Life Advice- Starting Fresh

[Craig Nielsen]

Hayden:
I have taken the path less traveled and enjoyed the adventure. I am currently a fishing guide, have climbed Elcap, played pro tennis on the tour, rowed the Grand Canyon in a dory for my honeymoon and managed to celebrate 29 years of marriage to an amazing woman and raise two fantastic kids. I am turning 62 in a few weeks and have few if any regrets. The advice that I got from someone who was my age when I was yours was that the only regrets that he had were the things he decided NOT to do.
Follow your heart, unlike your head, it will always guide you to the path that is truly yours.
PS: Wishing you the very best, do stay in touch and let us know how it all turns out!

[steveg137]

Great question and responses!
Agree with everyone else, go for it.
I moved from Scotland to SF 9 years ago originally for 2 years.
Loved it here, met great lady and got married.
I still miss my friends and family back home but life is an adventure.
We may move somewhere else, may be somewhere closer to fishing but glad I did what I did.

Good luck and keep us informed.

[Bob Scheidt]

Congrats Aggie on your college degree! Great follow thru on your part. You had mentioned Wyoming offered a better salary. I will be bold here and say the money is important, that's why people work. Money is more important to some people than it is others. Please remember to be a good finance manager and start saving some and investing for retirement. You can't borrow to finance ones retirement, you better have it.
So now that I went off topic, I say go for it. This is your chance to live in a better outdoor-fishing area, with more like minded people.
I would love to talk to a neighbor about fly tying instead of "You do what?" the response I get around Fresno.
Most of us regret things we didn't do. For me it would be I wish I would have gotten into the stock market 40 years ago. It's not great now, but beats the bank interest rates.
You can always come back to the Sacramento area. You don' always get a livable wage job offer in a better fishing area, plus something related to the field you chose to study in school is even better.

[midger]

Go for it. The Western Wyoming/Eastern Idaho areas offer a lot to outdoors minded folks and the opportunities to actually live there don't come along that often. If you're a flyfisher, hiker, mountain biker, hunter, or just an outdoors aficionado it doesn't get much better than that area, and the worst that could happen is you end up not liking it and Sacramento/Northern California will still be right where you left them.

Yes, fishing steelhead is fun, but constant fishing for large cutthroat and rainbows is also a lot of fun and throwing streamers produces some really nice sized fish.

Regardless of what you decide, congratulations on graduating and best of luck on whichever road you choose.

[NVTrout]

I'd be all over this opportunity.......No offense, but personally you couldn't pay me enough money to live in Cali.....Cool state thats got a lot of people problems......Where you are going is an outdoorsman's paradise......The winters could be rough.....Good time to tie flies!

[njbeast]

Hayden,
When I finished my matriculation I was in the great State of New Jersey. Hung out for two months until my Dad said "Go get a F76%* job." Worked two jobs 7 days a week for six months...was not really happy. A friend and I were commiserating on our plight and decided to visit a friend in California for a week...when I left Jersey it was zero degrees with two feet of snow...landed in Concord and it was 44 degrees...I thought it was summer. Got a job within a week and stayed...made a career soon after...missed my family and friends but it was the best thing I ever did. Do it if you can...you can always come back here if things don't work out. Jackson Hole and the surrounding area is beautiful...chase your dreams!!!

[k.hanley]

Hayden the adventures are truly just beginning. I made the decision to be "a professional adventure guy" back in the early 70's. Never regretted going for it. Still got the career rolling with many adventures yet to come.

The only thing I'd like to add to the discussion is that you need to be realistic about sacrifices. There are m-a-n-y to be made. It all comes down to what you wish for in the quality of life.

I wish you the best.
Cheers, Ken

[Tony Buzolich]

I think you're doing the right thing by asking for input from experienced people, and that's good. But always think it through thoroughly before you jump. Add up all the pluses and minuses of both options. While still young you have the freedom to take a chance. As you get older those chances have greater risk and consequences.

Best advice I can give is; Don't get tied down with burdens that limit your opportunity. A girlfriend or wife will really put a damper on what You'd really like to do. Don't over extend yourself financially. Buy what you need, not what you want. Pay yourself first. Get in the habit of putting something away on a regular basis and forget about using it to buy a new truck or toy. Bob Schiedt said it above about retirement. Pay yourself first and you'll accrue wealth if you live within your means.

I owned two Big O Tires stores for a while and it was good to me. Big O stood for "Better Image and Greater Opportunity" and I stress the "opportunity" here. You've got the opportunity to do something in a place you love. Be frugal in your spending. Not cheap, just watch your pennies and they'll grow into dollars wherever you decide to go.

Good luck, Tony

[Dragking]

I made a very similar decision at your age and it was one of my best. I was about to start work in Chicago after undergrad in Wisconsin. I intended to go to law school "at some point," so I took the LSAT (law school aptitude test). I applied to a few jobs out west just before a ski trip to Montana. I went to (what was supposed to be) a week long hiring seminar for a wilderness guide position in Idaho. On day three on the field, the head instructor came out on an ATV, pulled three of us aside, told us that an instructor had to leave the field on an emergency basis, and asked if any of use would be interested in a job now. I thought for about 5 seconds, raised my hand and said "I'm in."

I spent roughly two years driving around the interior west in my free time, fishing, backpacking, skiing and all sorts of other great things. It was awesome, and it did not negatively affect my career in any way. In fact, I think it helped me standout. I went to law school at UC Davis and ended up getting a job in the San Francisco office if the largest law firm in the world. (I since have moved to Redding to work for a smaller firm and get back in touch with the outdoors.)

In short, don't be scared to go for it.

[Rich Morrison]

There's a reason you started looking for a job there in Wyoming. Listen to that. I graduated from UC Santa Cruz 20 years ago having lived my entire life in northern CA up to that point. I worked all over CA for a few years and then left. I lived in Mississippi, Texas, and South Dakota. Some places I liked, others I didn't. But I loved every minute of it. New friends, new places, new climates...it's all great. I've settled in South Dakota. The pace of life is slower. the cost of living is cheaper (a lot), and the pressure on the game and fish is so much lower. Our winters are rough too...but I find it so invigorating to live in a place where, if you are an idiot, the weather will kill you. Go for it.