The Real Reason I’m Moving to San Francisco

One of my upcoming blog posts will be about my bucket list / vision board of all the adventures & projects & experiences I want to do … (funny that I haven't made this list yet, eh?)

I think it's awesome that you decided to move to S.F. instead of San Diego because you are following your intuition and you're doing what's best for your daughter. Life is all about changes, and sometimes we have to make changes in the middle of another change. Being able to go with whatever curves life throws your way enables you to experience things you didn't expect, but sometimes turn out to be some of the best things in life.

Your home doesn't have to be one specific “place.” It's where your heart is and where you find who you are and the love you feel, both for yourself and others.

Best of luck, and I know you will love Frisco as well as all of the places you will travel to in the future!

Hugs, Lori

Wow, that's so exciting! Congrats on your decision. That sounds really good for Gracie, too.

I moved to NJ 6 months ago from Los Angeles where I've been for 17 years so it's been a big change for my family of 5. I fly back and forth a lot for business as well. It's been fun and really interesting to see how I've created my life manifestations these past few months.

Can't wait to hear about your new place! Good luck!
Melody(aka mommychick)

i smiled when you asked the question…”what is it you need to do…is it moving, is it a relationship…do you need to get rid of stuff?” that is my goal this year…to simplify my home…and get rid of “stuff” that has accumulated over the years…and has no place in my life now…let's say…it was kind of like a confirmation! glad i found you on twitter!
http://www.fabulousfinds-elena.blogspot.com

I've set a goal to quit my day job by the end of 2010, so everything is focused on doing what I need to take my photography business and the social media work I'm doing with photographers to the point where it'll pay my bills as needed. I've cut out some 'fun' activities so that I have more time to focus on things needed to reach the goal.

Adventure! I certainly agree with your definition of where home is. My life is darn near perfect.. I just gotta find more clients that are comfortable working with me from remote- or set up some passive stuff. Your car looks spotless compared to mine though
I think this new setup will be the perfect thing.. you'll have a babysitter at any time you want, so you can get that motorcycle license, skydiver certification, etc…
Oh yeah– posting your before/after photos on my blog (http://CouchSurfingOri.com) tomorrow! Your readers will enjoy it. I'll just remind them real quick: Elizabeth has not worn a t-shirt in over 10 years, until I made her wear one (of mine, since she didn't own any). So… new Elizabeth to go with the new attitude

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Kim DeYoung, Leesa Barnes. Leesa Barnes said: RT @elizabethpw: The Real Reason I’m Moving to San Francisco http://bit.ly/6FX648 [...]

Your videos are so unique and one of my favorite 'stops' on Facebook. Your enthusiasm, transparency and fearlessness (despite your fears) are always inspiring and energizing! Stay in your flow, you are becoming (or have become) a light that inspires others.
Hilory

Great video!
love all the reasons for the move and think it is going to be a great adventure!
Love taking it along with you

Great video. A bunch of gal pals & I make yearly dream boards together & spend the year keeping track of how everyone's wishes came true. I hear you about your home being everywhere. I work lots at jobs I love, but often say that I'm away from my home more than I'm at my home.
All the best with your move!

you are wicked cool #thatisall

Lori – and that flexibility is a big deal for me, because I'm so decisive, I like to stick by a decision once I've made it. So to go w/ the flow this way is such a big change (and such an awesome way to live)!

Congrats on getting rid of “stuff” … that's such a huge part of what I'm doing right now. About 99% of what my ex and I owned, neither of us is taking. Crazy!!

Awesome, I look forward to getting that tweet from you “today's my last day at the day job!”

Can't wait to see the before/after pics, it will be amazing to see … and yes, it had been the first t-shirt in forever. (btw, I have bought 3 fun t-shirts in the last week!!)

Yes, we all still have to completely figure out how to monetize our crazy lifestyles, but it's totally possible … and the interesting thing is that when you don't need a lot of stuff, life is really not that expensive.

Except for skydiver certification lessons.

Thank you so much for saying that hilory!

I have not done a vision board in so long, because it always seemed about “stuff” and vague things I “should” want … too vague.

But yesterday I had the big idea that a vision board needs to be *really specific* — as in, a picture of the exact place where I am going to go skydiving, a picture of the mountain I want to climb, a picture of the bookshelf at the bookstore where I want my book to appear, etc.

right back at you baby

Congrats Elizabeth! I loved my 4 years of living in SF…it was the biggest career growth period of my life. The question you asked about moving to restructure your life/goals/etc though was extremely pertinent to me last year when I decided to move to Montreal. It was a mass simplification restructure and it's been amazing. I totally understand going with your gut on something, too. I had no idea what awaited me in Montreal. But since being here, magical things have happened. Good luck to you and your daughter for your move to SF! It's a fantastic city. It's crazy stupid expensive, but the growth opportunities are endless.

I think it is a very healthy choice Elizabeth. I have been divorced since my son was 3 yrs old. (Now he is 16) and I have lived 2 minutes apart from my ex-husband. It has been very healthy for my son as he has been growing up.
As long as you stay focused on the well being of your child(which I know you do) whatever changes come to your life will be good. My son has always been my greatest grounding point and stability in my life. I stayed focused on just that..and while there was lots of outside disturbances…my relationship with him has been fantastic.
Now at 16..17 in 2 months, I am very proud of whatever sacrifices I made because he is a very well adjusted young man.
So again I congratulate you on your choice. Your daughter will be very much benefited.

Of course SD will miss the gift of your truth shining energy – yet SF has such a wonderful vibration as well. In fact, I was just up there last weekend and I am always struck by the energy both “in” the city and the surrounding geography. Until very recently, I thought I would probably find myself centered in SD for decades to come – our current situation is pretty “ideal” inthe traditional sense of the word. Yet I have been having an increasing longing to actually get out of the boundaries of city life in order to more fully breathe in the nature that has been beckoning to be over the last year. No drastic plans to move to a remote mountain town yet. But I have been taking some serios investigative steps to secure a mountain house up in the Big Bear area for periodic retreats – to begin to explore what exactly it is that is calling to me. Can't quite name it yet – but the pull is strong. Keep blazing that trail of yours…it is fun to watch.

Amy

Getting rid of stuff is the hardest thing for me.

I go into my closet or garage and pick something up. The memories flood back.

It's not the stuff, it's the memories attached to the stuff I cherish, and I don't want to lose them.

Perhaps I should.

Thanks so much Elizabeth. I love your message. I recently uprooted from the West Village of NYC after 9 years there…so most of my things are in storage (or already gotten rid of) but watching you and this vid has reminded me that following your intuition and creating “home” on your own terms is perfectly reasonable and even inspiring. (said from my temporary resting spot in Solomon's lsland, MD) So I have done a lot of moving, changing and getting rid of…now I am building the what's next for my coaching biz. Thanks for making it ok to be un-cookie cutter about the lifestyle piece.

also — genius to clean out the car before heading into negotiations…totally makes sense to me

I loooove walking cities! And it sounds like it's going to be really practical for you and your family too. That is just awesome, best of both worlds in my opinion.

Good luck finding a place!

Oh, and what am I changing… I've recently realized I need to put more creativity into what I do on a day to day… because that's the part I truly love about my business.

I am now your next of kin #thatisall

Am definitely identifying with the gypsy or my home is all over the planet and that's how I like it mentality. I used to be more that way. One time a friend commented to me that my car was the only place that had a sense of me. She meant that my apartment walls were bare I guess. This was over 10 years ago. There will be more out and about in my future too. I am purging things like old unneeded documents or scanning them, and this feels good.

I've been following you on Twitter for over a year now, and seeing you transform into this person and share yourself with the world has been really cool to watch! You just always inspire me to look further into myself.

I don't say it enough lately, but you're awesome.

That is all

Yes, I hear you on SF being expensive, oy! But I have such a great feeling about it, and there are so many things that have already happened in the last 6 months, I can't imagine what else is down the road.

I agree, the mass simplification is huge, and really that's one nice side effect of moving in general, and to an expensive big city, is that I *have* to get rid of stuff b/c there's no room to take it!

Yes, we've been living 30 minutes away and it's just not sustainable … I want a situation for my daughter that is seemless & logistically easy as possible!

Awesome to hear how well your son is doing!

Interesting Amy, I love the idea of you having a mountain house … maybe even just rent one for a month or two during the summer & see what comes of it.

If I didn't travel as much, I would want to live in 2 or 3 places to get different vibes … a big city, a mountain retreat, and maybe a beachy area.

you know, one big thing for me is letting go of the idea of how things are “supposed” to be and what normal people think is reasonable. of course, living a nomadic lifestyle is totally unreasonable per society norms … but *totally* is right for many of us. same thing with having lots of stuff … stuff just weighs me down, while for other people it is a sign of achievement.

(and, thanks for validating my car cleaning, lol)

interesting Nathalie, I love the idea of bringing more creativity into everyday. that's a real thing for me, making sure that I love what I do every day, so I'm never *waiting* for the cool stuff.

true story

Hum, I wonder what place has the most sense of me. I'm thinking it's not a place. Maybe it's my twitter feed.

Thank you so much Candice, I'm so honored to have inspired you!

thank you, some days that is all I need to hear.

#thatisall

Thanks for clearing up the San Diego vs San Francisco deal. I'm glad to hear you are moving close to the ex – that's what I was hoping. I totally agree that co-parents need to make these kinds of choices to live close for the kids (I made the same agreement with my husband before we even had a child!). It sounds like tons of fun and a great adventure. You'll do fine with the negotiations!! Are you kidding me?!? You'll do great!.

This is the way life SHOULD BE LIVED, without being tied to a JOB, stuck in one house for your entire life. Go live and have fun and I hope to be joining you in the airports soon enough. I have been away from “being on the road” for far too long!! Yvonne Padgett

I think it is great that you can up and move. It makes total sense though since your ex is moving there too. I know when my children were young their dad moved and it made it so much harder for them to see him. It is important that we do whatever we need to for our children. Everything else will fall into place for us.

Elizabeth – Just stumbled upon this today via Twitter. Good for you for following your gut and going for adventure. I'll be sure to continue following your adventures from now on. Cheerio!

Hi Elizabeth
Love your flowing style of delivering stuff and of course, your openness and sincerity is also an inspiration for me.
I have a feeling you will like it in SF.
since you love traveling, when are you coming to visit Tel Aviv?
Thank you
Josef

Great for you to figure things out and take a big step to move to San Fran! Speaking of that, I need to pack up and move myself…this Ohio is starting to get not so awesome. One thing that I need to do is move. At this point in time, I'm working on getting the funds and found a really nice apartment that the community literally looks and feels like a resort.

I figured, get a 1 year lease, chill there, and then off to some other state. Leaning towards Austin or out in Cali. Always had a pull to Cali for some reason.

Hi Elizabeth, haven't watched the video yet but just these 2 questions had me agreeing with you. Elizabeth said: “So what do you need to do to restructure your life & business so you can meet your goals & design your ideal lifestyle? Do you need to move, change your business, modify relationships, get rid of your stuff, quit clubs, simplify your life?”
========================
I am in a 3-yr office lease with a partner which has NOT be conducive to building my online biz. So what do I do?
Find a new smaller office…which is quiet and has a magnificent view allowing inspiration to come to me so quickly. Yes I'll be paying rent for 2 spaces but this HAD to be done. Plus we just have 1 more year to go on that big lease and my partner will want to rent my space too.

This year is holding no punches for me. I am definitely changing what I need to change to build the business of MY dreams!!

Looking forward to watching the video!

Take care.

“Happy moving”

GREAT video! LOVE IT and congrats for picking such a great city to plant your seeds…even though you are planning on keeping up your crazy travels! I wish you nothing but tons of love and luck.

Thanks Amy, I will be down to San Diego to visit w/ you guys soon!

That's awesome Sandra, at a certain point you just cannot tolerate a situation, and it is so worth the money … I'm sure once you move your productivity will skyrocket.

I *always* wanted to live in California, since I was a little kid. I'm so glad I did … even though I really live everywhere. I love the idea of 1 year in each city. In a perfect world, I would have rotations, maybe 3-5 months in a city/location, and then move onto the next amazing place. Have a few regular rotations of awesome places w/ people I love, and then add in new places each year.

Good question. I don't have any out-of-North-America travel on my calendar, but I've only planned myself out until this summer … I need to start making my priority list.

Yes, and it's important to realize that it does not have to be one or the other … there is a way to design a life that's awesome for kids & for the adults too.

Hell yeah, Yvonne. I can't *imagine* owning a home (well, except for ones I rent out, etc.). See you in the airport!!

You have such a profound way of expressing yourself and finding great meaning in just about everything you do. I know what you mean when you say you're home is not “here”. I feel the same way which is funny cause I bought my 1st house not too long ago and sacrificed traveling last year as I get settled. This year, I can't wait to travel and have 6 trips planned so far!

San Francisco is definitely a cool place to be. When I moved from Chicago to northern CA, I considered living in SF, Oakland and Berkeley since I thought of myself as a City Girl not a Suburban Chick.

I would have been working in Cupertino (near San Jose) 45 min from the closest of the three so opted to live nearby in Sunnyvale and 'travel' to The Cities for weekend fun.

I love all the neighborhoods, art fairs, restaurants (if you can call 5 tables a restaurant), shops in The City.

So I did the weekend 'commute' for a while until I almost dozed off a couple of weekend nights driving back home. Then I decided the suburbs weren't so bad after all:-)

I spoke at a conference about a year ago that was based in an historic hotel on the SF Wharf. The 2 days I as there, the weather was BEAUTIFUL (unusual for November in SF). I wished I could have stayed longer. It's a magical place.

Before you move though, make sure you find out where the fog pockets are. I need sunshine and SF has several microclimates so pick one that you'll love before you settle in.

I just watched the movie Up In The Air with George Clooney last night and your thoughts are so similar to the movie plot and ideas! His home is actually in the air. A lot of people thought he was isolating himself, but actually he did really like people. Fortunately the movie didn't have the typical hollywood ending where he gets the girl and everything is good. At the end of the movie he still had his home up in the air, but he realized that people were very important to him.

I know this is not you at all just saw the similarities in the comment I prefer my home to be the airport or on the road.

Sounds like you're making a great decision for what's right for you and Gracie.

For me, I really need a good clean out of all of our stuff. I normally don't buy that much stuff except for my kids, but it starts to pile up and it's time for a clean out.

Because my husband is a pilot he does most of the traveling, but while he is away I'm going to take Ori and your's advice about leaving like I'm a visitor in my own city as much as I can.

It's been a while since I've been to San Francisco, but I loved it when I went!

ElizabethPW! Love the video. I've missed them. After all, it makes us “love you.” So interesting that you should post this. I have been pondering how there is a part of me that wishes I could just release all attachments (ie: house, materials things, car, etc.) and just go camp the rest of my life. LOL. Of course, there is too much attachment to my home for me, so I live vicariously through others that can do that. It is true that so many stressors, like financial income, are related to our “stuff” and attachment to stuff. Stuff takes so much time and maintenance, too, which leaves little time for truly living in our magic. I'm talking about spiritual growth, connection to the earth, and being epic!

I'm so glad to see you stepping into it and allowing others, like me, to live vicariously through your awesomeness and adventure. I think it's brilliant to be so close to Gracie's father to give her the support and life she deserves. Love the idea of a shared nanny and a dog! I highly recommend Cairn Terriers, by the way. They're big dogs in a little dog's body. They're loyal, friendly, swim, play fetch, easily trained, and do tricks. They're an awesome dog.

Also, I loved the “bare” truth at the end of the video – little or no makeup, and a messy car! Ha! Real-ness. No pretention. Raising the bar for all of us to live our truth. Love it!

Did I tell you that I love the video? Oh yeah, I did. I like the different scenes, too. Getting fancy.

Lisa

A friend of mine last year decided to put all her stuff in storage, let go of her house, and move away to get an education in a different career. (She camped out for quite awhile, too). She had an attraction to become a firewalk instructor. She put out an all-points-bulletin to her friends to “donate” towards her certification and in return she would provide a free firewalk for them which she did in a large group setting. It was fabulous. Totally outside-the-box thinking for her to do that- and it worked. She's now living her passion and living minimallistically so she can be who she wants to be. Amazing. You'll get your skydiving certification. Can't wait to hear about that adventure.

I'm definitely with you when it comes to feeling most at home when traveling. I have such a need to move around that I actually set up in different coffee shops, parks, etc. all over Atlanta several days a week, just to have a change of scenery while I write. And I hate to admit this, because I'm thankful for my home; but one of my biggest regrets is buying a house in my 20s. Rather than feeling settled, I feel trapped. My husband helped me when he told me to think of it as my “home base” rather than my home. That works. When I finish grad school, we (hubby, sister, and baby nephew) will pretty much have our summers off to romp around like a band of gypsies. Can't wait! Anyway… Hope there's a tweet up while I'm in SF to present at a conference in November. Would be cool to meet you.

I agree Elizabeth!

BTW love that you made this decision for the best of dear Gracie “the Champ!”
As a single mom myself, it's so important that us parents have a unified, agreeable, cordial relationship with one another…for the kids! And for our sanity.

I am also getting rid of my “stuff”. It will clear the way for what I want to do. I feel that 2010 is it. It's now or never. I think your transparency rocks. However I am more comfortable hiding out. LOL

Love this vod and your explanation of your decision…and am cheering wildly for you…when my ex and I split 7 years ago, he moved 2 miles away and has been very involved in helping parent our son (now 16!)…I'm a huge fan of keeping both parents in kids' lives (geographically and otherwise) and taking advantage of the support system that having an ex nearby can provide…I hope that this works out well for all of you!! Did you get an apartment? What part of the city? What an adventure!

Looks like you are in my old neighborhood, Noe Valley! Yay! I spent 10 years there before moving to the south bay- yes, a different culture- -there are pros and cons to both. You will love it there. It feels like a village

um…and sf rocks. good for uuuuuu!

um…and sf rocks. good for uuuuuu!

great video…