I WENT FOR IT.
At this time last year, I was finishing my senior thesis, competing in track, and figuring out what the hell is next with my life. I thought I’d automatically go into starting a big job, move to a city, and make $$$ right away. Flash forward to now, I’m living on a small lake in northern California, hustling with a few side jobs, and being a professional ski bum. Did I always dream of moving out west since I was a little girl to ski? Yes. Did I think I was actually going to go for it after graduating from college? No.
I think one of the hardest things that I’ve dealt with so far in life, is choosing between the gut feeling that I have, or the ideal/realistic choice in my mind. And while I’ve always visualized living in California since I was a kid, I never saw the path on how I was going to get there–until I went for it. It wasn’t easy. It took a lot of guts putting a more financially stable path on hold, and to drive across the country and away from everyone I love and know. And it wasn’t until I went for it, that I realized how freeing it is to just go with your gut.
I didn’t know at first where out west I would land. I started with a map, picked out a few states, and ski resorts that I think would fit well with my personality and lifestyle. I then made the decision that if I got job offers at my two top ski resorts on my list, I’d move out west and commit to it. If I didn’t, I’d take it as a sign that I’d move to either New York or Boston and started grinding. I kid you not, as soon as I decided that, I got asked to be interviewed by both resorts on the same day–and got both jobs on the spot.
In a month, I had an apartment picked out, and headed West with one of my best friends. I left my small hometown for a new town 3,000 miles away, and the journey looked a little like this:
