Moving Day

Read time: 10 minutes

Welcome to The Ascend Archives Tuesday Tale, a weekly newsletter where I share a story about a transformation, revelation, or change in thinking that has helped improve an aspect of my life.

Round 1: 48 Hours of Exhaustion

“Dad, let’s go! Grab those bags and bring them to the U-Haul”

I’m sweating my ass off as I run up and down the hallway of my Austin apartment building…Pushing heavy furniture on a dolly and loading all my belongings into a 10-foot U-Haul truck.

It’s Monday of Memorial Day Weekend 2023 and I have to be in the office for my new job in under 48 hours.

The problem is…that job is in a new city 4 hours away. All my stuff is here in Austin and my new apartment in Dallas is empty.

Oh and earlier today I swam 1 mile, biked 25 miles, and ran 6 miles in the Austin Triathlon.

I wonder what the rest of the athletes who competed today are doing.

Probably not moving.

Doesn’t matter. I signed up for this so I’m going to knock it out. At least I have Sam, who I hired for $50/hour and my dad to help. I live in a funky apartment building on the side of a massive hill. With no direct route to the truck or a freight elevator, this is no easy move.

My legs feel like bowling balls from the 30+ miles in my race and the thousands of steps to and from the U-Haul.

But with non-stop effort, we finish loading the truck up in time to grab a quick dinner and an early night’s sleep.

The next day is more of the same.

6 AM wakeup for the drive to Dallas.

When we arrive, I run into the leasing office, quickly grab the apartment keys and meet up with more movers to help unload everything. Throughout the chaos of moving in, I meet with the AT&T guy to install the WI-FI and hop on a 30-minute exit interview for my previous job.

By 4 PM, everything is in the apartment. Not close to being organized but it’s in.

I can’t worry about that now. We only have one hour to return the U-Haul before getting charged. We speed over and get there just in time. Then, hit the grocery store on the way back to load up on some food for the week.

It’s midnight. My alarm is set for 5 AM for my first day.

Wow, we made it happen.

Round 2: 24 Hours of Exhaustion

[Fast forward to the present day]

Last week I moved out of that Dallas apartment (10 months after I moved in).

I quit that job only 5 months in, packed two suitcases of personal belongings and flew back to my parent’s house in Maryland.

After spending time with family, I decided to travel. Trips to Italy, Spain, Australia, and New Zealand before settling back down in Austin.

I found subletters for my Dallas apartment for the 5 months I was gone. I left them pretty much my entire apartment except my clothes (furniture, TV, kitchen stuff, cleaning supplies, etc.).

The lease was up on March 22 and I had to figure out what to do with all the stuff I left behind when I decided to travel the world.

So on Friday morning I booked a 7 AM Greyhound bus from Austin that arrived in downtown Dallas at 11:15. From guys in cowboy hats to families with young children to people still sleeping from the overnight bus route the night before… I felt a bit out of place working on my laptop with my AirPods in.

I walked over to the U-Haul location from the bus station to pick up my truck.

Deja vu set in. I hired another guy for $50/hour to help me move. And there I was for 3 hours running up and down the hallway pushing the same furniture on a dolly and loading up the truck to drive back to Austin.

Around 3 PM, the truck was full and I finished cleaning the apartment so I didn’t lose my security deposit. I was beat and not looking forward to the 4 hour drive back in traffic to Austin.

I went over to the leasing office to drop off my keys so I could hit the road.

I walked in to find M'Lise, the lady who helped get me the apartment 10 months earlier.

10 months ago, I showed up without an appointment after touring 5 other places and not liking any of them. She kindly stayed late that day to give me a tour and I ended up signing for the unit on the spot.

I hadn't seen her since, but when she saw my name, she said "I remember you". She couldn't believe it had already been a year.

She asked about my experience and I told her the apartment was great but I just didn't like Dallas.

“Didn't you just move to here?”

“Yeah, but this city just isn’t for me”

“I love hearing that"

Confused, I say “What do you mean you love that?”

“Everyone I talk to is always like oh I love Dallas, this place is so great. When in reality this city can’t be a good fit for everyone. I just never hear people that live here actually admit it.”

Every week M’Lise deals with young people who have moved to Dallas from all over the country. When they come see her to renew their leases, she will ask how things are going. The majority of the time people are frustrated with their jobs and yet they renew their lease for another year.

These people have been in Dallas for 2 sometimes 3 years and just keep going through the motions.

She told me it was refreshing to hear some authenticity. Someone who doesn't like Dallas not be afraid to say that.

At this point I had turned in all my keys. It had been a long day of heavy lifting, running up and down the stairs, and I had 4 hour drive ahead of me. I could have easily ended the conversation and gone home.

But in the moment, I felt a connection with M’Lise. She has always been super friendly and I was intrigued by the conversation.

So I decided to lean in.

She commented on me only being here for 10 months and it flying by…

I said, "You don't even know. I actually only lived here for 5 months. The rest of the time I spent traveling Australia and New Zealand"

She goes, "What, no way!"

We then went on to talk for 10-15 more minutes about my trip and places that she wanted to visit. How life is too short to sit around doing stuff that doesn't make you happy.

She goes, "You are inspiring. Thank you. Best of luck on your journey".

I thank her again for everything. And instead of immediately hopping in my truck to drive home, I took one more walk around my old Dallas neighborhood and grabbed a bite to eat at my favorite restaurant.

I had no reason rush back anyway.

---

Final Thoughts

Who knows if that conversation will lead to any significant change in M’Lise’s life?

But since I decided not to rush and took an extra 20 minutes out of my day to share some of my story, I made an impact.

Maybe she will be more authentic in her conversations, take a risk with her job or try something new.

During that first weekend moving from Austin to Dallas, I was in such a rush that there were probably 3-4 people that I could have been more present with throughout the weekend. But I was just going through the motions doing whatever I could to finish the job as quickly as possible.

M’Lise helped remind me to just be thoughtful. Engage in some friendly conversation with the daily people in your life like the barista, the dry cleaner, or the doctor’s office front desk. Everyone is busy and just trying to do their job. But we are all people. We all have stories. And you never know what you can learn from one another.

I'm not always in the mood to make small talk and I’m not an extrovert. But that encounter with M’Lise gave me energy.

Sometimes we need to just slow down and be present with those around us.

Thank you for reading! See below for a few pictures from our trips. As always please reply and let me know what resonated, what didn’t, or what you question. I love chatting about this stuff!

Cheers,

Andrew