When you’re thinking about where to move next, there are several considerations that you might make. You might think about how you can move closer to friends or family members, or how you can get a bigger home with a garden or other such amenities. However, what can be daunting is considering the possibility of moving far from where you’re currently situated.

Sometimes, this can be a significant enough shift to mark an entirely new chapter of your life, and it might depend on whether or not you’re already familiar with the destination, or if you’re moving closer to people you know or further away.

The following article will highlight some of the main pros and cons to keep in mind if you are thinking of a long distance move.

Pro: The Fresh Start

The idea of having a fresh start is one that appeals to many people, especially if you’ve been in the same place for a long time. If you are at a point where you (and potentially your partner) have finally gotten your finances and general life to a place that you’re happy with, this might be your opportunity to create the life that you’ve always wanted. It’s important, though, that you remember to be realistic about your plan in order to do it justice.

Con: The Difficulties

The physical difficulty of moving might prevent you from doing so, however. While long distance moving services can absolutely help to make this easier (and be an option that you might not have been aware of previously) you still have to get yourself back and forth regularly throughout the process. However, if you find that this is the only problem that you can find with this plan, you might find it worthwhile to grit your teeth through this stage if you’re happy with the outcome.

Pro: Where You Want to Go

This might be a point that you wouldn’t consider if it wasn’t a location that you didn’t want to go. You might be living where you currently are due to reasons of convenience—being close to your job or being in the relative area of your social group, for example.

While finding a new job is relatively simple, pulling yourself away from your social group is a much more complex issue. You don’t want to cut ties, but you also don’t necessarily want to hold yourself back from going where you want to go if you’re unhappy where you live. This might mean that if you do move, having a good idea of how you’d see your friends regularly could be beneficial.

Con: The Reality of Unfamiliarity

In theory, a fresh start sounds great. It’s a romantic ideal where you have your happy ending and move to where you always wanted to go. However, what you might not think about to quite the same extent at the time is the reality of actually living there. Problems with the location might be pre-emptively brushed off as being solvable when you arrive, but getting there and finding yourself far away from everything you know and love might be more difficult than you expect. Again, though, this just means you have to be realistic in your planning.