📦 What it means to have grown up with frequent relocations and moving
Growing up with frequent relocations meant your address book would have been obsolete in months—each move erased friendships, routines, and pieces of your identity, teaching you that all stability is temporary.
You may have learned to read new social hierarchies quickly, assessing who to befriend, who to avoid, and how to blend in before the next inevitable move. You might have become incredibly adaptable, mastering the art of fitting into new environments and building connections rapidly. Your flexibility and ability to navigate changing circumstances is genuinely impressive and serves you well in many areas of life.
You may have absorbed the message that nothing is permanent—that even the people who promise to stay might eventually move on. Now, even in stable housing, you catch yourself mentally preparing exit strategies because your nervous system still expects the next upheaval. You either avoid deep connections ("Why bother? I'll leave soon") or cling intensely ("This might be my only chance"), with no comfortable middle ground. When conflict arises, your first instinct is often geographic solutions rather than emotional resolutions.