Looking Back: Four Years in the PNW

Four years ago, I hopped on a plane with my backpack and suitcase out to the west coast! I moved the first week of August 2020 and can't believe it's been four years already. I romanticized moving out here since my first interaction with the PNW at 20 years old. I told myself one day, I’ll call this place home. I didn’t expect it to become home so soon, but it did, and I found myself in a whole new world. Now that I have some years under my belt, I feel this is a valid time to reflect on my decision to uproot and plant somewhere new.

Ready to take off!!!

The Inspiration: Pre-Four-Years-Ago

In all reality, I knew I wanted to move somewhere with mountains since I was a little girl. When I was four years old, I snuck out of my bedroom to watch The Lord of the Rings (extended edition, obviously) and felt drawn to the mountains. Part of me wishes that my reasoning for wanting to move was something less superficial than seeing a movie/the greatest masterpiece of all time, but it’s not! Little Tiff was awestruck by the scenery in the film and needed to be there. Now, I know the PNW isn’t New Zealand, but it’s pretty darn magical in its own regard!

Not sure how old I am here, but here is little Tiff as a fairy princess who loved The Lord of the Rings and had a fascination with mountains. We're still the same person <3

Moving Out West

Moving my life to the northwest was the best decision I’ve ever made. It was also the hardest. I left a piece of myself back in the Midwest. I will always be a Michigander, and am so incredibly grateful for my upbringing there. But I knew I wanted to be somewhere I could touch the clouds, so I followed that instinct and never turned back.

My move out here happened four years ago this week (the first week of August). So wild, time passes by so fast. It was a defining moment, but I wouldn’t say it made me who I am. It changed my life, absolutely, but I’ve always had an understanding of the person I was, and who I wanted to be. As of now, I would define my moving out as the instigator that led to a more grounded version of the me I wanted to become, and the person I am today. 

Week 1 of the move, OR Coast

Detroit airport, ready to move

some of my OR family <3

Tay and I on the river

When I was a senior in high school, a friend wrote in my yearbook something along the lines of “always keep your head in the clouds…” and I’ve stuck true to that sentiment. My interpretation of what he meant is that I always have my head in the clouds so I should remain as such. I don’t know if he even remembers writing the comment, but I keep his words close to my heart for it is a statement I follow with my whole self. I will keep my head in the clouds. In fact, I will hold them in my arms while dancing on top of mountains…

Ten Lessons I've Learned In Four Years in the PNW

I moved here four years ago, so I still feel (and am) a novice. However, I’ve learned countless lessons in the short years I’ve lived out west. Here are some of the most notable ones:

1. Lessons in humility (translated: I don’t know anything)

It’s a hard truth I’ve had to learn. The point of this first lesson is humility- to practice it and accept it when it comes. Anything I think I know to be true tends to flip itself inside out. Everything warrants asking questions and looking from a new perspective. It also involves surrounding myself with people who know more than I do, and listening when they talk. Humility is one lesson I continue to learn over and over again.

a small lesson in humility: accept wearing socks when you forget gloves on a hike where it's still snowing. This was fairly recent hahaha

2. Never take this life for granted

When I worked as a nanny I drove from Springfield to Eugene on the 126 every day. Every day, I saw the sun cast her morning rays on the Cascade foothills. I promised myself to never take that view for granted. It was a deep joy each morning and continues to be a sacred sight when I visit the property I used to live on to this day. I will never, ever take trails, trees, people, mountains, wildflowers, rivers, rocks, creeks, or this life, for granted.

3. Listen to water

I know, I know, it sounds like some hippie-dippie thing your estranged aunt would say, but I mean it! Go sit by a river. Close your eyes when you’re next to a lake. Just listen to what it has to say. It may take a few times, but I promise, you’ll receive the message you need to hear.

4. Say yes

From my photos and other posts, I think this one speaks for itself…

5. Say no

A much harder lesson to learn, and a valuable one to practice

6. Fall in love

f*** it, why not!?! Fall in love with a person! With a trail, with friends, with a restaurant, with a hobby, with traveling, with staying in, with God, with music, with art. Fall in love with yourself! Fall in love with all of the things.

In love w/ my person & rivers

Friends & travel!

Girlfriends!

Oregon mamas

Friends, sisters, hiking!

Jane and Tiff at a bar :)

Happy Tiff

Noah hiking!

7. Fall in love with an animal (specifically)

This is a derivative of lesson 6, but I think it's important to distinguish as its own category. Pets are precious and therapeutic. It would be nice if Lady was a hiking cat, but she is not, and I must (and do) love her for who she is.

Lady the cat not being stoked about our love for her

8. Rejoice always. Pray continually.

This is from 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17.  Look around! There is literally so much to rejoice over. Yes, sometimes everything sucks, BUT, there’s a but. Find the delights, then pray over them. Pray always! Rejoice always. There is so much to delight in. This can also be a hard lesson. It is so much easier said than done. It takes practice and patience. But it is Good. 

A plaque on a bench on Mt. Pisgah :,) my favorite place in the world

9. Try new career paths

I have zero clue what I want to be when I grow up. So I’ve been trying a lot of career options. None of them are panning out. And that’s okay! I’m learning what I want and don’t want with every new job title. 

10. Love on the people you miss

My beautiful mom and sister

Moving across the country means sacrifice. My mom is my go-to. We talk mostly every day and I love her with my whole being. We live exactly 2,345 miles apart. Saying that’s really tough is an understatement. It’s a choice that I made that I have to live with every day. And it sucks! I miss her soooo much, not to mention literally everyone else who lives in the Midwest— I’m talking to you Soph, Dad, Chris, and all my friends living across the country (thank goodness my older sister moved to the West Coast. Inspiration for the rest of them??) !!! It’s hard to be apart from your people!! Which means it’s that much more important to intentionally love on those who live thousands of miles away.

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went from dreaming of being in the mountains to getting stuck in a mountain!

Okay, there are SO many more, but this seems enough for now. The past four years have taught me a LOT. My personhood, dreams, and reality have evolved into something that four-years-ago Tiff would have never imagined. I’m proud of past me for following her intuition and developing into the current me that I am today.

My life comes with the support of a whole lot of people, both from out here and from back in Michigan. I’m grateful for both support systems, which have now merged into one through the gift of travel and communication. What a blessing this life is. 

If you’re thinking about moving out west or have any questions about it, just ask me! It’s hard and glorious and messy and wonderful and full of tears and joy. And it is so, so worth it.