After 1,589 of, perhaps, the best days of my life so far, today I am moving back east to take a job in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The process to come to this decision was difficult, but, ultimately, I have decided to explore an intriguing opportunity back east.
Like so often happens in life, mutually exclusive options are seemingly perfect complements to each other. Boston is the vibrant, cultured, high-energy city full of exciting career opportunities in finance. Salt Lake City, on the other hand, offers a simple, laid-back, more suburban lifestyle with a complement of adventure in its neighboring Wasatch Mountains and nearby National Parks.
All else equal, Boston offers the opportunity to earn a higher salary than Salt Lake City. Salt Lake City offers a cost of living that doesn't require a higher salary. In nearly every way, these two places are the perfect complement to the other.
Where Boston offers the ocean; Utah offers mountains. Where Boston offers intriguing career opportunities; Utah offers what I consider to be an ideal lifestyle. Where Boston offers the opportunity to be within driving distance of most of my family... Have I mentioned that Utah has world-class skiing on "The Greatest Snow on Earth"?
I have wanted to live in Utah since I first visited in April of 1993. Eventually, I was able to make that happen, and without a couple things about it being more ideal (closer to family, better job opportunities), I honestly would never leave.
My desire to live in Utah has always been about Utah--its mountains, its skiing, its landscape--not Salt Lake City. Salt Lake City, however, is what allowed me to live here for the last 4+ years. In the end, unfortunately, Salt Lake City is what has forced me to leave. The opportunities available here in my chosen vocation are somewhat limited.
More practically, I was presented with an opportunity to improve upon a few things and sacrifice some other things, and I had to make a choice. It was difficult for me to objectively consider the professional opportunities in Boston versus the lifestyle ideals in Utah. Ultimately, I decided to make a change basically just for the sake of change. I decided that it was time to take a risk. One must take risk to reap rewards. Ironically, this tenet is the basis of finance--my chosen vocation.
Only time will tell, but I believe I made the right decision, given these particular circumstances. It may prove not to be the best decision, but I sincerely suffer from no regret. I have done more here than I ever dreamed possible. I skied amazing terrain in amazing snow in amazing weather, and in the summer. I hiked massive peaks, backpacked through the heart of the Tetons, reveled in the majesty of Glacier National Park, and hiked to a teahouse and to glaciers in the Canadian Rockies. I partied in Vegas, peered off canyon ledges in Canyonlands, and fell asleep with an open view of the stars in the desert. I walked amidst ancient Native American cliff dwellings, jumped off a cliff into Crater Lake, and journeyed to the Pacific to watch the sun set for good on the lower 48 states. I have done more than I ever dreamed possible since moving to Utah.
I also graduated from graduate school. In Utah, I've always felt that I was settling for a lackluster career so that I could live my ideal lifestyle. It's probably time to use my (expensive) education and sacrifice a little bit of my ideal lifestyle for a more promising career. After all, money's just a means to an end, but you better have means, or the fun will end.
There is so much more to say on this subject. I have dedicated page upon page in my notebooks to thoughts on this move. I feel, however, that further analysis here will split atoms and most likely bore you, the reader.
So, after 1,589 days as a Utahn, I'm now a Bay Stater, for better or worse. We'll see how it goes.