How to Leave Your Hometown

The local diner you have to leave behind.

If you grew up in a town you adore, the last thing you want to consider is moving away. You have a lifetime of memories and experiences. Unfortunately, in today's economy, small town America is not always the best place to find a job. If your company closes shop, you may have to do the unthinkable, and check the "Willing to relocate" box on your next job application.

Things You'll Need

• An updated resume
• A willingness to relocate

Instructions

Embrace Adventure

1. 

   Leaving your hometown will be difficult if you focus on what you are losing. Try to focus on what you will gain by moving to a new city. Once you get hired in a new city, learn all you can about the area. Include your family in the research and encourage them to embrace the idea of moving. Look for tourist attractions near your new city and plan to visit them soon after you move. This will help your family fall in love with your new home.

2. Make solid plans to come back home. Your hometown isn't going anywhere. You can always come back during a vacation. If you are leaving family and friends behind, let them know you will be home for Christmas, or for next Summer's 4th of July barbecue. It's easier to leave the home you love when you know you will return. Make a point of keeping in touch with your friends throughout the year and actively maintaining those relationships.

3. Keep family traditions in your new town. If you went to the Christmas Parade every year in your old hometown, go to it in your new town. If you went to an amusement park twice a year back home, find one in your new city and keep riding those coasters. Reminisce with your family about the differences, both good and bad of each event and location, thereby preserving old memories while making new ones.

4. 

   Ask family members to mail you items from home you miss.

5. Remind yourself why you are leaving. When you begin to feel melancholy about moving, remember why you did it. If you are looking for a job in another state, you most likely exhausted all options at home. You don't really have an alternative. For your professional life to flourish, you have to follow the jobs in your field, wherever they lead. There should be no guilt involved. You are leaving your home in order to secure a better and more stable life for your family.

Tips & Warnings

• Take photos of your favorite places. Your hometown will change over time, so preserve memories of how it looks before you relocate.

• Get contact info for all family and friends so you can easily stay in touch after your move.

• Plan vacations home during special hometown events or holidays to make the most of your visit.

• Don't turn down a good job offer because you fear relocating. It can personally and professionally reinvigorate your life.

• Don't find fault in your new hometown because it's different than your old home town. Learn to enjoy new places and cultures.