- Joined
- Jan 6, 2025
- Messages
- 2
My first post; I'll try to keep the context brief but can detail more if needed. More logistics/lifestyle than technique; no harm skipping this if the former doesn't interest you.
White 25 yo in central Alabama (USA). Not-ideal logistics: at least a half-hour drive to the nearest city/area with peer social spaces, which are sparse IMO. I have above-average looks, style, & conversation skills but could be a lot better, especially if I were situated to run more volume & learn firsthand faster. I clubbed a lot post-lockdowns & managed to initially grow fast to get some hookups -- thanks for the helpful advice, GC! -- but after that convenient period ended, it's been just stress from trying to climb out of poverty. Got along well with the guys (no girls to speak of) in school & W2 workplaces, but they were unhappy dead weight in a lot of ways, so I haven't kept ties. Working for myself at home now doesn't put me in consistent irl social circles, though I'm aiming to scale as well as do more freelance photography to get more opportunities. Recent years have been focused on learning online skills, building income, & tending to my for-a-while crippled & unemployed mother, whom I moved out from a few years back but have been nearby to help recover from spinal surgery, pay bills until she qualified for disability, etc.
Unfortunately, right as that was resolved & I'd saved about $9k to start more income streams, I've gotten evicted. My landlord's getting divorced so it's easier for him to give his first good tenant the boot and move here instead of fixing his situation or even selling the house to me. Could be worse, but this leaves me with some difficult long-lasting options I have to pick from soon:
1.) Move back in with cat-lady mom. Terrible for pulling so I might as well keep that part of my life on pause even longer to focus on my income, network, etc. But all this delaying is stunting my growth, especially if this region itself really is weighing me down.
2.) Buy a local house. Real estate is never getting cheaper & income probably isn't getting more feasible, so some of these decent little houses under $90k are tempting & would give me somewhere to pull. But putting down roots a long drive away from so much as a significantly declining nightlife (with daygame even further & sparser) might make even a small mortgage regrettable.
3.) Rent in a different city/state. No clue where would be both social & affordable. I do have actionable plans to increase my income, but a lot can happen & getting lease-locked in an unfamiliar place during 2025 chaos is daunting.
While no place is a perfect magic pill, and technique matters most, bad logistics have been such a burden that it seems I have to correct course drastically in that regard before anything else. But screwing that up worse could be a crushing setback for the rest of my 20s & beyond. So before making my choice, I'd be interested to hear your personal experiences & estimations: do you think 2025 is a good time to go monk mode, dig in locally, or take a chance on getting a balanced foothold in greener pastures (wherever those may be)?
EDIT: By the way, if option #3/moving to greener pastures sounds best & you know of affordable-yet-better cities to be, don't feel obligated to post examples publicly or even DM them to me. I understand it can be considered unwise to "give away" that kind of info. I would be interested in hearing some good criteria to keep in mind, though.
White 25 yo in central Alabama (USA). Not-ideal logistics: at least a half-hour drive to the nearest city/area with peer social spaces, which are sparse IMO. I have above-average looks, style, & conversation skills but could be a lot better, especially if I were situated to run more volume & learn firsthand faster. I clubbed a lot post-lockdowns & managed to initially grow fast to get some hookups -- thanks for the helpful advice, GC! -- but after that convenient period ended, it's been just stress from trying to climb out of poverty. Got along well with the guys (no girls to speak of) in school & W2 workplaces, but they were unhappy dead weight in a lot of ways, so I haven't kept ties. Working for myself at home now doesn't put me in consistent irl social circles, though I'm aiming to scale as well as do more freelance photography to get more opportunities. Recent years have been focused on learning online skills, building income, & tending to my for-a-while crippled & unemployed mother, whom I moved out from a few years back but have been nearby to help recover from spinal surgery, pay bills until she qualified for disability, etc.
Unfortunately, right as that was resolved & I'd saved about $9k to start more income streams, I've gotten evicted. My landlord's getting divorced so it's easier for him to give his first good tenant the boot and move here instead of fixing his situation or even selling the house to me. Could be worse, but this leaves me with some difficult long-lasting options I have to pick from soon:
1.) Move back in with cat-lady mom. Terrible for pulling so I might as well keep that part of my life on pause even longer to focus on my income, network, etc. But all this delaying is stunting my growth, especially if this region itself really is weighing me down.
2.) Buy a local house. Real estate is never getting cheaper & income probably isn't getting more feasible, so some of these decent little houses under $90k are tempting & would give me somewhere to pull. But putting down roots a long drive away from so much as a significantly declining nightlife (with daygame even further & sparser) might make even a small mortgage regrettable.
3.) Rent in a different city/state. No clue where would be both social & affordable. I do have actionable plans to increase my income, but a lot can happen & getting lease-locked in an unfamiliar place during 2025 chaos is daunting.
While no place is a perfect magic pill, and technique matters most, bad logistics have been such a burden that it seems I have to correct course drastically in that regard before anything else. But screwing that up worse could be a crushing setback for the rest of my 20s & beyond. So before making my choice, I'd be interested to hear your personal experiences & estimations: do you think 2025 is a good time to go monk mode, dig in locally, or take a chance on getting a balanced foothold in greener pastures (wherever those may be)?
EDIT: By the way, if option #3/moving to greener pastures sounds best & you know of affordable-yet-better cities to be, don't feel obligated to post examples publicly or even DM them to me. I understand it can be considered unwise to "give away" that kind of info. I would be interested in hearing some good criteria to keep in mind, though.
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