To Go Or Not To Go

Stockholm, Sweden. Not a city I ever imagined living in but an opportunity presented itself and I love adventures - should we uproot our lives and go or not?

On some days I think we should, on others I think maybe we shouldn't. What do you think? Would you go? In terms of moving to another city I would generally immediately say yes, but the questions that keep going through our minds are:

• Is the lifestyle one we'd like? Given that it's a European city we think so. With that said, the long winter hours of almost pure darkness are of concern as weather definitely affects me. As a result of these long dark winter days, fun fact - Sweden is the largest consumer of chocolate and alcohol.

• Are we ready to learn a new language? I’m always ready if it’s through immersion. I’d likely need to find a job to ensure I could fully integrate with other native speakers. Finding a job would probably additionally be beneficial to making friends.

• This begs the questions what would I do career wise? Finding a job that aligns to my specific experience in Stockholm is challenging as there aren’t that many options - especially when I don't speak the local language. While I could go into sales or something more general, this likely wouldn’t benefit my career and could even hurt in the long run as if I’m not up to date on the quickly changing landscape, getting back into a role like mine would be challenging. But then again, if I were to decide I rather raise our future kids, would it even matter?

Then there are also those questions that are different than ones I’ve ever considered before when making this type of decision:

• Is it where we’d want to have our first kid? Being further away from our immediate family, and the friends we have recently gained that provide the support family otherwise usually would, makes me hesitate. While I have no doubt we could still do it, not knowing anyone would likely mean a slightlying less enjoyable experience but who really knows.

• Given that we just bought our house a little over a year ago, is it worth giving up the life we have now that we are just starting to get to enjoy? We would probably just rent it out furnished, but everyone knows renters don’t do as good of a job caring for a house as owners do.

Ultimately, with all these questions and my love for adventure driving me to think we should take the leap, the most important question is probably whether or not this is the right career move for my husband. Is it better than the quick growth he is gaining in his current job? Is there growth and a good career projection in the new role?

UPDATE: After much back and forth, while the opportunity based on what the role will become is a great one, it’s not there yet. As a result, the decision was made to keep in touch as we are excited about to move if the role turns into what the company envisions - but aren’t ready to take the risk based on the role in its current state.

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