I DID IT! I made the move.
June 30th Traverse City, MI: I hugged my mom and dad and got into the 15ft U-Haul filled with all my earthly possessions. (Mom was handing me bags of snacks and napkin wrapped breakfast even as I drove away! 48 years old and I’m still her baby!) I stopped by the U-Haul store and they connected the trailer with my car on it. I thanked them, and got back in the truck, gripping the steering wheel, staring out the windshield.
I was terrified!
I had spent 7 years in Traverse City, surrounded by a fabulous community, and super close to my beloved family, and I was about to leave there to go somewhere completely new.
(Are you sure you want to do this?)
I was making the move alone. Sure, I have a few friends in St Pete, but basically I was doing this solo.
(Maybe you should just stay here!)
I was also driving a massive truck stuffed to the gills (read: heavy) dragging a trailer with a heavy car strapped to it. By myself. For 1300 miles. (WTH Anne…why didn’t you ask more people if they could help you??? Why do you always get into these things alone?)
The fear voice in my head (I call her Sally) was giving me all the reasons this was a terrible idea…and some of them sounded pretty spot on. I wiped my sweaty palms on my pant legs.
I took a deep breath. “Yes, all that could go wrong, but…
"What if this goes RIGHT?”
(which historically, changes like these have!)
I reminded myself why I was moving. (Winter and I had a ROUGH go of it. We just were no longer getting along.)
I reminded myself that I had lived away from family from 1989 – 2015, and we never lost touch, support or connection!
I thought of sunrises over Tampa Bay right near my house, flip flops in February, Tampa airport (direct flights), facetime, phone, e-mail and speaking engagements in Michigan to bring me back to visit my amazingly supportive and loving family and friends.
I started the truck, stepped on the gas, and spent the next 3 days driving south. The drive went right. The move-in went right. I’ve been welcomed and embraced by my friends (old and new) here in St Pete.
And the sunrises are spectacular. (This was this morning!)
So next time you’re doing the scary thing, and that fear voice in your head starts squawking about everything that could go wrong, and all the reasons this is a bad idea (and making a lot of sense!) Ask yourself, “What if this goes RIGHT?”
Then PUNCH IT MARGARET! (which means....GO!)
ONWARD my brave friends. You've got this.
