This is now my fifth move in 10 years, and it’s definitely been an interesting one already. I’ve told everyone that I’ll be back in August and to others, September, but really – who knows. There’s always a level of uncertainty and the feeling that you’re venturing into the unknown, but for this move, I felt as though I planned more, so I should know more. To be clear, this move is voluntary and maybe even ridiculous to some – but for me, this is mandatory. This move is because ever since I was little, this little prairie girl (me), wanted to get a hippie van and drive down to California to surf. Although I don’t have the VW Van, I’m off to San Francisco with my surf board. Last summer I talked about moving and that I wanted a change of scenery, and two years ago at a Winter Solstice, I said that I wanted to dream again. Forgetting how to dream or being too afraid to chase your dreams is a horrible feeling. So to honour my childhood dream and honouring the dreams I’ve yet to dream – this move is for you. Not a lot of people get to say they made their childhood dream a reality, and for that I’m very fortunate.

There were a lot of excuses and mini lies I told myself that delayed making this a reality. I thought by leaving the community, I’d somehow be letting people down since I was a huge advocate for talent retention. The community was one of the first places since I left my parent’s home that made me feel like I was home again. I was also afraid to lose relationships and friendships. When you move, it seems like there’s a natural sorting that happens with your friends – some stay and some go. But as someone once told me, people come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.

And then an instigator told me I was getting stagnant in my work. Wow. That’s something you don’t want to hear if you value professional development. But what a wake-up call. It was like I finally took a look at my life and saw that some of the puzzle pieces that I was trying to mush together didn’t fit. I had recently experienced one of those “cautionary tales” you sometimes hear about in tech and I had lost an investment to a seasoned criminal, and I was piecing together small contracts here and there to make ends meet and to try to recover some of my investment. But this “wake-up call” happened about half-way through my short 2 month contracts that were set to wrap-up at the end of May. So I made a bet with the instigator that I’d move down to San Francisco by June 1st or I’d owe him $100. He reminded me that I had been talking about doing it for over a year and that there was nothing holding me back – no mortgage, no significant other, and no debt. I realized I was getting in my own way, and that this was the time to do it.

As I started to plan and get organized, the puzzle pieces started to fall into place pretty easily.  There’s just a few more pieces I need, but there's no rush to finish the puzzle – I just to make sure they fit. We often dream, but don’t make goals to turn them into realities. I’m making my dream a reality, and I’ve got to say – so far, this feels great. I’m arriving at night and I’m looking forward to waking up to my childhood dream.