Please Leave Me Be...

On two separate occasions I have gone to a Women's group which meets at my place of employment. Both times have been fun, and I have gotten a few nuggets of wisdom from women of various ages. However, there has been a common theme in these gatherings which irritates me.

Many of these women are my co-workers. A few of them have known me a little longer than the two years of my employment, but I would say that none of them have known me on a personal level for longer than five or six years. Despite this, many of them feel free to dispense advice which they feel will improve my life. All of their advice boils down to many of them feeling as though I should leave my hometown and even home state. To that I say...

Please leave me be.

I love where I live. Sure, I love the beach and would gladly settle into one of those funky little beach towns in a heartbeat, but that's one of those fantasies that will never come to fruition. I am happy where I am. Yes, I should move out of my parents' house soon, but I don't feel like I can't discover who I am unless I move halfway across the country. Yes, I do want to travel and explore this nation and this world, but why can't my home base be where it is right now? I don't understand why everyone feels like I need to get out of Dodge. I know when multiple people give the same advice, it is generally a good idea to follow it. If that advice is unsolicited, as this advice is, then I feel perfectly apt to ignore it.

I know I need to branch out. I know that I've conveyed to the group that I am not always happy, but who is? No one is completely satisfied with their life all of the time. For the most part, I love my life. If I were to move somewhere else, then I would lose a lot of the elements that make me love my life. I can't imagine a worse problem than being alone in a strange city. My family (and some of my friends) are my support network. They help me through bad times and cheer for me during good times. And the best part is, we're all in the same geographic location.

So ladies, thank you for your advice, but until you take the time to really get to know me beyond the surface, please don't tell me to buy a one-way plane ticket and get out of this place. It will happen if it's supposed to happen, and I'm waiting for God to tell me that, not some random group of women.