Returning Soon - Post Cross Country Move!

If you started following the budding journey of The Velocity Vibe, or have just recently come across the site, you have probably noticed that things have been pretty quiet for a while now. This was not due to a lack of losing focus or desire to continue with TVV, it was simply a capacity issue on my part.

There will be videos forthcoming detailing a lot of the information I've put together, some of the lessons learned, and just documenting the journey, but this blog will serve as a quick recap of what has been happening the past year or so.

Not long after returning from Portugal, it became clear that moving abroad anytime soon (like in the next 5 years) was not going to be feasible for me, mostly from a financial perspective. Due to a wide variety of reasons, ranging from weather patterns to culture to politics making things feel rather dangerous where I was located, I turned my focus to alternative options.

Work then presented an opportunity to take my current role back to my beloved west coast - and that was a combination (steady, reliable income; an area I know I vibe with and love) that I couldn't pass up.

Mind you, in the meantime, I was still working my full time job, plus my part time job 4 days a week, plus doing the IGP training with my dog (going to club 2x/week), and eventually picked up another part time job as well 5 mornings a week.

With the move, I had to figure out housing and decide what to do with my property in Georgia. Pretty quickly it was evident that my only real option was to sell as I could not afford upkeep on two properties, and also could not risk renting and potentially trying to cover double payments - I simply don't earn enough or have enough buffer for that kind of investment at this point, so I started to prepare the property to sell.

Along with that came exploring where, exactly, I wanted to move to. Figuring out exact COL for me, what I could/could not afford, where offered what I wanted and had weather I could deal with; where the culture was one I would vibe with as I did not want a repeat of where I was currently living at the time; and my ultimate goal of finding someplace I could be happy - not just content - for a long time until I am in a position to fully move abroad, which may not be until I'm in a position to "retire" or can live off minimal self-generated income and not need full time+ income anymore.

Working, researching, prepping, coordinating, training, and still having some kind of life was keeping me more than a little busy, and mentally exhausted. Needless to say, The Velocity Vibe ended up being set aside during this life transition until I could dedicate more time and energy back into doing things properly again.

Eventually I determined that Portland, Oregon would be my destination. I've visited several times, and have connections there. I have always felt very comfortable and felt like I "vibed" well with Portland and the people there. I made a couple more visits in this time, to hang out, look at houses, and explore with "living there" glasses on, which only continued to confirm my direction.

Then came the process of actually selling my house - which is a PROCESS when you are still living there! I will have videos detailing a lot of that and what to expect and realities of going through that process - suffice it to say, it was far worse than buying my first home - made even worse when you're trying to coordinate a cross country move and purchase on the other end along with the move!

There will be videos detailing a lot of what went into planning and coordinating the move as well as resources I put together that made the process go a lot smoother than it otherwise might have. It's still stressful, but I pulled it off as a solo planner and coordinator, and the resources kept it all from falling apart or losing sight of important pieces along the way.

Loooong story short (skipping over the majority of what I'll detail in future blogs and videos and resources), I and the fur kids finally arrived in Portland about 2.5 weeks ago - and loving it so far. Downsized a fair bit on the house and property, and that was a great move (that was a lesson learned from my first house), which means I've had time to go hang out with my connections here in Portland, go hiking, get out on the bike, unpack, settle in, get back into the work routine - and start to feel the stress lifting like shedding a heavy pack after a too-long hike up a too long and steep mountain while taking in the view you worked so hard to obtain....

Our first hike as Oregon residents - loving the weather, and what an amazing "backyard!"

There's a lot of "building a life and circle" to be done, obviously, and that takes time. Anytime you move to a new area, it takes time for it to start to feel like "home" in a greater sense, so I'm not trying to rush that. The house is feeling homey, we're all settling in, and we'll build our routines and routes and new circles with time.

And since I finally got a bit of a raise at work (not quite what I was hoping for, but enough to not feel a need to rush out looking for another p/t job immediately), I am back to investing time and energy into The Velocity Vibe and reviving the channel.

So standby for more to come and tune and subscribe to the YouTube to get the latest!