Making decisions

[lawndartboy]

I have been struggling with trying to decide if i should move or not. How do you guys make large, life changing decisions?

 

[Hermit76]

Is there a good parish near where you are looking at moving?

 

[ArmyMatt]

pray.

but I gotta ask, why do you want to move?

 

[Llleopard]

I have been struggling with trying to decide if i should move or not. How do you guys make large, life changing decisions?

I look at if an option can be eliminated because it would go against Christian principles. If not, then I choose whichever one I like the idea of most. God will use you anywhere, and there is nothing wrong with following your preference. I.e. if both staying and going are equally good, then do what you feel like.

 

[E.C.]

Pray. Pray a lot.

I consider a lot of my options. When I joined the Navy, it was 2011 during the tail end of the Recession, I was 21 and very unhappy with life. I had been working at the same restaurant only to get passed over for kitchen manager position for the owner's son's pot smoking buddy from high school, I had a horrid breakup with my ex-girlfriend earlier that year (going to the same church didn't really help much either), and I was three years into an Associates Degree with different classes that I needed getting cancelled. No, I didn't take out student loans, but most of my paycheck was going to either tuition or books. Oh, and I was still living at home. Yeah, I was very unhappy and needed a change without seeing things getting much better. So, that year I filed taxes on my own and got about $3500 in tax refund (thank you tuition!) and that summer I went to visit my godparents in Miami for a month. I needed the time away from everyone and everything I knew just to clear my head. While I was there I had some conversations with Fr Philip (the priest who had chrismated me) and he had recommended the military as did my late godfather. I gave it some thought, weighed my options, pros vs cons, that sort of thing. I was swimming in the Atlantic Ocean in Hollandale Beach, FL when it hit me that I really had nothing to lose and everything to gain. I figured even if I just didn't one enlistment I would at least have the GI Bill to pay for college, so I wouldn't be putting my blood sweat and tears into tuition all the time.
I researched some jobs in the Navy, thought about what I wanted to do and entered the delayed entry program not long after I got home and had a contract guaranteeing the job I had wanted, which sadly, didn't work out the first time, but I got another chance in 2019 and it worked this time around. I left for boot camp the next April (2012) and haven't regretted it since. I recently completed my AA in Hebrew (thank you, Monterey, CA!), met my fiancee on deployment, visited a lot of churches which really exposed me to different flavors of Orthodoxy and people, got to live on both coasts and Hawaii along with a bunch of other stuff; some great, some not so great.

Now, I'm not saying to join the Navy much less the military because frankly, it isn't for everyone (Fr Matt can back me up on that!). But, ultimately what I needed to do was clear my head, figure out why I was unhappy, considered my options, then do something, with a lot of prayer and asking others for advice sprinkled throughout. In your case, it probably wouldn't hurt to figure out exactly why you want to move (job? cost of living? political violence in the area? stuck in a rut? combination of things? etc), figure out a new place to move to (where are the nearest Orthodox churches? will there be a job there? place to live? etc) and go from there.

And pray. Pray a lot.

 

[lawndartboy]

The reason I want to move is due to housing being unaffordable since I live in a Canadian city on the west coast. Unfortunately I have noticed it is slim pickings for healthy church communities out here so I am hesitant to move.

 

[E.C.]

I'm not sure about housing, but I do know that there's a relatively large Orthodox population in Manitoba. Years ago I wanted to study abroad and thought Winnipeg would be a nice place because the large Ukrainian population meant that there's a large Orthodox population. Both the OCA and the Ukrainian diocese of Canada have cathedrals and many parishes there.

 

[splish- splash]

Just be prayerful and believe the Lord is leading you.

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

What a great post!

Pray. Pray a lot.

I consider a lot of my options. When I joined the Navy, it was 2011 during the tail end of the Recession, I was 21 and very unhappy with life. I had been working at the same restaurant only to get passed over for kitchen manager position for the owner's son's pot smoking buddy from high school, I had a horrid breakup with my ex-girlfriend earlier that year (going to the same church didn't really help much either), and I was three years into an Associates Degree with different classes that I needed getting cancelled. No, I didn't take out student loans, but most of my paycheck was going to either tuition or books. Oh, and I was still living at home. Yeah, I was very unhappy and needed a change without seeing things getting much better. So, that year I filed taxes on my own and got about $3500 in tax refund (thank you tuition!) and that summer I went to visit my godparents in Miami for a month. I needed the time away from everyone and everything I knew just to clear my head. While I was there I had some conversations with Fr Philip (the priest who had chrismated me) and he had recommended the military as did my late godfather. I gave it some thought, weighed my options, pros vs cons, that sort of thing. I was swimming in the Atlantic Ocean in Hollandale Beach, FL when it hit me that I really had nothing to lose and everything to gain. I figured even if I just didn't one enlistment I would at least have the GI Bill to pay for college, so I wouldn't be putting my blood sweat and tears into tuition all the time.
I researched some jobs in the Navy, thought about what I wanted to do and entered the delayed entry program not long after I got home and had a contract guaranteeing the job I had wanted, which sadly, didn't work out the first time, but I got another chance in 2019 and it worked this time around. I left for boot camp the next April (2012) and haven't regretted it since. I recently completed my AA in Hebrew (thank you, Monterey, CA!), met my fiancee on deployment, visited a lot of churches which really exposed me to different flavors of Orthodoxy and people, got to live on both coasts and Hawaii along with a bunch of other stuff; some great, some not so great.

Now, I'm not saying to join the Navy much less the military because frankly, it isn't for everyone (Fr Matt can back me up on that!). But, ultimately what I needed to do was clear my head, figure out why I was unhappy, considered my options, then do something, with a lot of prayer and asking others for advice sprinkled throughout. In your case, it probably wouldn't hurt to figure out exactly why you want to move (job? cost of living? political violence in the area? stuck in a rut? combination of things? etc), figure out a new place to move to (where are the nearest Orthodox churches? will there be a job there? place to live? etc) and go from there.

And pray. Pray a lot.