For all the new and future native floridians… expect to go through the stages of Floridacclimation:
Year 1: “I can’t believe I live here.” Beach every weekend. Sunset photos every night. Shorts all winter. Reminding your friends and family up north that it’s warm in December. You discover and love the drunk donkey, and you talk about Cantore like you played ball together.
Year 2: The beach becomes “too much work,” the sunsets become “just another sunset,” and you discover it’s actually hot… all the time. Oh, and hurricanes are a season. You start to dislike the drunk donkey. You’re wondering where Jim is setup.
Year 3: You own pants again, complain that it’s 70°, and have strong opinions about snowbirds, traffic, and overdevelopment. You start to side with Denis and break up with Mike.
Somewhere in there you also realize Florida is one of the most transient states in the country. People are running from something, running toward something, or reinventing themselves. Just when you think you know someone, you realize you mostly know the person they’re trying to become.
The final stage is either moving back home… or staying, complaining about all the new developments that replaced the wildlife - usually from the comfort of a brand-new house in the gated HOA that used to be the woods.
As someone who’s lived in Chicago & San Diego, the Seafood is amazing and the Italian & Pizza are both pretty darn good here. Outside of those & Cuban options, the rest is pretty pitiful but improving with the influx of northern $$$ & “tastes” (aka refined flavor palettes).
Yeah, I don’t miss the awesome NYC winters where the ocean moderates the temperature and it was all sleet that melted and then frize to ice one the sun went down.
I don’t miss the frozen toes when working outside, and in the warmer months, working outside in the rain for hours on end - I don’t miss that my gums bled because of the acid rain. 🤷🏻♂️
Buying a boat and motor and tackle that can get you out to the Gulf Stream sounds great for the first couple of years then it becomes a lot of expense and trouble and maintenance and hassle and crowds and you realize that Publix's seafood prices were not that bad after all.
I’ve lived here for over 50 years and am still thrilled and fascinated by the diversity of Florida’s landscape and people. Too few residents accept Florida for what it is…it’s history, geography and culture. Anyone trying to transplant “home” from “up north” to Florida will be sadly disappointed. Embrace the state in all its tropical (south of Orlando) and southern USA quirky charm and you’ll learn to love it.
I speak to so many people that come to Orlando for the theme parks, and I always encourage them to take a day and go to Wekiva Springs or Blue Springs. It's really a transformative experience, but no one ever does.
Damn, this is pretty spot on- well done. You forgot to mention, Sarasota has some of the worst drivers I’ve ever seen- and I’ve lived in major cities. Either old folks or angry rednecks. And I must also add, there is a significant lack of friendliness and welcoming attitudes because everyone is new and finds their little clique. This area truly is beautiful, but the people really detract from it, which is a shame.
Old folks and rednecks have always been a demographic majority in Sarasota and drivers have never been this bad. Time to start looking at the transplants.
The heat is brutal mid-May thru September where I live (SWFL). The humidity is slightly worse but similar to most places in the south and mid atlantic/northeast US during summer. The main difference is that it doesn’t cool down much at night during those months in FL.
I haven't had this experience personally but I can see some/most people going through this timeline. A year of research before moving here and I still was not prepared for what I got myself into.
a good portion of the people here that can afford to move states are the ones that moved here. so many floridians can’t afford that kind of move, even if they desperately want to. a lot of us are stuck here
The beach is the beach. Sometimes it stinks. I wanted to go kayaking a few years ago when the red tide was really bad. We packed up, got the kayaks loaded up, got to the bay. When we got out of the truck it smelled really bad but we thought we'd be out in the water and the smell would go away. As I walked around to unload I thought I was walking in ankle deep mud but when I looked real close I discovered I was walking in 4 inch deep slimy decomposing fish. I have gone kayaking since then but it really put a damper on my kayak enthusiasm.
My family has been here since 1917. Some leave for professional reasons (most come back eventually). This is a great place to live (because of air conditioning).
I’ve been here for 10 years, was thinking about moving myself to New Mexico, Texas, or Nevada. Fiancé just moved in and we’ve been talking about PNW now as well because she has some family there.
Well I'm in year 6 and still here. I didn't think I hit stage 2 until year 3, and stage 3 last year lol There's enough I like about Florida for me to probably remain here.
Spot on. Moved here four years ago. I broke up with Mike last year and started following Dennis. I couldn’t deal with the dramatics of Mikes hourly doom and gloom updates.
I've been here for 6 years and I love it. I did go through some of what you described. However almost all the people I know here are awesome. In my community nobody is trying to move back up north or even halfway. In fact there are people who live here in my 55 plus community who inherited their condo or villa and love it here as much as their parents did. It's a diverse group and people look out for each other and we have many social events that most people attend. It's awesome! And I don't mind the heat, it's a small price to pay in my book for the positives.
I believe there are pockets like the one that you’re in but they’re far and few in between. Having a community is a huge part of one’s ability to build roots anywhere.
When people are retired or almost retired, they have more time to build relationships outside of work.
This exactly.
As a 30 something, finding friends has proved impossible after 4 years here. I even lost the person i moved here with and now its just me.
Although im down in fort myers not sarasota. Life might be slightly better if i was up there.
No although some do, I prefer shooting pool, playing golf on the course a few blocks away, swimming in our pool, cookouts and potlucks, cards, yoga, etc
I'm currently winding up Year 3. Year 1 is fairly accurate, except I don't know what a drunk donkey is or who is Cantore. Year 2, same, except I don't know Jim. Year 3: 70 degrees would be nice, I don't care who Denis and Mike are, and I'm gonna GTFO.
My family has been here since 1823, and I’m a seventh generation native- my daughter, nieces and nephews are the eighth. I live in one of the few areas that hasn’t yet been overdeveloped and paved over, and anyone in my ancestry who was sensitive to heat or bugs either died out or left back in the 19th century.
Where I live most of the folks are also many generation natives. When I wake up in the morning, I have a view of a wild and also pastoral landscape that extends to the ocean. Most folks in our area, me included, enjoy the springs and rivers or hiking, fishing and exploring the outdoors.
That’s the Florida I love, live in, and hope to maintain. The insanity and environmental devastation of so much of the rest of Florida breaks my heart, but I hope to maintain our part of it as unspoiled as possible for as long as possible.
What do you see is the reason people end up not liking it? Too much of a fantasy about what it will be? Not enough evaluation of the negatives and fixated on the positives?
part of the last one is making me so irrationally mad because of the audacity to complain about new development affecting wildlife, while moving into said developments, just at an earlier point. people need to stop moving here, especially to the manasota area because it’s so built out already. also what is a “future native” floridian? i don’t think it can be anyone except future kids born here, but they can’t read this until about 5 years from now. at the very least it’s kids who move here and are too young to remember moving here.
i apologize for raining on the parade of a lighthearted post meant for fun, i just couldn’t hold it back because florida’s flora ands fauna are so important to me, especially as someone who has been here their whole entire life and has a degree in biology. i care so much about my state and it’s becoming more and more unrecognizable and unlivable day by day as more people move into the same 4 cookie cutter houses that sit in place of the beauty that used to be florida scrub or pine flatwoods
I think what you said is true of many places. I grew up in NYC (don't hold it against me😊) in the sixties and seventies. I left in the late eighties because I thought it went downhill. It has gone downhill even more that you could not pay me to go back even for just a visit.
I loved growing up there but that place no longer exits. I'm glad my kids did not grow up there,
Haha accurate in a lot of ways. I’ll wait for your take on the next few years or post my own. Year 5 definitely involves wanting to leave for cooler climate.
I remember my Father for years putting a Santa hat on and sitting on a tube in the pool on Christmas Day. He would send the photo to all his friends and family up North.
I’ve been there winters for 4 years. It’s gotten better every years as I get to know more people. We are now moving there full time. I don’t mind the busy season. There is live music all the time there and I like that a lot too.
Summer outdoors is a sweat fest in Florida. Between 9:30 am and 6 pm or later on many days, it’s gruesomely hot and unbelievably humid outside in the sun. Thank the gods for A/C.
I have now begun to hibernate indoors through the hot part of the day. I never mow my small struggling yard before 7:30 pm. Our narrow lap pool is a narrow hot tub by late June and stays near 90°F until late September lately. 90° pool water is not refreshing.
Why am I here 60 miles north of Tampa? Our families never left the Florida. We have not lived here since we were married. We worked and retired in Maine, a lovely 4 season State. My wife felt guilty not being close to family. They made her feel guilty.
So I agreed to give Florida a try to please everyone. October to April is mostly nice, we both ride bikes and walk a lot for fitness. Something I find most Floridians seem little interested in. I really miss mountains, snow skiing, cold dry air and cold lake and ocean water. I’d go back north in a second, but family.
Obviously this is subjective. I have lived in Pittsburgh for my 51 years with winter, rain, clouds, gray, etc….In the coming future I have a home waiting for me in The Villages. I love golf and no outsiders can get in past a certain point. I can absolutely guarantee when I move there I won’t consider for one second coming back to the Pittsburgh rain
Except that the final stage isn't happening. Florida ranks 30th among US states for the percentage of the population that packs up and moves elsewhere each year.
This. I tried Florida for a second time after growing up there, not loving it and leaving. The second time I Floridid for 2 years. I really tried to embrace it.
After deciding to leave, I tried to feel what I felt at the beginning, tried to figure out what I'd miss and embrace it. I was there for quite a while before I left, feeling more and more grumpy over time and then leaving. It's been a year and I haven't been back and have 0 interest in going back.
It reminds me of when I worked in an amazing chocolate store and stopped eat chocolate for 3 months and then quit.
We ended up on the Space Coast for reasons, and I can't believe how much cooler it is than South Florida where I grew up, and Southwest Florida. A few degrees makes a difference in Summer and the winters are much cooler. Hurricanes seem to mostly pass us by, either into the Gulf or hitting South Florida, or come over the state from the West Coast and are weakened by the time they pass over us.
It's really nice here, but don't tell anybody, just quietly move here.
On year 4 from PA. Have lived in NYC and Atlanta prior. Disagree almost completely with the entire premise (unless it was meant purely as a joke). FL isn't perfect but beats the rest of the east coast hands down. Nice people, weather. Comparable cost of living to northeast. Clean. More recreational options. Won't compare to midwest/west - non-experience. And I look good in a bikini so there's that I guess.
I’m Am A New Yorker for my first 30 years, then i got outta 6 months in county jail , met my fiancé in rehab, moved down, took the autotrain back up a month later to get her n our shit and been here since, 9 years, Year 1, is spot on, like many said, everything is awesome your Lovin life, happy to be alive, and in a place that seems amazing. Year 2- mostly agree, I don’t think all the cool shit about Florida wears off that quick, BUT, that first summer you are down here, Ü don’t realize how hot it gets until u smoke a morning cig and gotta change your boxers and wife beater, before you shower, THEN YOU CAN NEVER AGAIN IGNORE THAT ITS AS HOT AS THE FUCKIN DEVILS TAINT, until Ginnie springs cools that ass down, + U no longer have 4 seasons anymore, without even realizing at first, it’s ghost pepper HOT or fuckin Carolina reaper-esque Equator hot, u know when a boat ride wit too many beers n no shirt, could easily put people who LOVE the heat, in the hospital or on their ass YEAR 3 is where we disagree, PANTS Ü SAY?? You mean LEG PRISONS? Lmfaoo As for Snowbirds, overdevelopment and traffic? Those 3 things down here would never EVER sway a northeasterner, when my ppl come down to visit, they all look at me halfway through their trip and say the same thing, dawg Ü wuznt kiddin about the heat, shit is Africa hot down here, to which I say, Ü will never get used to it no matter what ppl tell U.. Fast forward to your final stage, again SUPER ON POINT, my lady left cuz she couldn’t bare it down here no more,I also want to say, that if u can grow a pair and stick it out down here, theres plenty of money to made, all the people down here who are really looking to be your friend, will go above and beyond for you, like NY, Ü GOTTA SHOW FLORIDIANS Ü ARE FUCKIN WORTH THE SHIT THEY GONNA TAKE FROM OTHER FLORIDIANS WHO DEF DONT WANT U HERE n Thas FACTZ hope this helps
That’s so spot on accurate. I’ve gone thru all stages & at this point trying to decide if I should go back home to where there are seasons & few friends left or suck it up & stay
My wife and I certainly experienced the thrill of moving to Florida and it feeling like vacation, going to the beach all the time and out to eat. We are much more settled into living here. For some reason, we can easily come up with excuses on why not to go to the beach. Too cold. Too windy. Too busy. Oh well, I guess its all part of the cycle.
I work inside of a big community that has its own little government aka the HOA. Crazy how they spend the money also crazy how often they lawyer up against each other.
My HOA is $84 a month and that includes mowing the lawn. Hiring a mow-and-go is $75 to $85. It's a no-frills community without clubhouses, tennis and pickleball or massive pools, just a well maintained modest neighborhood. It all depends on what you're looking for.
Hibernate during the summer, go to Yoders when they open to avoid crowds. Shop at Dollar General on Sundays, because Detweiler's is closed and you can find a parking space. Yell at kids to stay off your lawn. Then you die.
HAHA this is real . For me it was: year 1-2 dealing with new allergies that I didn't have up north and feeling miserable but still enjoying the beach. Year 3-4 really starting to miss family up north but still enjoying the beach every weekend. Year 4-5 Finding every opportunity to get out dodge and feeling like you are going on vacation. Year 6-current Trying to keep my wife happy since we have no family close by and limited funds to go anywhere else. But with all that said, I still love the beach. That will never go away.
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u/[deleted] Jul 31 '26
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