Keeping It Real

*This is a long post. Consider yourself warned.

Monday morning – start of the work week for many. I’ve been unemployed now for just over two months. Contrary to what it might seem, I’ve been quite busy for the majority of that time. Anyone who has moved, knows it’s a lot of work! Our situation was impacted by the fact that we moved somewhere where it took a lot of set-up work to get our dogs allowed into the state, and by the fact that we sold off most of what we had acquired during the last 8 years of marriage. It took lots of work to get here. And we have zero regrets. It has been so interesting, once we got here (or rather, once I joined Brant here; he came over two months before me) to watch how everything has unfolded. So much of what we read when we were researching the move over here emphasized the negative about living here (high cost of living, island fever, racism, access to adequate health care, etc) and several people flat out said not to make the move unless we had substantial savings account to come with – like at least $10,000.

From what I remember reading (mostly on personal websites and forums), they said the substantial savings would be needed for things like electricity deposits (which can be up to ½ of the highest bill the previous tenant racked up), rental security deposits, buying food that is most likely way more expensive than what you are used to, and just getting by until you are able to find work. Most of what I read made it sound like finding work and making money on Maui would be quite hard. And I don’t know, maybe it is for some people. I know this much – if you move here and only want to work in the field you worked in on the mainland, then your opportunities may be severely limited. But if you are willing to branch into other fields, even fields you may be over qualified for, finding work won’t be as much of a problem. I was a Trademark Analyst for an online company before moving here. I haven’t found a need for a trademark analyst here. Now, I’m hearing that Maui has quite the tech undertone – so maybe my skills would be valued if I really aligned myself with that sector and went for those kinds of jobs. I simply have no desire to do that. So I look at the other options: which largely seem to include hospitality related jobs. Makes sense, right?

In my limited experience here so far, it seems safe to say, that there are quite a few over qualified people working in food service, hotels, dive shops, etc. There are jobs available; it just depends on what you are willing to do. I’m guessing that many people moving here may be like us – open and hoping to do something different that what they did on the mainland. You don’t move to an island thousands of miles away, just to stay the same.

Anyway, back to the money. We didn’t have $10,000 saved up when we moved here. We read what people said, looked at our situation, knew there was no way we would be saving that amount of money in our time frame, and decided to make the move anyway. There were a few factors influencing that decision of course, and I probably won’t go into all of them here in this post. Suffice to say, we just believed it could be different. We believed it would be possible to move here without a substantial savings account to rely on. So that’s what we did.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying we never saved money towards the move, or that it didn’t cost us much to move. Everybody who has ever made a substantial move knows that it is EXPENSIVE, no doubt. We saved bits here and there – mostly for the big stuff like the dogs paperwork and plane tickets. But we didn’t save up and then go, okay we’ve got x amount now, let’s move. We prayed about it (because that’s what we do), talked about it, and we knew, knew, KNEW in our guts that this was the direction our life was headed. So we jumped in and went for it. Money be damned. We started selling our stuff, started the vet and paperwork process for the dogs, and paid for stuff as it came up.

And honestly?

I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t scary.

I mean, it felt CRAZY. And irresponsible. And so scary to not have everything lined out and know exactly how everything was going to go. When Brant left Boise in December to move over here, he had about $75 in his wallet, a place to stay for 21 days, and a job lined up. (His Dad slipped him some additional cash at the airport. We never told him Brant was going over there with so little, but I guess he knew?) I was simultaneously scared, excited, and so incredibly proud of my husband. When I came over with the dogs in March, we had a little more money in the bank, but not much. Definitely not thousands of dollars. But it all worked out. We spent a month camping out in an 8x10 room. No kitchen. There was a ‘community’ bathroom several yards away. We spent as little as possible, saved Brant’s paychecks, and looked for a rental in our budget that would allow dogs. There were a few weeks where food was scarce. But it was all worth it, because we were right where we knew we were supposed to be. And we always had exactly what we needed. Not what exactly what we wanted, but always what we needed.

Would it have been easier if we had waited, saved up, and arrived on Maui with a sizable savings account? Probably. But that wasn’t our timing, wasn’t our story. And my whole entire point of this long, rambling post is that we don’t have to follow what everyone else says. If you know what is right in your life, then do it. Even if it looks crazy to those around you. Just because people say things have to happen a certain way, doesn’t mean they do. I know Brant and I probably looked crazy to some people (still do!).

But those people don’t measure my life. And they don’t have to measure yours either.

I am so stoked to just be living here. I miss my friends and family like crazy, no doubt.  But this experience has been incredible. Maui isn't everyone's dream, but it is ours (okay, mine).

If you actually made it to the end of this post, wow. Thanks for reading. Hope your Monday is going great. I’m off to make a fruit salad and drink more coffee.

Aloha!