Conference quark::human_relations-v1

    
    .... funny you should ask .....
    
    
    I recently moved to CA from Michigan and of course I've since had
    a never-ending stream of guests.  Sunday my company and I were
    discussing this issue.  My guest was envious that I could just quit
    my job pack up my belongings and move across the country in less
    than a month.  She has lived in the same town her whole life (almost
    30 years) and has done very little traveling.  I kind of chuckled
    at her and told her I wish I could just feel content with my life
    like she does.  I have worked for 6 different companies in the last
    8 years (cross my fingers and hope to say with Digital!), I have
    lived in 11 different places in the last 10 years ... and at this
    point I know I'm not going to stay in Southern California for more
    than a few years. 
    
       I've been asked MANY times why I can never settle in one job
    or one location.  I don't think there is an answer, it's just my
    nature.  Everyone does what they can to satisfy their needs and
    we all have different needs.  Some need security most of all and
    I find those people tend to stay in one place.  There are many 
    different people with many different needs. I classify myself as 
    one who needa mental and sensory stimulation and therefore I change 
    jobs, travel etc. to satisfy those needs. I also have a need for
    security but so far that need is supressed by others.  I think one
    day that need will become dominate and then I will settle down.

    It's only my opinion but it's an explanation I have been able to
    live with for now.    
    
    Donna
    

    Maybe the desire to wander (or not wander) depends upon what a person
    needs from life ? Sometimes it seems that those that never move are
    the type of people who are afraid of change or do not like to take risks. 
    Or maybe, they're just content with what they have and see no need
    to look for more ?
    
    I personally admire those that have the confidence and courage (it
    does take courage to make BIG changes !)to just pick up and go.
    An acquaintance of mine recently took a 3 month leave of absence
    from his job to travel, alone and on foot, through Africa ! I wish
    I would do things like that more often...
    
    Wanderlust may be difficult for some to understand, but the most
    interesting folks I've ever met are those that wander...they have
    experienced so much ! However, all that moving around could make
    stable relationships with others a little hard...unless you find
    people who wander with you !
    
    Go ahead, wander...who cares if other people think it's crazy !
    
    
    
                                                                   

       re .0:
       
       Because people are different, and they have different tastes,
       different likes, different priorities.  
       
       It's one of the things that makes life interesting.
       
       Besides, if everyone in the world were always going off somewhere
       else, there wouldn't be anyone in the place that you were going
       to when you got there.
       
       --Mr Topaz 

    This note caught my attention because I have traveled somewhat in
    my life and wondered about people I know who haven't. A good friend
    of mine in high school married a girl from down the street shortly
    after graduation, live with his parents for a period of time and
    then move just a few streets from his folks' home. He's madea trip
    or two here and there but never did any great travel.
    
    For me right out of school I joined the Air Force and traveled for
    eight years to Spain, Japan and Germany in addition to travel within
    the US. After the service (eight years) I joined DEC and relocated
    sevral times and now I've settled back home where I grew up. I still
    enjoy traveling and I am fortunate that I can take some international
    trips once and a while.
    
    I guess what I am trying to say is that there are advantages and
    disadvantages to each. Certainly if you stay in one area most of
    your life you build lasting and rewarding relationships. There is
    a sense of security in knowing people in you hometown for those
    many years. But you loose prospective on the world. Your world is
    the area that you have chosen.
    
    For me I have been glad I did travel the amount I did. I know now
    that there are people that have different views on the world, although
    different from mind are still valid for them. At the same time having
    come back to my hometown, I feel comfortable in this place and I
    feel I know that there is better and worse places.
    
    Just one persons' view...

    
    I wonder, too.
    
    I've never been anywhere.  I've only left the country to go to
    Canada.  I've never been west of Cleveland, and I've never been
    south of Virginia.  Nor, do I entertain any particular desire to
    go.
    
    Perhaps imagination satisfies whatever passes for wanderlust in
    me.  I read voraciously, and I know a lot of people who've been
    a lot of places.
    
    DFW

    Well, I feel *much* better.  I was looking at my resume the other
    day, and saw six distinct positions in five years.  Granted, two
    of the moves were caused by a small start-up going belly-up, but
    the others were caused by creative and/or economic restlessness.
    
    My question to fellow wanderers:  What kind of questions do prospective
    employers ask you about your relatively frequent job changes?  
    
    BTW, each day here at DEC sets an all-time length of stay record
    for me!  
    
    Mike

    re.6>> I've never been west of cleveland,
    
    You have missed the best part. 8^)
    

    ________________________________________________________________________
    I find it difficult to belive anyone could say they are content
    where they are unless they have been to other places to see what
    they are like. I have been to every state in the US except the islands
    and say based on fact that colorado is where I'm happy.
    I also know places where I would rather die than live and places
    that might be nice to live for awhile.
    
    I wonder as I wander.......
    
    -j
    

        I have an incredible desire to see many things throughout the
    country and the world.  However I don't have much desire to live
    most places other than here (the San Francisco bay area).  I do
    think that a move to Hawaii would be acceptable or a move to Europe
    would be fine with the guarantee that I'd be able to move back here.
    
        The reason that I am positive about this is that I know what
    I like.  I have lived in Texas and was miserable due to the heat
    and humidity.  I dislike going back to the midwest during the summer
    because of the humidity and the misquitos.  I visited Hudson in
    April and couldn't get used to the lack of foliage on the trees,
    everything seemed grey.
    
        My wanderlust is limited to visiting new places.  I enjoy
    exploring new places, but very few places leave me with the desire
    to live there.  The places I've visited where I'd like to live are
    Hawaii and London.
    
    ASP

>	Why is it that ...that there are other people that have
>       a never-ending urge to keep moving? 

Me Too.  Between 18 and 42, I've moved at least 20 times and have had about 
60 or 70 jobs.  (Don't faint. The numbers include college years, temp work, 
and contracting in the computer field.)

I think I'm hardwired for change.  I like new places, new people, and at 
work, learning new stuff. (There is much truth in the academics' proverb:
The man who only knows his own field does not know his own field.)

But mostly, I just like change.  Now that I have lived in the same house 
for ten years, I make it a point to take different routes home. My mind 
Needs it.        Meigs

    I'm not a wanderer, I'm content to stay put right where I am...I'm
    a Maine native, born and raised.  I haven't been beyond New England
    since I was a boy and then it was only to New York :^).  I do make
    it to Canada for a week once a summer, usually.  I did live in Lowell,
    Mass. for a couple months while training at Bedford, though !
    
    I'm reminder of the story of the Mainer who passed away and was
    checking into the Pearly Gates.  St. Peter looked at the fellows
    records and said, "Oh, I see you're from Maine !  Well, I hope you
    won't be too disappointed..."
    
    Maybe folks that jump around are looking for something they can't
    seem to find ??  Or looking for greener pastures ?
    
    Don't get me wrong, I like to travel, (only Canada thus far, Florida
    this winter...), but I've got to have the old homestead to return
    to...

    I'm not much of wanderer, my dad was! Up until I was 11 we'd moved
    18 or so times. No wonder I can't remember much of my childhood
    - the odd picture floats up every now and then.
    
    So I'm trying to stay put for once - now that I've finally left
    parent's home...

    re: .0
    
    That sounds like me.  I can (and will) in a drop of a hat, quit
    my job, pack up and move to whatever state sounds interesting at
    the time.  I've done it several times and never regret it.  It's wonderful
    to go somewhere unknown and start life all over.  For me, I think
    it's the challenge, excitement and meeting new people.  I will usually
    give myself no longer than 5 years at a given place (though some
    has lasted much shorter than that).
    
    What will usually happen, is one day I'll say "gee I wonder what
    it's like to live in California, I think that's the next place I'll
    move to" and then one day, without warning, my bags are packed and
    I'm leaving on a jet plane :-).
    
    Since I have secretarial skills up the *ss, I can always get temporay
    work until something permanent comes up so jobs have never been
    a problem.  The only reason I'm somewhat settled now is that I don't
    want to keep moving my daughter around.  She's only 4 now, but by
    the time she's 18, I'll be 38 which I figure I'll still have a lot
    of years of "wandering" left.
    
    My family thinks I'm crazy and should just "settle down" but to
    me, traveling around is being "settled down".  I guess that's just
    my nature.
    
    CC