A national advice columnist has counseled a young adult living with her parents to, “Get thee out of The Villages.”
Syndicated columnist Amy Dickinson offered the recommendation in a column published this week.
The 32-year-old from northern New Jersey wrote that “circumstances (like the pandemic), led to my parents’ premature retirement and prompt move to The Villages.”
She also explained that, “For a multitude of reasons, my personal growth was stunted after high school, and it took me twice as long to finish college than planned.”
The letter writer, who signed off as “Early Retirement,” said she was “forced” to make the move with her parents. On the upside, she found a job in which she can work remotely and she is getting well paid. But it’s been lonely.
“In the two years since, I’ve grown used to spending most of my time isolated, since there’s a sense that there’s not much a person my age can do in the country’s biggest retirement community. I’d like to move out, but the inability to form any real relationships with peers is starting to wear me down, and with the economy in the state that it’s in, I don’t know if my plans will remain viable,” she confided to the columnist.
She admitted she has an “inability to form any real relationships with peers.” She said that the only person she knows locally is her personal trainer at the gym.
Amy, who succeeded Ann Landers as the Chicago Tribune’s signature advice columnist in 2003, offered some straight-forward guidance to the 32-year-old marooned in Florida’s Friendliest Hometown.
“My advice? Get thee out of The Villages, stat,” the advice columnist responded in a column published in newspapers across the country, including The Washington Post and The Denver Post.
Amy surmised that the young adult has had a chance to build up some cash while working remotely and it would be healthier to find a place more suitable to the life of a young adult. The 62-year-old advice guru pointed out the median age in The Villages is 73.
She suggested that the letter writer look at college towns or perhaps, Philadelphia. She described the City of Brotherly Love as “a great city for people your age.”
Read the entire column at this link.
