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Thread: Leaps of faith?

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    Leaps of faith?

    I would like to hear your tales of successful "leaps of faith" (or not). Getting coldish feet about our big move to another state and essentially starting over which is both exciting and terrifying.
    Have you ever done something that you weren't sure you could pull off but did it anyway rather than submit to fear?

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    Senior Member Ultralight's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by pinkytoe View Post
    I would like to hear your tales of successful "leaps of faith" (or not). Getting coldish feet about our big move to another state and essentially starting over which is both exciting and terrifying.
    Have you ever done something that you weren't sure you could pull off but did it anyway rather than submit to fear?
    Yes, going to College, studying abroad in Costa Rica, graduate school in Alabama, and moving to Arizona for my first real job. All required something of a leap of faith.

    Just power through and be adventurous! You can do it!

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    We moved to Korea for two years to teach English in the mid-90s when jobs in our area were few and far between. We just went -- we didn't have jobs beforehand. Great experience for us financially, and for me personally -- I've had a career in education ever since. My partner didn't like teaching English, though he'd done it for several years. When we got back, he went back to school (at 40) and did technical trades training. Had a ten-year career in his new field, and really enjoyed it.

    We're currently building a sailboat and plan to go cruising -- whether in our own area or further afield depends on how we like it.

    pinkytoe, I hope you will enjoy your big adventure!

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    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    I ran around the country when younger, but its easier at that age.

    i think you should keep as your guiding principle that nothing is permanent. You can always change your living place. As long as you do not make a big financial sink into any area, you can pick up and leave. Just be careful with real estate, that can eat up a large part of assets.

    personally, were it me, I would rent in the new area for a year.

    where are you going? I look at Las Cruces real estate, and there are cute 2 BR 2 Bath attached town houses dor under $100k. More like $85k with a garage and fenced backyard. There was a small old house in the historic district that went for around $100k but it went at lightening speed, one of the cutest for the money houses I had seen in Las Cruces. Its a university town so there is a fair amount to do.

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    Senior Member Ultralight's Avatar
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    I wish williamsmith would weigh in on this.

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    I'm a logical thinker, as is my husband, so any "leap of faith" has always been tempered with common sense, figuring out options, and the old "Ben Franklin Close" where you make a list of the positive and negative things in order to cover those potential options. We're absolutely not a "wing and a prayer" kinda' people. I have found most "leaps" aren't nearly as bad as what we thought they were, and most things aren't so bad or radical we can't either make a correction or undo the thing entirely. Keep your wits about you and try not to over-emotionalize the whole thing. In your situation (from the brief description), I would most certainly have a large emergency fund to depend on (at least 6-months of expenses). I would try to be out of debt (debt is a heavy weight to carry around). I would also rent for at least a year until I thought the move was going to work out. That year will give you time to get to know the new place. Best of luck!

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    I got married at 21 and had two kids before he finished school. I quit jobs twice during that period, knowing I had to put food on the table and not knowing what came next, but being sure that what I was doing wasn't working.

    for me "leap of faith" implies "I have no idea how this is going to work out, but I know this is the right thing to do so I'm going to do it."

    my dh is not a "leap of faith" kind of guy. I say "we'll be fine" a lot.

    edited to add - I do tend to look at "what is the worst possible thing that could reasonably happen and can I cope with it." So reasonably - like, "my child could be born with special needs and I would be unemployed." but not "and dh could leave/die". Or "and the house could burn down."

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    DH never was a real estate buyer. He preferred to rent. We bought our first farm. When the agent notified us at around 10pm that our offer had been accepted, DH came to visit me where I was sitting in the bathtub, his comment was, "What have you got us into?" Three years later, we sold it for about 3x the original purchase price and DH never had cold feet again.
    Do due research, be sure what you want jointly addressing all concerns and then leap. Life is an adventure so enjoy it.

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    Senior Member Teacher Terry's Avatar
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    I had never lived alone or been out West. I divorced my hubby once the kids were grown, interviewed for a job in my field in a city out West I had never been to where I knew no one at 43 and went. I am still here and love it. Someone said what if you hate it? I said I have lived in Kansas twice and it can't be worse then that.

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    Part of our leap of faith journey is motivated by the fact that we can purchase a home for cash in another location and fully retire. We have checked out lots of possibilities and generally speaking, lower cost places like Las Cruces, although lovely, have practical deficits like distance from airports and hospitals should you need them. At some point in my life, I would have liked that isolation but not now. The other part is based purely on desire for change and a lifelong wish to be near the mountains. So we have focused in on a med-large western city that has all the amenities we want but is not yet ridiculousy overpriced. I am trying to be practical yet see it is an adventure. It still feels like a leap of faith though when one has been in the same situation for so long. However, I get goose bumps thinking about it (in a good way) so I have to trust it's the right thing to do. And yes, we might rent for a while if real estate prices don't continue their ascent in our chosen locale.

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