Answers From a Millennial: Why Don’t You Just Move?

I’ve seen this question a lot lately. In the comments of every article discussing the challenges my generation faces, people ask: why don’t you just move? Why don’t you just follow the jobs? Bonus points if the commenter is or knows someone who’s done it and is making six figures and Everything Is Awesome!

I can answer that question, or at least part of it.

In my last year of undergrad, I asked myself a lot of questions. I had a lot of decisions to make. What was I going to do? Where was I going to live? What sort of job should I look for? Big questions, with big answers.

I wanted to do something I loved. (What, exactly?) I wanted to live in a beautiful city. (Which city?) I wanted a job that had something to do with one or both or the areas I spent four years studying. (What job?)

Four years previously, I asked and answered similar questions. I could have gone to school anywhere in the world. Why Western Kentucky University? Ultimately, the answers to those questions were similar to and influenced the questions I asked myself four years later.

My family. I love my family, and I wanted them to be a part of my life. I was there the day my nephew was born– and I wanted to keep being there.

My city. Louisville is not only my hometown, but it’s also a great city. I’ve done some traveling–and Louisville is still the best.

You don’t have to tell a Millennial that a good job is important. We know. Some of us need that fresh start that moving to a new place for a job provides. But overall, my generation isn’t one to simply accept the world as it is and mold ourselves to it. We’re aiming higher. We’re going to change the world. And what better place to start than right at home? What better place to make a big change, to start a business, to do Something Good, than the place we know as well as we know ourselves, the place with our support network?

Home.

We know what’s important. We’re not a generation that’s going to run all over the globe chasing dollars. Dollars help things, as we are well aware–having gone without–but what we’re going to do is more in line with the dreams and idealism Millennials are also known and criticized for.

Dreams start small, and they grow–and they start at home.