For a long time now I’ve felt really stuck. I know the sort of life I want to be living but I cannot seem to create that life for myself.
My ideal career path would be working within media or/and politics. I’d like to be doing policy, public affairs and campaigns based jobs, so using media skills and communication to engage with people and run political themed campaigns. Open to which organise I work for, but the majority of these jobs do seem to be London based.
From a social perspective, most “successful” people I know have moved to a bigger city, usually London, and seem to have the most amazing personal and professional lives compared to myself (where I feel I am just stalling all the time) or other friends who’ve stayed local and, like me, have quite mediocre lives and careers too. I regularly feel isolated, lonely and that I’m missing out on life and not living my best or most meaningful life. I’d ideally like to be living a life with different interests, socialising more and joining with group activities, but there’s such little going on where I live.
My big stumbling block which I often struggle with is that I can never get past the financial factor. Moving where the work is can be incredibly expensive. Manchester or London are the only cities I’d consider and both are hugely expensive and rent alone would eat up most of my income, let alone the prospect of ever buying a home in either city. I don’t know if I could put up with slumming it in a house or flat share again, as I am now into my 30s and used to the comfort of home ownership.
Do I stay where I am (a homeowner living in relative comfort in Durham, North East England) not happy with my career, or do I move to London or Manchester to pursue a career I actually want but living in discomfort and with higher cost of living payments?