A Google search was all it took to convince me to move from Miami to rural Colorado.
Just before graduating from college, I applied for a program that pairs early-career journalists with publications in areas that need extra news coverage.
This program matched me with a listing in a small community near the mountains, and just a few pictures I found online of the area, with snowcapped peaks in the background and plenty of green space, had me sold.
Things didn’t go how I expected — and I almost left — but just about three years later, Colorado is starting to feel like home.
Living in a rural small town was quite an adjustment
Kylea Henseler
At first, I felt like I had moved into a Hallmark movie.
The town itself had just around 1,000 residents, a few restaurants, the only stoplight for dozens of miles, and a grocery store so expensive I drove 45 minutes to the nearest city to shop instead.
On the bright side, the lack of restaurants and affordable groceries forced me to become a much better cook, and I learned skills I carry with me to this day.
The community was also beautiful, with walking paths, a mountain-bike trail network, stunning views of the mountains, and easy access to activities like hiking and even rock and ice climbing.
At night, the skies were so dark you could see every star.
Though I moved here from Miami, I didn’t even mind not having the Florida city’s bustling nightlife. Really, I just struggled to socialize with anyone close to my age at all for the first year I lived in Colorado.
Most of the neighbors in my small town seemed to be at least twice my age. It wasn’t easy for me to find activities or third spaces where I could meet other people in their 20s, either — even the closest affordable gym was nearly an hour away from my apartment.
Although the promise of adventure lured me to Colorado, I quickly realized getting into most activities I was interested in, like snowboarding, wasn’t feasible on my small paycheck. On top of that, I didn’t have many local friends to try them with.
Within a year, I had found myself thousands of miles from everyone I knew and was hardly getting by. Then, I found out I was about to lose my job.
Having to find a new role shook things up, but it helped me make the most of my new home
Kylea Henseler
About eight months after starting the job that brought me to Colorado, my bosses told me they weren’t renewing my contract for the next year.
At first, I freaked out. I’d agreed the job was a poor fit, but it was a job, and there weren’t many others in my field nearby. I considered leaving the area.
Luckily, soon after I got the news, there was an opening for a feature reporter in the closest nearby city, which is home to about 20,000 people.
I was already familiar with it from driving there multiple times per week to work out and buy groceries, and although it’s still a fairly small and tight-knit community, it had a lot more things to do and people to meet.
The job was a better fit, as I got to work on the kind of outdoor, culture, and feature writing I’d always enjoyed. It paid more, too.
Finally, with a higher paycheck and more access to activities and people, I started making the most out of living in Colorado.
Making friends was a struggle at first, but I had more places to try doing so in my bigger town. I also realized many others were in the same boat as me, so if I met girls close to my age (especially if they were also new to town), I’d ask them out to coffee and say I was trying to make friends. Most of the time, so were they.
I also took advantage of third spaces, like the gym, to keep myself busy and social. And once I felt financially stable, I splurged on snowboarding gear and took advantage of a free lesson program one of my new friends told me about.
It took a few years, but eventually I started to feel at home in Colorado. Sometimes, I’m still not sure about my choice to move — but then it snows, and I remember Florida doesn’t get this kind of powder.
