Stay Local or Explore?

Fun fact about my life, I'm an aspiring lawyer. I'm specifically aiming to work in health law, maybe something dealing with health care policies or medical malpractice. I did get something out of my B.A. in Public Health Studies - mad props to my parents for helping me pay for that, the opposite of mad props to the student loans that I have to pay. I won't be in law school for a little bit (I'll be applying this fall), so in the interim, for my sanity, progress, and stability - mental and financial - I am in search of a job.

My search has focused mainly on my hometown because this is where I have happily accepted the free food and shelter my parents have so graciously offered me. My initial plan after college was to do AmeriCorps for a year and come home for the summer, and head to law school the following fall. But AmeriCorps did not go the way it was supposed to go (huge understatement). So here I am typing up this blog, with my dad snoring in the next room.

I am slowly realizing that it may not be wise to limit my scope to one city. For all I know, there's a job in Philly with my name on it, or maybe Boston. I have been telling myself that I've been looking at local positions for financial reasons. If I get a job in my current city, I can live at home for a little while longer and save money, but then again that's only when I get a job.

BUT, let's say I do get a job in another city. In this economic environment is it worth it to spend my paychecks from my first real salary on things like rent and groceries?

These are tough decisions, man.

I also have to wrestle with the fact that I went to undergraduate school in my hometown, and the I attended 1st - 12 grade was literally 9 minutes down the road. Yes, I just google mapped it to make sure I gave the accurate time. So part of me really needs to know what it's like to live truly on my own, without the security blanket of my family, and friends I've known since I was 6.

Sorry there's no cute picture to go along with this post. It would probably just be a picture of me face-palming, so I think it's better this way.