There’s no question that the query of moving is top of mind for many people. Uncertainty in many areas of life has pushed the topic to the forefront of the mind and the family conversation in many homes.
If the past eleven months have you working from a space in your home called “office” and the kids are meanwhile in another room in a space called “classroom” which makes for a bit of stir – crazy … you are not alone. The pandemic has removed the biggest barrier to relocation and that is the new awareness by employers that in many cases you can work from home. No longer is the “work” drive a consideration in those situations.
With that, you may be looking for more space in your home for everyone to do work, school, play, and life. You may be looking to leave densely populated areas to more remote or at least more outdoor space for outdoor play, possibly gardening, and maybe even farm animals.
Why Move?
Moving is a major undertaking and with that choice, there needs to be your reason for doing it in big flashing banners in your mind and in your conversations. That reason needs to be so, so much bigger than the process. Simon Sinek calls it your ‘why’, in fact, he wrote an amazing book about it called “Start With Why”, which I highly recommend. 
Would your why be to be closer to the family? Maybe your why is to reduce your cost of living? Would it be a need for a different living space because of the overcrowding with everyone’s home now? Or maybe could it be because you want to be in a safer place?
Evaluate The Costs
Taking the time to delve into the topic deeply as a family and evaluate the costs, which include, auto registrations, insurance of home, auto and health, taxes to include income tax, property tax, sales tax, drivers license fees, food, utilities, gasoline, and recreation.
Employment
Another area to investigate is the long term impact on your job. This could be an opportunity to explore a path forward you hadn’t considered before. It could also be an opportunity to pivot in a new direction where working is concerned. Networking is an excellent avenue to explore possibilities around your current work or carrier and options you may not have thought of that would spin-off of what you have to experience at now. The trend for considerable flexibility for working remotely will only continue according to Jennifer Fink of Fink Development.
Where Would You Go?
So now that you see the possibilities, you have sketched out the cost comparisons of your current living against one to three options, where would you go? Would it be closer to nature? Would it be to the outer fringes of a city to be away with more space but close enough for the amenities? Would it be close to some type of water in nature? Would it possibly the mountains in a small mountain community? Would you possibly consider growing your own food and raising your own livestock? Would you consider moving with friends or family to have a communal garden or ranch?
School Consideration
If you have children, the school consideration is top of mind in many families, how about for you? It could be that you too are taking classes. Has the at home distance learning brought about a venture into homeschooling your children? The possibilities around curriculum are wide and deep; not to mention the ability to join or start a group where parents collaborate on field trips, teaching outside of curriculum subject for example cooking, art, life skills to name a few. It may be that areas you would most like to live also have different in class restrictions which would allow your children to be in a classroom if that is the best choice for their education.
Wise to Consider
We talked about having a big hairy “why”. We talked about taking time to investigate multiple aspects of an area compared to where you currently are. We talked about employment/ carrier considerations. We talked about schooling for yourself or your family. We talked about evaluating the major pluses to the move too.
Now for a few points that you may not have thought of but would be wise to consider … patience, flexibility, communication, and relationships.
Patience
Be patient with yourself and the process. If you’re like me when you make a decision to move forward on something you’ve been pondering you want it to happen yesterday and for all of the pieces to immediately fall into place. I know it’s a hilarious thought for sure.
Flexibility
Be flexible with yourself, your family, and the process. Looking at everything from multiple perspectives takes a concerted effort but it also allows the thinking mind to have a built in flexibility from an “if then what” thought process. By being flexible unknown or unthought-of possibilities have a way of showing up.
Communication
Keep communicating … with your partner, your family, the people you choose to have on ‘your team’ going through this process. Talking things out brings about unknowns, unthought of, and new ideas. You will want to keep that flow open as it aids in the overall flow for yourself and your emotions.
Relationships
Keep connected with relationships. As I mentioned earlier, networks are very valuable when taking on the moving process. The value comes in ways that you may see immediately as needs such as connections at your new destination, maybe in the actual moving itself, possibly in school information, and also for employment prospects. The value may come in ways not initially thought of such as a sounding board, someone to run scenarios by that may have done what you’re looking to do, someone connects you to someone else that is skilled, talented, or experienced in an area that could save you time sorting out on your own.
Final Thoughts
The world is your oyster. The opportunities are boundless. The chance to start over or to start fresh or to begin again is presenting itself in a perfect Petri dish for you to experiment with, cook up, and create an amazing next chapter.