During the summer of 2024, my partner, Rebecca, and I left Salt Lake City for Chicago.
Work motivated our move: I began a new job at Amazon that required relocation, while Rebecca had graduated with her master’s degree, choosing to leave academia for the private sector. But the decision wasn’t only professional. We wanted to test ourselves in a bigger city — one with more cultural offerings, social opportunities, and a pace of life that contrasted with the quiet rhythms of Utah.
Trading mountains for metropolis
Salt Lake City shaped us. It’s where we met, built a community, and explored much of the American West. On weekends, we camped in national parks and hiked desert trails that felt like other worlds. Yet, daily life there could feel empty. Streets were quiet by 9 pm, even on Fridays. Finding events often took more effort than attending them.
Chicago was an immediate shock. We first lived in the downtown heart of the city (called “The Loop”), where fire truck sirens replaced the silence of the Wasatch foothills. Instead of hopping in a car to reach nature, we navigated packed trains and sidewalks. Learning the city meant learning how to live around people, lots of them.
At first, it was overwhelming, but it also meant new experiences were always just outside our door, never more than one Google search away.
Careers in motion, building a new social life
Professionally, the move accelerated us both. Rebecca is now on a management track in her field, and I’m working toward promotion while leading broader projects. Chicago’s corporate community creates constant chances to connect through networking events, industry happy hours, and even impromptu conversations in office lobbies. In Salt Lake, we loved the outdoors; in Chicago, we’ve leaned into the career opportunities a major market provides.
Courtesy of the author
Socially, the contrast was just as sharp. Salt Lake is a launchpad for nature, but the city itself rarely feels like the destination. Chicago is the opposite. Summer weekends brim with free street festivals, concerts, and markets. Friendships came easily in Chicago, partly because the city itself makes gathering simple. Our spring and summer calendar is now overfilled with events we’re excited to attend, saving the museums for the winter months.
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The move required tradeoffs. We sold our cars. We gave up easy access to the wilderness and the ability to disappear into red-rock canyons for days at a time. Vacations shifted from desert road trips to international flights. Live sports got more expensive, as we moved from the minor league Salt Lake Bees and Utah Grizzlies to the major league Chicago Blackhawks, Cubs, and White Sox.
But not everything changed. We still crave the outdoors, and we miss the wide-open spaces of Utah. What we’ve realized, though, is that leaving one place doesn’t mean losing it. We view our lives as chapters: Salt Lake was one, Chicago is another, and future chapters will bring their own settings and lessons.
We chose change
Moving reminded us that nothing is permanent. Each stage of life leaves an imprint, but it doesn’t have to define you forever. Choosing change — whether it’s trading solitude for a city, or the other way around — is how you grow.
Taking risks is part of being human. You never know what’s on the other side of the door until you walk through it. For us, the door from Salt Lake to Chicago opened a chapter full of growth, connection, and opportunity. And when the time comes, we’ll turn the page again.
