Looking Forward, Looking Back: Thank You For The Love San Diego.
As many of you know, after 16 glorious years in San Diego, the Hardwick family has decided to relocate to Indianapolis, Indiana. After sharing with friends, co-workers, and loved ones, we got every reaction imaginable from excited, disappointed, to confused. One of the main questions we got was, “Why?” That is a totally reasonable response and one that we asked ourselves many times leading up to our big decision. After all, we had it so good in ‘America’s Finest City’. We are part of a thriving gym business, in Renegade. The kids are excelling with school and sports. Mom and dad both have good friend groups. Nick had broadcasting work, on both TV and radio, which was engaging and stimulating. The weather is always spectacular and we had our dream home/sanctuary from which to enjoy it. Plus, the city of San Diego and its residents treated us with nothing but kindness and respect, going out of their way to make sure we were happy and comfortable. “So why give all that up?”
While a lot of our boxes were checked in San Diego, there was one big box that continually lingered over us. That was the family box. I (Nick) put down the Chargers color analyst gig several years ago to get to spend more time with my immediate family. That was merely a matter of aligning my time with my values. Many people thought it was a crazy decision. Many broadcasters long for one of those 32 jobs available that you can keep for 30 years. It pays well and is lots of fun. But, going on three years out from that choice, it is easy to say that that was one of the best decisions we’ve made as a family. It solidified for us the thinking that the one thing you can never get back, is time.
While a lot of our boxes were checked in San Diego, there was one big box that continually lingered over us. That was the family box. I (Nick) put down the Chargers color analyst gig several years ago to get to spend more time with my immediate family. That was merely a matter of aligning my time with my values. Many people thought it was a crazy decision. Many broadcasters long for one of those 32 jobs available that you can keep for 30 years. It pays well and is lots of fun. But, going on three years out from that choice, it is easy to say that that was one of the best decisions we’ve made as a family. It solidified for us the thinking that the one thing you can never get back, is time.
As we have aged, it has become increasingly more challenging to get “home” to see our extended families. Between school and sports and jobs and the lack of direct flights, a three hour time change, wanting to take our own vacations, and families located in two different countries (Jayme’s in Ontario, Canada, Nick’s in Indiana), we seldom enough got back. That was an ever-present, underlying emotional pain.
Just as I would never get back the weekends with my boys if I kept chasing the football dream; we will never get back time with our extended loved ones. As good as life was in San Diego. And as hard as all of that was to give up, we are comforted knowing that we are further aligning our actions with our values. Another line we heard frequently when sharing our decision was, “You’ll never regret spending more time with family.” We agree.
We are incredibly excited about our future. We plan to bring with us the health and wellness that we learned and practiced in San Diego. The Finding Center podcast is continuing to grow, as will Hardwick.Life. We plan to devote lots of attention to purveying a premium, diverse product line to fill our and your health needs. Unfortunately, we couldn’t bring the weather and our friends back with us to Indiana. But, we will return frequently. We have so many lifelong friends to see, along with some killer workouts to get in at Renegade (worth a day of travel itself). And thankfully, I will still get to contribute on Fox 5 San Diego, and XTRA1360.
Thanks again to everyone who has been a part of our lives and supported us during our time in San Diego. Thank you for continuing to support us. We are so grateful. Keep following along, though. We have lots more in store.
Best of health,
Nick