Ever since I was little, Florida has always been a place I wanted to live. I loved the palm trees, the beaches and of course, the warm weather. As I grew older, I decided to make it a goal to live there by a certain age. I wasn't married, I had no kids and I just said to myself, "why not?"
I was living in Missouri at the time working in higher education and on a whim, I decided to apply for a job in Orlando. Surprisingly, they called me back, I went through the interview process and before you know it, I was offered the job. After a lot of personal reflection and leaving a woman I loved, I was off to Orlando with my 2 cats.
8 years later, it is time for me to say goodbye to Florida. For those reading this, I know what you're thinking - "Why would you leave Florida?" Trust me, I thought about this on many endless nights but at the end of the day, I'm a big believer in fate and to put it simply, I was meant to leave at this point in my life. With that said, my time in Florida taught me a lot of life lessons that I will forever be thankful for. I wanted to share some of those lessons and maybe help those who might find themselves at a similar intersection of their lives. Those lessons were...
Follow Your Heart
As cheesy as it sounds, Florida reinforced the notion to follow your heart...always. It was during my time in Florida when I decided to do a complete career change. Talk about a big decision! Yet, I couldn't have been happier with that decision and still am to this day.
Death
Over the course of 8 years in Florida, I lost a few family members as well as other people that had touched my life in some way. In addition, in my time in higher education, I had to deal with multiple student deaths. I had to accept the fact that death is inevitable. Sometimes it happens when we least expect it and sometimes it happens as we'd expect. Regardless, I learned a lot about how I handle grief, how I can help others grieving and most of all, I learned to cherish time spent with those I love.
Friendships
You learn a lot about friendships over the course of 8 years. New friends will be made. Old friends will fade away but most of all, your true friends will be there no matter what. Your ride or dies if you will. In my time in the Sunshine State, I'm happy to have gained new friends that I'll keep in touch with as well as really identifying my ride or die friends.
I also spent a lot of time reflecting on what kind of friend I am. Sometimes I thought I was a great friend. Other times, I thought I'd been a shitty friend. That in itself was a journey of self-reflection. It also taught me that it's ok to let old friends go. That's life. Most of all, I really started to embrace the "quality over quantity" notion when it comes to friendship and I couldn't be more grateful.
Core Values
Florida challenged me in ways I'd never been challenged before. Physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually and professionally to name a few. It was through these challenges that I really had to reflect on what my core values are and what will get me through these challenges. To be honest, I'm still processing what I want my core values to be because I think they evolve over time. Sure, I have my own moral compass and principles that serve as guardrails at times of uncertainty but as I've grown older, some of my values have shifted. I think that is ok and something I have embraced with open arms.
Love
I never understood what people meant when they'd say, "you'll just know" when it came to loving someone. Frankly, I thought that was stupid. What did that even mean?!? Well, Florida taught me what that meant. I'm grateful for that and grateful for the lessons I learned in loving someone during my time in Florida.
Struggles
Florida opened up my eyes to the struggles a lot of my friends, family and colleagues have been having or are currently facing. I learned of friends facing depression, seeking counseling, family deaths, drug problems, alcoholism, etc. Yes, we all have problems but when people close to you open up about their struggles, it really hits home. It also challenges you to figure out how you can be there as a friend, a brother, a son or co-worker.
Family
I went through some of the toughest times in my life in Florida and no matter what, I could always rely on my family being there for me. My dad has always said, "friends will come and go but family is forever" and that couldn't have been more true.
In addition, I think as you get older, you gain more perspective. For me, that perspective was really cherishing my time with my family. At one point, I was over 1,400 miles away from family and with 3 nephews and 1 niece now, along with seeing my parents and 3 siblings, you just want to cherish that time together. Florida taught me more than ever that life is short. Make memories. Take risks and no matter what, love your family.
Take Risks
The last lesson I'll share that Florida taught me to embrace was to take more risks. I have really embraced the "why not" mentality. Why not go on this trip? Why not apply for this job? Why not learn this new skill? I did things in Florida I never thought I'd do and it was amazing. Most of all, I think I've learned that we only have one life to live and I don't want to look back on my life and wonder why I didn't do something. Life is short people. Do what will make you happy. Do something crazy. Do something that you will look back on and it will make you smile.
In closing, I spent almost a a quarter of my life in Florida and I have learned a lot about myself in that time. I will miss the palm trees, the beaches and the sun but it was time for me to go. Will I live there again some day? Maybe. But for now, I'm moving on and getting over while saying to myself, "why not?"
