San Diego was the last place I wanted to move.
I know, I know… people think I’m nuts.
Five years ago, I was living in Boston after law school, loving life in the city with friends. After four years at my firm, I’d finally figured out how to manage the workload and had earned my stripes, making my work life mostly enjoyable.
My then-boyfriend was in the process of matching for residency. I had friends in all the potential cities – except San Diego. My parents and sisters were moving to/living within a 3-hour drive from Boston. San Diego was literally the farthest away city we could move to in the mainland US.
San Diego was at the bottom of my list.
And, obviously, he got San Diego, and here we are.
Is San Diego pretty spectacular – especially during a covid winter? Yes.
Am I a Minnesota girl at heart and love my seasons? You betcha.
Do I wish we lived closer to family and friends than, for many, a 6-hour flight? Yes. (Although, what does it matter right now?)
But despite all that – I’m SO grateful we moved here.
If we’d stayed in Boston, I’d have continued to have been really comfortable in my life and far less likely to have made big changes. Plus, there’s a part of East Coast mentality that puts perhaps too much pride on prestige in a way that was too appealing for my type-A personality.
Leaving a prestigious big law job to start my own tiny company to help women with time management… well, it’s hard to imagine if I’d been living that big law Boston life.
San Diego, where I really didn’t enjoy practicing law and where there’s less emphasis on prestige, was surprisingly freeing for me.
Don’t get me wrong. I struggled when I left law. “I work with women on time management” doesn’t really garner the same credibility you get when you say you’re a lawyer. My ego took a hit, and then I’d feel weird that I even cared.
But three years in, I’m far more confident about what I do now because (and more importantly) I SO enjoy it and believe in the value it brings to clients’ lives.
I’m incredibly grateful to this move I didn’t want.
So, here’s to life changes we don’t really want. Who knows what magic they have in store for us.
