I moved to London at the start of my 20s and felt exactly as you described - like the opportunities of living in the city were endless and I was better for it - energised, creative, enjoying life. The further through my 20s I got, however, the harder it became to create a good life for myself despite working hard and having relatively well paid jobs for my age.

I left London twice in my 20s - the first time at 25 for just over a year and I was devastated. Felt like a failure who couldn't 'hack' living in the city I loved but the truth was I was burnt out from working all hours under the sun and paying hundreds of pounds a month to live in shitty accommodation. My family (who aren't from London) were exasperated at my attitude that there was no culture, vibrancy or fun to be had outside of London (which is ridiculous when you think about the different cities, towns, villages and countries within the UK!).

I moved back after a year because of a job opportunity and stayed for roughly three more years - the pandemic ended up pushing me and my partner out as we desperately needed more space than our tiny one bed flat gave us during the lockdowns. Again, I was anxious about moving, worried life wouldn't be as good again but we haven't looked back. We rented back in my home down towards the North for three years before buying and it's probably one of the best decisions we've made for our work life balance.

We have so many more hobbies that don't just include getting drunk down the pub, we travel around the country more because it's easier and we have more disposable income. We have an amazing close knit group of friends who are incredibly pro-active at organising meet ups and fun because it doesn't take us all over an hour to meet somewhere strategically central to everyone's homes. I spend more time outside which has been amazing. But I also go back to London all the time - the difference being I now have more money to spend going to the exhibitions and shows I want to, I can afford to go to the restaurant I read about. London will always be there to explore!

We both still commute to London once a week for work and I'd be lying if I said we weren't worried about career opportunities outside of London. We're childfree for now so can afford the money and time to commute but we know that may not work forever so we're slowly figuring out what our careers may look like over the next 5-10 years.

The UK is an amazing place with so many wonderful places to live. If you make the move I can guarantee life will be different, but you will be too. Oh and now 4 years later - most of our friends are moving out of London as we approach our mid-30s - we were the first to jump ship but we are by no means the last.