Comfort Zone

Bloguarany 3: Write about the last time you left your comfort zone.

I lived my entire life in Western Washington; three cities/towns within 100 miles of each other. And then suddenly faced the reality of having to move from one side of the state to the other. I have visited this city many times over the past 35 years, as my husband attended college here and his brother and sister live here, so I knew it pretty well, but I, and we, had resisted moving here or anywhere else for years.

At one point, I had planned to move to San Francisco but fear and anxiety got in the way.

Then my then-boyfriend suggested we move to Australia. The more we talked about it, the more anxious I became. The move never happened and the relationship ended.

I consistently remained in the city I grew up in, comfortable in the familiarity of it all.

When I got married we bought a house in a small town just 25 miles north and lived there for 20 years. When my daughter died, we moved to an even smaller town 100 miles north of my hometown. I never regretted either move.

But the decision to move here had to be made in just a few days, and finding a place for me to live here, and to pack up 20 years worth of household items in just two weeks. Not everything made it over the mountains yet. My son had planned to go back for more, but the weather canceled those plans. The entire state is snowed in and all of the passes are closed to traffic.

So it will be spring before the rest gets over here and the house gets put on the market to sell. In the meantime, I had to buy things that I hadn’t brought over, like winter coats and gloves, but also some of my needlework supplies. All of this took me out of my comfort zone.

Fortunately, I have all of my favorite things with me, family and friends close by (but Covid restrictions are still interfering with that). I think I am handling the changes pretty well and proved to myself that I can adapt when I need to.