Why do people move? Three key factors typically drive people: a job, a family, or a significant partner.
But, these are only the most common reasons. Many people love to wander, discover new places, and meet new people.
While most people are used to living in one place for a long time and only decide to change it if they have to, natural wanderers enjoy the thrill of setting up a new home every now and then.
Are you a natural wanderer, or are you looking for a geographical solution to some issues you refuse to face?
People who constantly move from place to place are not always happy wanderers.
There may be a plethora of surprising reasons why someone would move every two years.
Let’s explore them together and find the answers that you need.
Reason #1: Looking for a Geographical Solution
In some cases, a different climate, economic standard, or national culture is what perfectly solves our problem and permanently changes the quality of our life.
This is not even a rarity, and indeed, many people simply fall in love with the culture of another country and decide to seek happiness there.
However, if your first reaction, when faced with a problem, is a strong desire to change your place of residence, you may actually be avoiding dealing with the problem.
Maybe that’s your way of avoiding conflict. Traveling itself can bring many educational and pleasant experiences, but rarely will it solve your problem permanently if you do not face it directly.
Moreover, every problem you do not solve will repeat itself. This pattern of repeating an unresolved situation is often behind cyclical moves.
At some point, you will probably either get tired of constant moving or of repeating the same problem over and over again.
Your emotional baggage goes with you wherever you go until you resolve it. Whether you wait for it to happen or look for the answer within yourself is your choice.
Reason #2: The Fear of Being Trapped vs. the Need to Belong
Suppose you had to often move during childhood, change schools, friends, and the entire environment for any reason.
In that case, there is a high probability that whenever you feel like you finally belong somewhere, you will simultaneously feel a strong urge to leave that place.
It has been imprinted in your experience that your relationships with people cannot last, so maybe you refrain from getting into too close relationships and prefer relationships to be light and casual.
Your urge to move frequently reflects how you used to function. And that’s perfectly fine, as long as you’re comfortable with those moving ways.
For you, staying in one place would mean a completely new experience. Often in stories like this, the partner is the reason the person wants to end his wanderlust.
Reason #3: Your Life Mission is Achieved, and You Want to Explore
For some people, retirement sounds scary, while it is an opportunity to finally explore the world for others.
People who have already raised children and left their careers behind often decide to fulfill their wishes and travel the world without any particular goal, only with the desire to gain new experiences.
Given the economic circumstances, married couples who choose to spend their old age like this are not so rare anymore.
But the issue that may come up, in this case, is what if your partner wants to travel to different places than you do?
The decision to travel the world as a couple has to be mutual, like all the other decisions you make in your marriage.
Reason #4: New Place – New Me
A new city and new surroundings not only give us the opportunity to meet new people but also to be a new person.
Many people who want to change but don’t know how to change have high hopes that they will be able to build a new identity in a new environment.
And although this hope is not completely unfounded, permanent changes in the personality structure require a slightly more thorough approach.
People often believe that their successes or failures define them, so when they make a mistake, they want to run away to the other side of the world where no one will know what a terrible thing they did.
However, this toxic belief keeps a person in a false prison wherever they go because mistakes are inevitable and always will be.
The solution, in this case, is not to constantly change your place of residence but to understand that no one judges us as we do ourselves and that everyone makes mistakes.
Until we accept ourselves, no city will be big enough for us.
Reason #5: Something Better is Waiting for Me
People who are unsatisfied with themselves often project that dissatisfaction onto the environment. They expect too much from others and are perfectionists in everything they do.
Since the environment is never perfect, they easily believe that a better job, partner, and living conditions are always somewhere else.
They tirelessly explore new possibilities and always have one foot on the road. They idealize new destinations and new people they haven’t even met yet and use this belief to postpone facing reality.
And the reality is that there is no such thing as a perfect city or a perfect person and that we are responsible for how we feel.
Wrapping It All Up
In the past, nomads always relocated to greener pastures when their livestock had grazed and used up all the resources. People traveled by following rivers and oceans.
Snowbirds and fish are two examples of creatures that frequently migrate due to climate.
Many people relocated to better, whether warmer or colder, regions. The modern age introduced much more diversity regarding reasons for constant moving.
Today, plenty of remote jobs allow people to travel as they wish and work from all over the world.
A new generation of young people define themselves as digital nomads and spend their youth working and traveling across the world.
One thing is sure – traveling is good for the soul, yet we all share the need to belong and settle down.
If your wanderlust is taking too long and is not making you happy anymore, you may want to reconsider your motivation to move so often.