We're moving to Columbus! (Part 2)

To summarize Part I, I was interviewing in-person for a job at Goodwill Columbus that I fully intended to turn down, because Brad's Columbus job had fallen through. In no world was I going to ask him to uproot his entire life for me. And he had already very transparently expressed his lack of enthusiasm at the idea of relocating.

Brad was included in the first part of the interview, then he left as I completed three interviews on my own, and then we met back up to drive to a store for the final part of the tour.

I was really, really, really hoping to feel negatively about the process, or even neutral would do, but I didn't. I could picture myself there. I could picture myself happily there. I could picture us happily there.

"No, no, no, Lauren," I said to myself. "Stop this madness. It doesn't matter what you feel, you know you aren't moving. You will just feign neutrality with Brad once you get back to the car, and then you'll go back to living your normal lives. Which is fine. You love your life!"

I wasn't in the car for more than five seconds before Brad said, "You should take this job. We should move."

Shocked, even flustered, I said, "What the hell happened to you in the last two hours?"

"Brene Brown."

"Brene Brown?"

Brad had listened to an audio book, Dare to Lead, while I was in my solo interviews. Some line about "comfort is privilege" struck a chord with him. The only way to grow is by making decisions that result in discomfort.

"Tara was right," he admitted.

Tara, my sponsor, was the only person who I had told about our potential move. Brad and I decided we did not want to involve outside opinions, specifically from those who might have vested interest in us relocating to Ohio (i.e., family who resides there).

When I told Tara about our job opportunities and our potential relocation, she said she got "chilly bumps."

When I listed all the reasons we probably wouldn't move, she told me that all our reasons were fear-based. Excuses, if you will.

"You and Brad are too damn big to stay in Georgetown, Indiana forever. Go, Lauren. Go!"

When I recounted my conversation with Tara to Brad, I thought he would be inspired. I was wrong. He was pissed. He felt personally offended, as if Tara was minimizing the full and successful lives that Brad and I had built, but individually and together.

I didn't push it on him. I had hit a nerve.

The next day, I came home from work, and Brad appeared noticeably ... lighter.

"I told Nick [his boss] that I have three months to find a new job, because we are relocating to Columbus. I feel so free."

For context, Goodwill Columbus offered me the flexibility to work remotely full time until Brad and I can relocate. They asked us to try to be there by 2025 but expressed a non-urgent timeline.

"Brad, we haven't even decided yet," I said.

"You know that we have."

Over the next week or so, we never really made a formal decision. We talked at length about it, but there was never a "yes or no" moment. We both just knew.

I was becoming so miserable at my current job, that I put in my two weeks' notice a day earlier than I had planned. Once I did, I felt the same freedom Brad had felt days before.

I came home that night, and Brad had three wrapped presents for me. The gifts were books: The First 90 Days, New Job Notebook, and of course, Dare to Lead.

"So, you bought these before I even put in my two weeks, huh?"

"Clearly."

I start my new job tomorrow. Part 3 will come later this week.