Should I stay or should I go?

As many of you know, I have been unhappy here in NYC and have been struggling for some time about what my next steps would and should be, how I will finance a move out of the area and many other questions that I can't stop trying to answer. After doing some serious thinking and number crunching, I have decided to remain in NYC for another 6 months. I have to move regardless in October as our lease is up and we do not intend to renew it. I will be looking for a new single room where I can stay for the remainder of my time here. I will continue applying for new jobs outside of NYC, but will also be seeking a new job here as I cannot continue at just $13 an hour when my expenses will be going up exponentially. It is still my intention to move to Washington, DC, but I am also considering other locations with more job opportunities like Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Barbara and San Francisco.

I will be travelling to Washington, DC for Christmas this year and will be seeing a mutual friend. This will be my fourth trip this year and I will be staying at the same hotel I stayed at in May.

There is just something about Washington that keeps drawing me back. When I get off the bus there, I immediately feel a shift in my mood and feel like I can be who I am meant to be. When I am here in NYC, I always have music playing on my phone -even while in the park as there is so much background noise. When I am in DC, I can go an entire day without needing music or social media to distract me from what is happening in my daily life. While the cost of living may not be that different from here, my well being would be different and I believe that I would be happier as I loved living there the in the past. The only reason I left there was because my husband asked me to move to NYC.