Sep 11, 2023
Day 2: What’s Love Got To Do With It?

“So Oregon’s your place, huh?” people ask me.

If I answer yes, I also have to include Montana, Michigan, and many other beautiful places.

I could be happy in so many areas of this planet.  I’m just following what feels yummy AND carries practicality. Southern Oregon fits the bill. It’s relatively easy to find housing, lots of work opportunities abound, and those wineries, mountains, and the not-too-far-away Crater Lake call my name regularly.

This isn’t love (yet). This is attraction, a good feeling, and curiosity rooted in pragmatism. And that’s enough.

The place I love? Michigan. I see a license plate from that state and my heart lights up. Looking back through my camera roll, I relive every exhilarating feeling I experienced while spending the better part of 4 years between Northern and Upper Michigan.

“So why not move to Michigan then?” people ask me.

I could, happily. That’s where I was headed with the move that didn’t happen last summer. But after that plan ended, I surrendered my agenda for moving, hunkered into my Ohio life, wrote a book, and allowed curiosity to guide any thoughts about a future move. Oregon is a persistent point of interest. It remained even after meeting Montana, and Montana made me swoon!

But I still need to answer the question. Why not move to Michigan?

My only answer is that it feels like the place to move to once I’ve gotten the curiosity out of my system.

I liken it to Justin Timberlake. He met Jessica, and they dated, and then, shockingly, he broke up with her for a period of time. When he returned after a brief hiatus, they were engaged rather quickly. I get what he may have been going through. Michigan may be my Jessica.

The way societal norms tend to be structured, we don’t move without a BIG reason. But curiosity – though perhaps a bit challenging to understand given its contrarian makeup – holds its own validity.

The great thing about curiosity driving a move is that there is little attachment to an outcome with a place. The move becomes about your ‘why’ (because I’m curious) rather than your ‘where‘ (because I love Oregon). That simple shift in framed perspective opens up possibilities – other places, faces, situations, or arrangements- which could easily satisfy the why. Odds are stacked in your favor with that frame. You really can’t lose.

Love the ‘WHY’, not the ‘WHERE’. Then, make a plan. And let life fill in the details. (In 30 days if you want to be spunky.)

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