9 Things I've Learned After 9 Months in Florida

This year has flown by in the blink of an eye for me. ICYMI: I moved my family from Connecticut to Florida at the top of this year. We lived in rentals in different parts of the Tampa Bay area until finding a neighborhood that suited us, ultimately buying our home in South Tampa. Saying we love it here is an understatement. It's not just about the weather, but our quality of life has done a complete 180. For us, I know this is exactly where we were meant to be. It feels great to know that all the risk and struggle to get us here was worth it, and it truly does seem like everything that happened before led us to where we are now. All the experiences, all the things that felt like tough times - it all seems so obvious now. Like pieces of a puzzle coming together, but it was hard, because I just couldn't envision what it was going to look like in the end. Now that I do, it's beautiful and I'm so happy we took the time to do it and trust in a greater plan and purpose. Here are 9 things I've learned after 9 months in Florida:

#1 - I like living where other people vacation.

My husband and I laugh about this often. It's such a false adage to us that honestly seems more like a coping mechanism for the rest of the population. Sorry, not sorry. Why wouldn't I want to live in paradise?! I've been doing it for the better part of a year now, and I've gotta tell ya, it does not suck LOL. The Tampa Bay area is beautiful, and there's not a day that goes by where I am not present and thankful for how amazing it is that I get to have the sun on my skin, be surrounded by beauty and palm trees, and do fun things every single day.

#2 - I can't believe how boring life was before.

Sometimes I have fleeting thoughts, imagining I have to go back to Connecticut... and it gives ya girl a JUMP SCARE. I would never, I repeat never, go back north to live - and you could not even pay me to do so. Looking back, no wonder I used to feel the way I did. Every day was just a copy & paste of the last. It truly felt like I was just "getting through it." What a horrible way to live. In fact, that's not living! For a place 45 minutes from Times Square, there was truly nothing to do in Stamford, CT. People largely just go to work, come home, occasionally enjoy a dinner out, sometimes visit each other's houses, and if you're lucky, a periodic sports game or concert attendance. That's it. And life is even more challenging if you have little kids. You are stuck in the house most of the year. And when you leave? Bundled up, chilly, under gray skies - or for a couple months, hot and humid, avoiding torrential rain, and seeking AC. It's not a great situation if you ask me. Now, I have endless things to do around Tampa. From daily events around the community, to a diverse culinary scene, family-friendly (often free) activities open all week long, beaches, natural springs, farms, walking paths, local parks, splash pads, zoos, aquariums, museums, science centers, amusement parks, rooftop bars, live music, resorts, fitness centers, water sports, state parks, professional sports, playgrounds, farmer's markets, county fairs, rodeos, concerts, parades, boating, island hopping... I could go on and on. Plus, you can literally just pack up the family and drive to a completely different place to explore or vacation within a few hours! No need to get on a plane. It's a whole new world of adventure down here!

#3 - Not all of Florida is created equally.

So for all the good things I mentioned in the last point, I have also learned that this does not necessarily apply to other parts of Florida. In fact, during a recent drive through the southern and central parts of the state, I was stunned to find out much of Florida is effectively uninhabited. Maybe I was a bit slow to recognizing this, but I've gone to Florida my whole life (my mom's side of the family is primarily based here), and never realized that I'd only been to the populated city areas. There's a wholeee nother world of everglades and farmland in this state. As I was once told by a local: "In Florida, the further north you go, the more southern it gets." This seems to be quite true from my experience here. People are just different. And it's not bad different, but it does throw you for a loop - especially when you're originally from the Northeast where most people within the region are all pretty similar overall. Here, there is diversity like I haven't experienced - which is very cool! People from all around the world have come to call Florida home, and they've brought a vast amount of different cultures and ways of life with them. We really enjoy it, but also have become very hyperaware that we picked the perfect place for us in coastal, but metropolitan, Tampa.

#4 - People really are nicer when you leave the Northeast.

When I tell you it still catches me off guard to this day... I have never been treated more kindly by strangers in my life. Everyone here says hello, good morning, compliments your children, is generous, lends a hand when needed, makes sure you get to your car safely, and goes above and beyond in hospitality. It's been a welcomed change. I do really enjoy the southern charm that dots the area as well - a lot of "yes, ma'am's" and "have a blessed days" I am surely not used to, but happy to be raising my kids around and have been embracing myself. Maybe it's the good weather? Who knows. But I'd always been told people where I came from are mean as hell, and you know what? I now think they're right. I actively try to shed myself of my meanie Northeast skin a little more every day, hehe. ;)

#5 - It's important to live in a climate you enjoy.

Listen. If you don't like the heat, you aren't going to like Florida, and that's okay. But y'all (see my new southern influence coming in there?), the HATERAID the north has for this state is UNMATCHED. Is this a "you hate us cause you ain't us" scenario? Have you only been to one terrible part of Florida? Like, why are you so mad? LOL I digress... but in all seriousness, I've never understood the importance of living in a climate you enjoy until now. I really like the heat, and the "endless summer" vibes is something my family loves. We enjoy being outdoors all day, and walking out of the house at any hour in flip-flops. I love that I no longer need to layer my toddlers and babies so they won't freeze, and that the weather here is typically predictable. But likewise, if you truly do love the cold and live somewhere hot... what are you doing? You are not a tree. MOVE!

#6 - Settling is the worst thing you could do in life.

I didn't even realize I was settling before. It was just all I'd ever known. The misery that was the never-ending winters, the gray skies, the groundhog's day lifestyle of boredom, the uninspired masses obsessed with work... it's just not for me. And I know I'm generalizing, but I am speaking from my own personal experience. This is what I feel I've witnessed and had become used to. I didn't know there was anything else on the other side, until I took the biggest risk of my life to find out.

#7 - You've got to take big risks to see big changes.

I wanted a life that looked nothing like the one I was living a year ago. I did an insane thing. I put my house on the market the day I gave birth to my third child - now with 3-under-3. I rushed out the door during house showings while trying to breast-pump and feed snacks to toddlers, in between packing up boxes. I sold almost everything we owned. I bought one-way plane tickets with nowhere to live, and money tied up in our CT house that still hadn't sold by that point. And we lived like gypsies, hopping from rental to rental, trusting that everything would work out the way it was meant to. I put my business on hold for the first time in 13 years, which I'd dedicated everything to building. And my husband reconfigured his entire life and work (still based in CT & NY) to tackle this adventure with me. And you know what? It all worked out, even better than we could have planned. If you want big results, you need to be willing to take big risks in life, and that's the bottom line. I've had countless people ask me about what we did, even tell me how "lucky" I am that we could do it. Mi amigoooo... when I tell you luck has nothing to do with it! This was planning. This was sacrifice. This was saving. This was struggle. This was a risk of faith. And if I can do it, so can you. We left everything and everyone behind in CT to have the chance for a better life for ourselves and our children. Whatever that looks like for you, I would implore you to do the same and stop wasting valuable time.

#8 - Having a community that shares your values is really awesome.

I don't need to be in an echo-chamber of my own thoughts by any means, but it's really refreshing to also not feel so alone in my values anymore. We now live somewhere that much better represents who we are, what we care about, and how we like to live. And most everyone we've met now has those things in common. Their children have that same upbringing, and I'm happy my kids get to play with them and grow up in this environment. All around our community we have diverse groups of people, but a shared respect of one another that feels a lot less polarizing than where we came from.

#9 - Everyone brings the most value into the world when they are filled with joy and gratitude.

And finally, myself included, people really are at their best when they are happy. Maybe you don't realize it, or have been conditioned or gaslit by society to think it's normal, but you're not meant to feel depressed and hopeless every day. You're not meant to just go to work, come home, see your kids for an hour, and count down 'til the weekend. What kind of life is that? Here, people work to live, not live to work. Their personality is not their job, and they don't assess their personal value based on their career. They do something they like enough to pay their necessary bills, and then they go out and enjoy themselves! Every single day, I watch people up and down my street laughing over an iced coffee with friends, playing guitar at the park, rollerblading along the bay, socializing after their run club, sharing tapas during happy hour, paddleboarding along the river, sunbathing on roof decks, volunteering at events, meeting up for donuts after church on Sundays, sharing a picnic at the beach, fishing off the dock - how many more examples do you need?

Read that again if you have to. I believe now, more firmly than ever, that you add the most value around you when you live in thanks and are in a genuine place of happiness. Florida has given that to me. My wish is that everyone has the courage to find that for themselves, too.