Red Green Repeat Adventures of a Spec Driven Junkie

Reactions to Me Living in Hawai'i

As I catch up with people and share my move to Hawaii, I am encountering a range of reactions:

  1. Indifference - they don’t care for my decision (i.e. “Oh, that’s so nice”)
  2. Jealousy - they are envious of my decision (i.e. “You’re living the dream!”)

In both cases (from what I can tell they are happy for me.

Reactions Hawai'i News

Recently, a new reaction I encountered:

Oh wow, you’re in Hawaii?? I have to go back and rethink all of my life decisions.

Woah - that took me back. Here, I shared just an update on my life, yet, that information cause the person to rethink their life decisions.

In a way, I felt I made a person feel bad because of a decision I made for my family and I.

I start to realize - just the fact that I moved to Hawaii can make people feel bad, like:

That person moved to Hawaii, why aren’t I???

That is not the reaction I want others to have, I didn’t want to make others feel bad.

I’ve done other things in my life to make other jealous, this isn’t one of them.

One thing I would love is to have my decision inspire you - to cause you to reflect and ask:

How can I be as happy as they are?

That’s what I will strive for when I share my news.