It’s been 1 year and just about 2 months since I moved from Philadelphia to become a software developer in Seattle. Taking a step back and thinking back on the past year, it doesn’t feel like I’ve been away from the East Coast for very long. What happened to the year? I worked a lot, learned a whole lot, acclimated myself to Seattle, met a whole bunch of awesome people and figured out some of the nuances of adult life.

Into the heart of Capitol Hill

When I came to Seattle in August of 2015 I leased an apartment that was right in the middle of one of the busiest neighborhoods in the city, Capitol Hill. I wanted the city experience of having everything right outside my door. Multiple coffee shops, countless bars, numerous restaurants, late night pizza were just steps away. I loved that. There was a consistent and unyielding pulse of activity and noise. The city became a constant backdrop to my life, all I had to do was open a window and it flowed right into my living room.

In a way, that constant pulse of activity accurately describes my first year living in this city. I had a large group of friends whom I met during my internship, and that group only got bigger as friends of friends started making appearances. Rarely was there a weekend where a party, concert or bar crawl wasn’t on the menu and even during the week, I felt like I never really slowed down.

Moving

Now it’s been a year and I’m moving. Not too far, about a mile north of where my old apartment was and just a few blocks off of the busy main street. It’s quieter, more residential. I’m still within walking distance of the action but the constant chatter of people right outside my window has dwindled to a few passersby. In all honesty, I’m not sure I mind.

One of the things I never felt like I had a chance to do, even after a year on my own, was develop a routine. I’ve gone from having a lot of unstructured time in college to feeling like I don’t have enough time for anything besides work and decompressing from the stress of work. Having to actively make time to improve my sleep schedule, my diet, my finances, my time management when there was so much more interesting things to do meant it didn’t always happen.

Being in the heart of the action was a lot of fun, but now I’m looking forward to giving myself some breathing room to work on myself.