Soul Driven Relocation, Salt Lake City to Knoxville: Part 1

3.05.21

First, I premise this with: this is all my opinion, and based upon my experiences. I can not speak to anyone else's experiences or opinions on these matters. Having said that, here's the skinny.

We, my sister and I, decided last night it is time to move. It’s been coming for a long time, and the words I’m writing at the moment won’t be seen for several weeks as we finalize everything. But the decision has been made. I’m freaking out a bit. It’s scary and life changing and exciting and so, so overdue.

In less than two months, we will both be leaving our jobs in Salt Lake and moving to Knoxville, Tennessee. I won’t be posting this until after I officially give notice at my job, can’t be too careful.

My references are in order, we are getting quotes from movers, and looking at the different neighborhoods. I will soon start applying for jobs down there.

This will be the first time in my life that I am choosing where I’m moving when it hasn’t been based on a school or a job. We chose the place first.

So, why Knoxville?

So. Many. Reasons.

We miss water and trees, which Salt Lake City and Utah in general, is sorely lacking. I grew up among forested hillsides and lakes and rivers. There isn’t much of that around here.

I could never run out of hikes to do in this part of the world, but I am running out of ones that are accessible to me in distance and difficulty. Especially with the altitude. Most are between 5,000 and 9,000 feet above sea level.

Smokey Mountains NP photo by author

Knoxville is in a great location for adventure. There is so much within a day’s drive that we may never run out of things to explore. The same cannot be said of Salt Lake City. You have to drive for hours just to get out of the desert in all directions, and it is empty. Very few towns, nothing to see. I know some will disagree with my assessment (I admit there may be pockets back in the canyons and out hiding in plain sight, but they are in places I personally cannot access). Salt Lake itself is a relatively large metropolitan area, and again, I am sure there are many things that I haven’t seen or done in town. But I have seen and done a lot in the five years I have lived here. I feel like mostly I’m down to different restaurants and maybe some tiny backyard type attractions.

Another point against Salt Lake: the air quality. Never something I would have thought about, or something they talk about until you move here. It’s called the inversion. In the winter months, the geography of the valley and the cold air create a barrier that traps all the pollution in the lower atmosphere of the valley, leaving a brown, hazy smog. On a clear day it’s easy to see fifty miles due to the elevation, but once the inversion sets in you are lucky if you can see one mile.

Perhaps the largest reason we need to get out of here comes down to the culture, which is subtly and fundamentally different than the one I grew up in. I like to think of myself as a very open-minded person. I embrace differences, but the difference I’m talking about here is at the core values of the society. I say this as a person who has lived and visited all over the country and known people of dozens of nationalities. I have never seen such a self-absorbed, inconsiderate population. The general lack of concern for how they are affecting anyone else is mind boggling. Don’t get me wrong. Every area will have individuals that fit into that description, but here? They seem to be the norm, not the outliers. You see it in line at the grocery store, in how people drive and park their cars, in how they interact with each other. They as a group do not hesitate to throw someone else under the bus if it means a benefit to them. They will only lend a hand if they feel they can gain from it. And they are the first ones to complain about something that they find personally offensive or ‘wrong’, but the last ones to offer a solution or to work to change it.

I grew up and try to live my life with the intent of leaving things better than how I found them. If I make a mess, I clean it up. If I see someone struggling, I offer to help. I often do more than my share of the work in a group to ease the burden of others, regardless of praise or recognition. I am patient with others. I do all of this because it is the right thing to do.

None of that is true of the people that I interact with on a daily basis. If they offer to help, it is so they look good to the boss, evidenced by the fact that they never offer unless the boss is within earshot. They leave messes for the next one in line. They don’t put their grocery carts into the corral (this is a huge pet peeve of mine). They cut people off in traffic and four or five cars will run through a red light. They honk if you aren’t quick enough to take off at a green light (even if you are waiting for the said four or five cars to finish running the light). They will take help when they don’t need it, so they can screw around while you do their work for them.

These are just a few things I have personally experienced and that others who did not grow up here have griped to me about. It has been nearly five years of this, and I find this attitude permeating my soul. Not good. I need to get out.

As you can see, this is just the first of several articles in this series. I am posting it after the fact, but all of my thoughts were recorded at the time, so there may be repeats in my ramblings. Bear with me.

Until next time...