am a stayer.
Growing up, I spent ten years in Juneau and ten years in Anchorage. For the next 30 years, I never lived in one place for longer than three years. Wanderlust really gets into your mind. Then I moved back to Anchorage at age 51 and was there for eleven years, the longest I’ve ever lived anywhere in one stretch. But even during that eleven years, I mostly had jobs that required travel. I suspect that now that I’m retired, I’ll set a new record here in Portland, and travel really doesn’t interest me much anymore.
I lived in Los Angeles and surrounding areas (San Fernando Valley, Long Beach, Simi Valley) for 30 years. for the last 10, I moved on average once every 18 months. Before that, I lived in Ohio and Florida.
I live in the Sacramento area now. First in Placer county, now in Sacramento county.
A minute’s thought lets me count fourteen different places I’ve lived in as an adult. And I’m sure I’ve overlooked several and that’s not counting residences I consider “temporary” like college dorms or summer homes. So I guess I’m a mover.
I’ve lived in the same area my entire life. I’ve lived at a dozen different places within that area, but the distance between the two places I’ve lived that are farthest apart is only about 25 miles.
I don’t really have any overwhelming desire to ever leave, my family and 95% of everyone I know lives here, but if the right opportunity were to come up, for either myself or my wife, I’d be open to leaving.
Depends. Moving is like the worst thing in the world, and I’d much rather have a root canal. I did move away from the area that I am like a 4th generation native of, a rarity in California. I have no desire to go back except for visits. But I’d rather live West rather than East. I’ll probably move again at some point, but don’t have any desire to be itinerant once I make some more roots.
