I’m a Long Island girl through and through, always have been and always will be. This winter I decided to do something crazy. I packed up my belongings and got an apartment in Northern Vermont, like basically Canada Vermont. To say it’s a different world is an understatement… But moving up here to Vermont changed my life, 100%.
You’re probably thinking, really you just up and picked up your life and moved to the frozen tundra from the beach? Short answer yes, but also kind of no. I still have my home in Long Beach, New York, I’m taking a few months break up in Vermont. This stemmed from my new found love for winter and December becoming my favorite month. Note – Yes, I understand I am unbelievably blessed to be able to afford to do this and am very thankful for my career to support the lifestyle I live. If you asked me a few years ago if I could swing this, I would have laughed in your face. Not only am I blessed, I am so proud of myself for being able to do this for myself – rant over we can talk about this in another post.
I think it’s important to preface this by saying that I chose Vermont because I am very familiar with this area. I have friends up here and don’t need a GPS in this area. It’s ‘new’ in terms of me living here, but not a brand spanking new area that I don’t know at all because I’ve visited this area of Vermont many times in the past few years. I know people up and move their life to a totally new place with a clean slate, that is not what I did. This was more of a – I need a change of scenery, pace, and want to really immerse myself in this place that I adore dearly.
5 Reasons Why Moving to Vermont Changed My Life
Vermont Taught Me to Slow Down.
It’s not all hustle and bustle up here. Down south, I’ve been called a Southerner which is weird cause I’m not a Southern Gal, like New York South, life is a constant ‘go.’ Everyone is moving, and if you aren’t moving you’re made about it. It could be sitting at a red light for 10 seconds because you wanted to go food shopping and you’re going to arrive one minute later than you wanted. Now your day is ruined because you had to pause for a literal hot second. The car in front of you mildly hit the brakes, ‘WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!’ – My New Yorkers get that…
Vermont is different. It’s such a slower pace. Want a morning coffee? Go to the local non-chain coffee shop and guess what? The barista may not be at the counter. They’ll yell from the back, ‘Be there in a second.’ Eventually, like 5 minutes later, they’ll come out to help you. Previously, in my New York mind, I’d be like really? I need to leave here in a minute and now I’m going to be late because you weren’t here. Vermont taught me that there really is no rush. It’s ok if you get delayed a minute a too. It’s not the end of the world.
When you slow down to can experience the world differently. You can be more mindful and observe people, things, places in such a different way. Vermont taught me to slow down and because of that I’ve had some incredible conversations with strangers, witnessed the beauty of nature all around me, and the most life changing – I’ve gotten much more comfortable just sitting and being with my thoughts. I used to always be thinking – what’s next? what should I be doing? where to next?. Vermont challenged me to slow down, exist in the moment, and forced me to just be by myself. So thank you Vermont for allowing me to slow down and allowing me to experience all the benefits of that.
Vermont Taught Me to Layer Clothes.
Life changing? At first glance, no. But let me know prove you wrong because this is absolutely life changing.
It gets cold. VERY cold. I’m talking negative double digits cold. I used to just throw on my jacket – yes, it’s the bougie-est jacket out there but I bought it on sale 8 years ago, so it was worth the price based on how much I used it – and go outside. Not anymore. I got layers on layers – base layer under my mid-layer, then a sweat shirt and a vest. Guess what? Ya girl is warmer than she was in her jacket and can take on even that harshest conditions. There’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes.
I feel like some type of survivalist saying that and I am not that – I’m just a girl who goes outside to her car before she drives to TJ Maxx or the Food Store. But learning how to layer has been a total game changer. When I go back to New York, I’ll be taking this lesson with me. I may even have to retire my big poof-y down jacket because there’s no need unless I happen to decide to go on an Antarctic Adventure on day.
Vermont Taught Me to Not Buy Things I Don’t Need.
We love a little eye-opening moment and my time so-far in Vermont was that. For those that don’t know me, I love vintage designer hand bags – like a lot. Side Note : If you are looking for a bag and need help, let me know I’ll help you source one. I love fashion – predominantly English and New York Street Fashion. I am constantly surfing stores for new pieces, scouring vintage and consignment shops for great vintage finds, and always adding things to my wardrobe that I do not have space for. Being in Vermont showed me that I can work with what I have and don’t constantly need to update everything I have – my wallet thanks you, Vermont.
Living in a more urban location, I felt such a weight to constantly up level how I looked and thought evolving my style meant buying new things – that’s just not the case. Being in Vermont and only bringing up a small chunk of my closet meant that I had to get creative. I forced myself to make multiple outfits out of a limited number of pieces. 1. I shocked myself at some of the fits I came up with that I LOVE. And, 2. I saved so much money. It’s so much nicer seeing a healthy chunk of extra money sitting in my bank account, opposed to spending it to get something. …If there’s anything about saving money, it’s addicting once you see it happening so I don’t see myself falling back to old habits anytime soon.
Just living a simpler lifestyle opened my eyes to all the extra stuff I have or want to have. By no means am I becoming a minimalist, that’s not me and I could never survive like that, but living in Vermont allowed me to see that I can live perfectly fine with what I have. I don’t always need to get something new to be happy, there’s so much more to happiness than little material things.
Vermont Taught Me to Appreciate Alone Time.
You know what’s great about being alone? Literally. Everything. I’ve always needed to be by myself to reset. When my social battery drains, I know that I need to take a step back from people and relax and sit by myself for a bit before I get back out there. Everyone recharges in different ways – I know there are people that recharge by being in social situations. But for me, I’m the opposite.
Vermont taught me to really appreciate time by myself. I started reading more – reading was never my thing, up until about a month ago, the only book I ever read from front to back was Twilight. I now have a full bookshelf and a subscription to Audible. Honestly, I can’t believe it was me that wrote that last sentence. But moral of the story is I enjoy me-time more than ever before. Yes, I love alone time to re-charge my social battery. But being in Vermont, in the mountains, minimum 15 minutes from any form of civilization, taught me to enjoy being alone.
You can be incredibly productive without any distractions – hey, I’m writing on this blog for the first time in a minute which I think is a pretty strong proof point.
Vermont Taught Me to Prioritize Activity.
I recently started setting activity goals – which were easy in Long Beach, New York. It’s the most walkable place and the beach is down the street so there’s always something to do or something to explore. In Vermont, it can be easy to just get stuck inside all day – it gets cold, the weather can be tough, and with the combination of both those things it is not difficult to just sit inside and get stuck on your sofa all day.
I needed to keep my activity up, new Apple Watch girl here – and you better believe I needed to close all three rings every single day. If you’re my boss, don’t read this – but I structured my day around when I could get outside and be active. I’m talking hiking, snowboarding, walking the Vermont Rail Trail, etc. If the weather was going to turn at noon, I went outside in the morning and made sure I got moving. Because of the extremeness in temperature and weather, if I wanted to keep up being active I had no choice but to plan my entire day around it.
Thank you Vermont for forcing me to do that because being active and having something to look forward too seems to make me more productive throughout the day. I constantly had a clear headspace to take on whatever tasks awaited me on the day. Or if I was planning on a mid-day or afternoon outdoor activity, it gave me something to look forward to and allowed me to set completion goals for work tasks. Let’s say productivity levels were at at all time high.
If you are thinking about moving to Vermont or maybe you just moved to Vermont, maybe you just moved somewhere else that’s new, I hope this can inspire you to change your surroundings and experience a new way of living. Northern Vermont is such a gem and is a place that I will always hold near and dear to my heart. Will I permanently call this place home one day? Maybe. But until that potential day, I will have the fondest memories and will continue to make more throughout my next few months here!
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