One Year Back in Atlanta: My Big Move, Fresh Start, and First Taste of Freedom- Part 1

 Part 1: How It All Fell Into Place

Wow, I can’t believe I’ve been back living in Atlanta for a full year. I feel like so much has happened over these last twelve months. 2024 has been the hardest year of my life; mentally, financially, emotionally, and even spiritually. Even though my first year back in Atlanta was a struggle, it’s had some amazing moments. We’ll do a full 2024 recap later, because it’s still a month and a half left. I moved last November, crazy how quickly time flew by. I’ve grown so much within this year and my relationship with God has gotten deeper. I wouldn’t change anything about how this first year went. Before I get into all that came with this year living in Atlanta, let’s go back to the beginning. At first, I was going to share some lessons I’ve learned in the year, but I realized I never shared how the actual move came into play. So I’m starting a mini series titled, “One Year Later: Reflecting on My Move Back to Atlanta! Part 1 is all about how it all came together what sparked the decision, the hustle, and the leap of faith it took to make this dream a reality. Over the next three days, we’ll break down our move and all the lessons I learned along the way. Today, let’s go back to the very beginning from when the idea transitioned into reality.

Last July, I came to Atlanta for a hair appointment; it’d been a few months since my stylist had relocated from Detroit. As I was leaving my appointment, I saw a cute apartment building and wanted to get closer. I guess you can say I was trespassing, because I ended up in the private parking garage. This complex had a sitting area on the roof with a sign that read, “You’re exactly where you need to be.” During this time, I was still living with my parents in Detroit, but I had started to think about where I wanted to move. I was considering Atlanta, Miami or Houston. Honestly, I was open to moving anywhere warm, because I didn’t want to do another winter. At this time, I had no money saved and whenever anyone would ask, I would tell them that I’m only moving when God tells me to, and I’m making $10,000 a month. I also said I wasn’t moving until I could live in my high-rise that I always wanted. The rationale behind all that, was that I wanted to move and not struggle. I wanted to move when I had all my ducks in a row. Fast forward, to this wall saying I’m exactly where I need to be; I sat on the rooftop for maybe 20 minutes, just talking to God and in complete silence. I remember telling God, “Wherever you want me to go I will go and whenever you tell me to move I will move.” I ended up looking up the apartment I was standing in and it was a mid-rise apartment in Sandy Springs, GA.

When I returned back to Detroit, I remember talking to my best friend and telling her that I’m moving soon. Clearly, she was tired of hearing that because I had been saying that for four years. She responded by saying something along the lines of stop talking about it and do it. I had therapy that weekend, and shared with my therapist how I felt like I wanted to move soon, but I wanted to have everything to be together. She asked me what I was waiting on, and I told her I was waiting for God to tell me exactly where to go. She responded by saying, “Have you done anything for him to speak to you about the move?” She could tell I was confused, and added, “Are you waiting on God, or is he waiting on you. Maybe you should try taking steps in any direction and allow him to open doors. He may be waiting for you to have some faith to do your part.” This lit a lightbulb in my brain, because I had never thought about that. I hadn’t looked at apartments, applied for jobs, or done any of the necessary steps in order to move. I simply had a few places in mind that I was considering, and that’s it. I spoke to my dad about possibly transferring jobs, and he showed me how to look up different places. I saw it was an opening for a position in Atlanta. I want to talk to my boss about possibly transferring, and it was just after I won an award for my performance. He gave me the green light and I submitted the application for transfer. The next day, I decided I was going to book a flight to look at apartments. I made a list of my non-negotiables for apartments, and found 12 apartments that matched. 

I booked a two day trip to Atlanta, to look at all 12 apartments. Keep in mind, I didn’t have a job offer or anything. I didn’t fall in love with any of the places, but I kept looking when I got back home. A few weeks later, I went back to Atlanta with my parents to visit 15 more apartments, that I added to the list. This time was a little better, I had a top five that I liked, but I still wasn’t sure. For three weeks straight, every weekend I would fly to Atlanta just to look at apartments. I started with the list of only mid-rises, and somehow a high-rise ended up on the list. I didn’t know it was a high-rise at the time, when I visited it with my parents, we instantly fell in love. But of course, it was out of budget. We learned that they were doing a two month free special, and by spreading that out I was able to lower the rent, and it fitted the budget. After the three weeks ended, I was talking with my parents and my dad posed the question, if this one high-rise has that two month special, how many other high-rises are? My wheels began to spin again. I made another list of apartments for us to visit one more time, but this time they were all 10 high-rises. I spent a month and a half looking at apartments.