On May 30th, 2019 I moved from Columbus, OH to Los Angeles, CA. 

Columbus was my home, I was born & raised there and all of my family was there. It was the only place I knew, it was where all of my friends were. And I picked up and left it all behind. 

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I wanted to pursue some sort of avenue in the music industry, and after exploring the limited options in Columbus, I decided it was time to try to move to LA. 

Besides going to college only an hour and a half away from home, I have never experienced living outside of my hometown. I did have my own apartment in Ohio, but that was only 10 minutes away from my mom’s house. 

The idea of moving by myself to LA was…exhilarating. Nerve Wracking. I had no idea where to start or how to go about moving. But, you can read more about that in my blog “7 Tips To Moving Across The Country By Yourself”. So let’s talk about my experience living here over the past year. 

I found a 2 bedroom apartment close to the office where I work and it’s a decent apartment building. I felt pretty good about my living situation, although the area isn’t the greatest. 

I had initially set goals for myself to reach certain “checkpoints” if you will. While the move itself went really well, I was presented with some challenges. 

One of the most obvious challenges was moving away from all of my family. This was a bit of an adjustment for me, but nothing I couldn’t handle. 

One of the other greater challenges was my long distance relationship with my girlfriend back in Ohio.

With that being said, the first few months were the hardest.

I felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere and I really wasn’t being patient with myself. Instead of being grateful for all the amazing things I had going for me, I was too focused on not achieving my goals fast enough. 

Many of my evenings after work consisted of watching TV and having a bowl of cereal for dinner – and I hate admitting that for some reason, but it’s the truth. I’ve never been one to enjoy cooking for myself, it requires a ton of energy and never really felt worth it to me. 

I remember asking myself “is this what depression feels like?” I lost motivation and inspiration to work on anything music-related. 

I would sit down at the computer & piano and wouldn’t be able to work on anything for more than 15 minutes. My creativity had run dry and I was really disappointed in myself actually. 

I did my best to connect with friends and try to make plans with them, but that was the other thing that was very frustrating – people were flaky and unresponsive. 

It took me a long time to learn this, but I finally learned to detach from that feeling of needing to spend time with others in order to feel fulfilled. And instead, I learned how to be able to go do things by myself. 

This was really difficult for me to do. Last summer, I went to some pop up event in downtown LA for Adidas. 

I didn’t know a single person there, other than being familiar with the DJ performing that night (shoutout to iamkittens). When I was standing in line to get in, I contemplated creating conversation with the people behind me. 

After about 10 minutes or so, I managed to start a conversation about how I probably should have worn Adidas shoes to an Adidas pop up event. 

I ended up chatting with them for most of the evening and they were really cool people. I felt very awkward at times, not really knowing what to do with myself.

But I also left feeling very proud that I stepped way outside of my comfort zone by showing up to this event by myself. 

This process was huge in helping me move forward. I depended on people less, I lowered my expectations of people drastically, and I began to do things on my own. 

After contemplating for about 2-3 years, I finally ended up buying a DSLR camera. This was also a turning point for me because it forced me to get out and meet new people. It almost became the thing that connected me from my bubble to the outside world. 

I took my camera out to Venice Beach for the first time. I went to the infamous Venice skatepark to practice catching action shots. 

There was a guy sitting on his bike who could tell I was a total noob, and was really nice to give me pointers on the best angles to shoot, who all the good skaters were, etc. 

It was really encouraging that even though I was a complete beginner, I still felt like there was room for me to exist and explore. 

I also made a new friend (a great friend, might I add) from Instagram. He is super down to earth, and so much fun to hang out with! 

We ended up doing a little photoshoot in Venice and we’ve done probably a dozen ever since then. My camera has helped me step outside of my comfort zone and meet the right kind of people. 

I got to return to Ohio for Christmas last year which was great for several reasons. I got to see my family and I got to see my partner. She had been planning to move out here to LA with me for a while, but she also wanted to make sure she moved at the right time. 

Once she and I returned to LA together, everything improved drastically. Obviously we still have our ups and downs, but I finally feel like this is home. 

With the COVID-19 pandemic going on, it’s certainly caused a lot of uncertainty and discomfort, so that’s been a bit of a challenge to navigate.

To my surprise, blogging has actually kept my spirits up!

It’s kept me busy, and the spare time I do have is spent researching and improving my blog.

Combine this with a daily walk outside for some fresh air, and it has me feeling revitalized.

The beginning of 2020 was a struggle, but as we are approaching summer, I’m starting to feel a lot better about being here in LA.

My goals have changed, my focus has changed, my daily routine has changed. 

And I’m starting to realize that all of this change is a good thing! It’s good that I am being pushed outside of my comfort zone – because that means I’m growing.

Wrapping Up

If you’re thinking about moving away from your hometown, or if you’re struggling with recently moving to a new city, I feel that! 

Just remember that you are not alone and there will be discomfort at times. And it’ll take time to figure out what’s best for yourself, and in what ways you can work through the discomfort.

It’s also great to reflect on how far you’ve come – I often forget to do this when I’m feeling stuck. 

So, if you relate at all to anything in this post, I want to hear from you!

Share in the comments below – what’s been your experience with living away from your hometown?