Moving Back To Detroit: When Starting Over Doesn’t Mean Going Backward,
Leaving Atlanta, moving back to Detroit, and learning that sometimes God takes you back to move you forward.
I thought the hardest part of this move was going to be leaving my apartment.
The truth? That was just the beginning of the emotional spiral I was about to have.
Moving day was surprisingly one of the less stressful days of the entire process. By that point, I was looking for a miracle. I wanted something to fall out of the sky, a job offer, some money, anything that would give me a reason or a way to stay where I was.
The week of my move, I was a wreck. Any little thing, or big thing, would make me cry.
Packing boxes? Tears.
My last day at the gym? Tears.
My last Sunday at my church? Tears.
Any time I had a thought about moving or had to tell somebody I was leaving Atlanta? Instant tears.
The week leading up to my move was an emotional rollercoaster. And through all those tears, I still had to pack my entire house in basically four days.
Crazy enough, I also ran a 10K, that’s 6.2 miles, the day before I moved.
I wanted to spend time with everybody I loved before I left, but of course, that wasn’t possible. I did get to spend time with a lot of the people closest to me, and that meant a lot.
I went back and forth about having a going away party, but ultimately decided against it. My move wasn’t fully public. I had only shared it with the people closest to me because, honestly, making it public would make it feel even more real. I would share it if it came up or was necessary, but I wasn’t ready to make a whole announcement about leaving.
And if I’m being honest, moving was already extremely expensive. Remember, I had gone nine months without a full time income. A going away party just wasn’t where I needed to spend my money.
Moving Day
The morning of the move, I woke up and spent some extra time at the dog park with Saint. I sat there and cried. And then, naturally, everything that could have gone wrong with the move seemed to go wrong.
My movers texted me at 5 am. They were scheduled to arrive at 9 am., but they had an emergency and needed to push my move to noon. I didn’t stress too much because, truthfully, I didn’t want to leave anyway. But I had a ten hour drive to Detroit ahead of me, so the delay definitely put a damper on the plans.
I decided to make the best of it. I went to brunch with my best friend and my brother, then we ran to Home Depot before heading back to the house to finish packing.
Noon came. The movers didn’t. And they weren’t answering the phone.
At that point, I started looking up different movers on TaskRabbit. My best friend had recently moved and reached out to the mover she hired, and he agreed to come help me.
The only problem? He couldn’t get there until 3 pm. I didn’t mind waiting, but my brother was driving my truck and had to work in the morning. Still, he was incredibly understanding through the entire process.
Then we went to U-Haul to get the truck, and they didn’t have the size I reserved. So I had to make another reservation at a different location.
Then, around 1:30 pm, my original movers finally reached back out. They apologized, explained they had an emergency, and said they could come right away. But by that point, I had already booked someone else.
So I stuck with the new mover. Except, he was running behind from his previous job. He didn’t get to me until almost 6 pm. And it took him FOUR HOURS to pack my house into the U-Haul.
Now, to his defense, he was by himself, and he wrapped all of my furniture and three TVs. I honestly wasn’t even upset. I was cleaning the house while he packed, so we were both working.
When he was done, we went back to U-Haul, picked up the car trailer, loaded my car onto the ramp, and finally hit the road.
Because of all the delays, I wasn’t able to make it to my grandfather’s house to get the things I had there. So, that’s a problem for another day.
Ten Hours Back Home
We didn’t hit the road until almost 11 pm, thankfully, there weren’t many cars out. As soon as we started driving, I went straight to sleep. Once we got to Ohio, I took over driving. And I shocked myself.
I had never driven a 10 foot truck, let alone a truck with a car trailer attached to it. I thought it was going to be much harder than it was, but honestly? It wasn’t that bad.
Ten hours later, we were back at U-Haul dropping off the trailer.
Then we headed to my parents house because I wasn’t scheduled to get the keys to my new place until that afternoon.
We made it back around 9:30 am. After that drive, I went to my parents house and took the BEST nap. Surprisingly, I wasn’t emotional at all. I think the adrenaline was still carrying me.
Then it was time to get my keys. And that’s when everything hit me.
Welcome Home
When I went to sign the paperwork and get the keys to my new place, I was shocked.
I remember how I felt when I first walked into the apartment.
My building gifted me a welcome home basket with a custom Nike backpack and a Stanley with the building information on it. Once the agent left the unit and I finished setting everything up, I sat in silence.
I walked around the apartment and cried.
Then I prayed.
I prayed over every room. I prayed over this new home. I prayed over this new season.
And I ended my prayer by saying:
“God, I don’t know what this new season will bring, but I’m trusting You all the way.”
About an hour later, after I cleaned the place, my dad arrived. He drove the U-Haul down, and the movers were there to unload the truck. They were super quick and professional.
Once they finished, I took some things over to my parents and sisters houses. I dropped the U-Haul off with my dad and went to meet my aunt, sister and mom for dinner and drinks.
The entire time, I was in disbelief. I couldn’t believe it was over.
After months of uncertainty, job struggles, tears, decisions, packing, planning, spending money I didn’t really have, and wondering what was going to happen next….
I was finally here.
I was home.
Well kind of.
Because unpacking and decorating? That’s a story for another day. We’ll get into that in this weeks video on Friday.
I Didn’t Come Back the Same
I know I keep reiterating this, but leaving Atlanta was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.
There were so many emotions attached to that decision. So many challenges. So many moments where I questioned whether I was doing the right thing.
I won’t lie. Walking into this new season was hard. I questioned everything. But God has a way of blessing us with the power of “and suddenly.”
Now, I’m not saying I’m completely back on my feet because, baby, getting out of that hole is a PROCESS. But even with all the emotions, my life completely shifted overnight.
Leaving Atlanta and moving into this new place was so much more mental than it was physical.
Have you ever felt your life shifting?
Not necessarily falling apart.
Just shifting.
You can think your life is going one way. You can have a plan. You can convince yourself that you know exactly what the next five years are supposed to look like.
And then, in the blink of an eye, everything changes.
And I’m not even saying change for the worse.
Just change.
That’s the part nobody really prepares you for.
The unknown.
Because sometimes you’re not scared to grow. You’re scared because you don’t know who you’re going to become on the other side of the growth. And I think that’s what made this move so emotional for me.
Walking into my new apartment wasn’t just me physically walking into a new space. I was walking into a new season as a new person.
Everything I’ve been through didn’t break me. It developed me.
And now, I’m excited to explore a city I kind of know with an identity and perspective that are completely different from the ones I had before.
I used to live in Detroit at my parents house in the suburbs at 22.
Now I’m 29, living in my own high rise apartment in the heart of the city.
That’s not going backward. That’s growth.
Our brains have a way of tricking us into thinking that going back means failing. That if we return to somewhere we’ve already been, somehow we’ve lost progress.
But I’ve learned that you can go back to a place without becoming the person you were when you left.
I’m not the same woman who left Detroit.
My habits are different.
My thoughts are different.
My priorities are different.
My faith is different.
I am different.
And maybe that’s what this season is really teaching me. Sometimes the next chapter doesn’t look like what you thought it would.
Sometimes you have to leave something you love.
Sometimes you have to start over.
Sometimes you have to go back before you can move forward.
And sometimes the place you’re returning to isn’t a step backward at all.
It’s simply the place where God is going to show you who you’ve become.
So if you’re in a season where your life feels like it’s shifting, I hope you give yourself permission to be scared, emotional, uncertain, and still excited. You don’t have to have the whole thing figured out. You just have to keep walking.
Because you might be looking at your life thinking you’re starting over,
when really, you’re starting from experience. And there’s a big difference.
Welcome home, Dymond. Let’s see what this next season has for me.
