Making Small Towns Cool Again (question mark 🤷🏼♀️)?
Not Just a Life Update, but a Framework for Telling Your Own
If you follow me on socials, I’m sure you’ve seen by now that I recently moved from Austin, TX to Wayne, PA.
And if you’re wondering, “Wait, where is Wayne, PA?” you’re not alone.
Usually when I tell people I’ve moved from vibey Austin to a smaller town community, I receive in response—even after telling them my sister and nieces live here—a slightly impolite expression of “hmm…?” Or, many times, people take the more direct route and blurt out: “Why would you do that?” It makes me laugh every time.
So let’s get into the cheeky thing about that…
But first, here’s what you can expect from this edit:
✨ The story behind my move to small-town charm
😚 My top tip to being the most interesting podcast guest in the room
🪟 My favorite thing of the week (quote, product, journal prompt, etc.)
The story behind my small-town charm move
What’s the first thing you think of when you think of Austin, TX? Cool, vibey, electric? Tacos, margs, and tech? If so, you’re right.
When you think of Wayne, PA, what do you think? Probably … “Where is that?” lol [I literally JUST hopped off a call and this exact thing happened.]
Just to get our geography lesson out of the way, Wayne is a small town, about 30 mins outside of Philly, that is known for its historic architecture and its presence of top-tier schools and universities.
Super lovely, but not exactly… vibey.
So what am I doing as a single, 30-something, moving away from the big lights and into smaller-town sights?
Resetting my nervous system. That’s what.
But here’s why this decision took me longer to make than it should have…
Prior to being in Austin for 2 years, I lived in Nashville for 6. And if history is a good indicator of the future, another bright-light city should have been the obvious choice for me.
But as I felt my time in Austin coming to a close, I started to get a nudge for something “quieter,” something “slower,” something more “home grown.” I couldn’t really put my finger on it, but I also couldn’t kick the feeling either.
But I was afraid making a move like this would feel like going….backwards, ya know? It felt like a small town should be the backup plan, right? Like, if other things didn’t work out? Small towns work in Hallmark movies, but real life?
I wasn’t so sure.
So I fought this feeling off for a little bit because, if I’m honest, I was afraid of the exact reactions I am now receiving. If I moved to a small town, with Wayne being the obvious choice, would this hurt business? Would this make me a smaller player in the industry? Would people not “get it”?
I wasn’t receiving the answers to these questions, so I squashed the nudge for slower and replaced it with a line of thinking that I could “compromise” on a city that was smaller, but still shiny if you will. I started looking into cities along the likes of Wilmington, Charleston, Bozeman, Bentonville—maybe even back to Nashville. All very viable candidates in my opinion (which, btw, please move to any of these cities so I can still vicariously live through you!).
After visiting some and thinking through others, I realized, still, none of these were the right fit for me.
So there I was - frustrated and stuck in my decision-making—why was I not getting the clarity I was seeking? And because it’s hard to plan for a future when you don’t know where that future will take place, life felt like it was stuck in limbo, on pause, until I could make a decision. If you’ve been in a similar situation, you know it’s not a fun feeling.
[Side note: I know it seems like choosing your next city is the ultimate freedom, but this type of decision without something to help ground you can sometimes be its own version of prison.]
Time was ticking on my lease and I needed to soon make a decision. Without an answer in sight, and still not giving into the small town tug, I contemplated extending my lease and just staying in Austin longer.
But just as I started to think about settling back in, some things around me started happening. And I don’t mean the good kind of things. I mean things like having strange encounters with a neighbor that made me excruciatingly uncomfortable in my own space. Things like noticing I was having a harder time finding joy in my life than normal. And simultaneously, I was realizing I had to make a hard decision about a relationship that I had invested a lot into.
Not fun things. These things felt like … pressure more than anything else.
But I think that’s sometimes how God works when we are about to overstay our expiration date. He will increase the pressure around us, and in this case, this pressure had a purpose (thanks for the wording around this, Craig Cooney).
This pressure led me to finally recognize:
Option A to find a new city didn’t work.
Option B to stay put wasn’t fitting.
So option C, the one I was running from, the call to slower, smaller, but with lots of family support, was what remained.
And so…
I committed to leaving Austin and moving to small town, Wayne, PA.
Scary? Yes. Immediate sense of relief? 100%.
It’s only been a little over a month in my new town, and while of course there are still a lot of things to shake out, I can honestly say this is the happiest and most settled I’ve felt in a long time.
I can walk to my favorite restaurants and coffee shops. I can walk up to my sister’s house and see my nieces after camp. I already have friends where I can just swing over unannounced for a visit.
Things that are resetting my nervous system because I’m surrounded by things that I VALUE. Family. Simplicity. Proximity. Community. Homegrown acts of kindness. In that Hallmark kind of way actually. [[If this is something you’re craving too, you’re in the right place. More where that comes from later on.]]
What I thought was my last resort was actually waiting for me with all of my top priorities.
And to think I almost didn’t choose this because I was worried about appearances!
It was as if I had to go through all the other options and realizing what I don’t want, to finally get to the conclusion of what I DO actually want.
And isn’t that a cheeky thought?
So what about you? What area of your life are you feeling stuck—and where might eliminating some options lead you to your ultimate decision?
And if you’d like more detail about the move/story, I actually recorded a solo podcast episode on it—you can listen to it HERE [on watch here on Youtube].
So here’s to a slower pace of life. More homegrown type of connection. And resetting our nervous systems…one walk to the coffee shop at a time.
And connecting this story to telling yours…
My top tip to being the most interesting podcast guest in the room
When telling a story on the mic, much like I just did above, I suggest telling a specific story paired with a generalized lesson.
Let’s break it down…
Story = my move and the risk
Generalized lesson: “Once I stopped making the decision on logic or fear of people’s questions, and started surrendering to what God was calling me to, I realized what was initially my last resort was actually waiting with all my top priorities.”
Even though your story is specific to you, tell it with details so it’s memorable. Then help others better their lives from it by placing a POINT to it through a generalized lesson. They can then apply that lesson to their specific situation.
Before you hop on the mic as a guest, think through the “lesson” ahead of time so that you can speak it with punch and pizzazz. Bonus points if you can add a poetic touch to it with contrasting words, like the pairing of ‘last resort’ to ‘top priorities.’ If you receive a pause from the host, you’ll know the lesson hit the way you wanted it to.
And if you desire help telling your story on the mic before your next interview, I’ve created a 1:1 coaching session called: Life Coach to Content: The Interview Guest Session.
It’s designed to equip you with:
✔️ A story that’s structured but still sounds like you
✔️ Takeaways that actually land
✔️ Confidence to walk into the interview knowing what you’re doing
Book your session here. Let’s get you mic-ready in a way that feels aligned, clear, and genuinely impactful.
Product I’m loving this week:
Since I just moved, I have the honor of…putting up my curtains… again. As a girl who doesn’t like to ask for help (anyone else?!)—this is a tricky task.
And as much as I dread doing it, I still LOVE these beautiful, blackout Amazon curtains and rods. They somehow go in any space and elevate any room.
If you’re also going to be putting yourself through the torture of installing curtains… I advise getting these so at least you know the pay off will be worth it. Here they are in my space (pre being steamed!).
Thanks so much for being here. I hope you love reading this long-form content as much as I love creating it. And if we haven’t met, I’m Elizabeth. Podcast host and owner of Elizabeth Evans Media, a boutique podcasting agency. I love long-form content and short-form magazines. So I’m on a pursuit to mesh all of my passions together.
Here’s how I can support you:
Life Coach to Content Consulting Session (let’s apply your story with a lesson for a podcast or for your social content)
Coming Soon: How to Become a Podcast Manager training
Or just hang with me here :) I’m grateful (and scared) for others to experience my writing.
In your corner,
Elizabeth