Partner, 20 month old daughter and I have built a nice life in south wales, we both have decent jobs in the nhs, bought a house etc. my partners family are in south wales but we don’t see them very often and they don’t provide any support (not that I’d expect them to) and it is mostly us who make the effort to see them. I have made a few friends but don’t see them often and wouldn’t describe them as close.
There are a lot of positives living here, low cost of living (relative to other areas of UK), lovely beaches/nature, but I feel like somethings missing.
I have a large close friendship group where I’m from, and there are all having/have kids a similar age to my daughter. I’m also close to my mum who is amazing and would definitely provide support if we lived closer.
Should we upend our current life to move back to my home town? It’s around 5 hours drive from where we are now so don’t get back very often.
It’s a huge decision, we both would need new jobs (which may also mean taking a pay cut), stress of selling/ buying a new house (and it’s more expensive area so would probably have to compromise on a smaller house/garden or worse area) and we’d have to move back in with my mum temporarily which would be a pain.
I think it’s the right think to do long term and that we will be happier, but It feels like a big risk and I’m terrified after all that I’ll regret the decision.
Partner is on board but it’s definitely me driving the decision and he would happily stay where we are.
I just think it is only going to get harder once daughter is in school etc so better to do it sooner.
The other option would be to move to a more lively area locally, as we semi rural with very little around. It would be easier as could keep jobs etc but that maybe just delaying the inevitable…
Interested to know what others would do, or if anyone has done similar and regretted it?