I am kind of a loner and a wanderer. I actually have a lot of friends, but I greatly enjoy time to myself and have not spent more than four years in any one town the last 10 years. I've done a lot in that time, and I've really enjoyed the freedom of being young and single. I dated a fair amount through it all but never had the intention of finding something serious, and for the most part, I never did.
Anyway, I found myself working a job for about a year that kind of consumed my life and greatly reduced my ability to do the things I like, things like running, hiking, traveling, etc, and it also really messed up my mental health for a while too. I ended up quitting that job about 10 months ago and got a different one that is about 100X better in every way. I was also in a fairly serious relationship during that time, but it turned sour and ended about 5 months ago, mostly for reasons unrelated to my job.
With the loss of the shackles that bound me (my crappy job and then a crappy relationship), I had decided to just focus on myself for a while, go do interesting things, travel, recreate, run, learn things, and just be free for awhile. I was very successful in all of that this past summer and felt like I had things very well figured out, as if I was once again totally in control of my life and heading in the most correct direction. However, I recently met a girl who has kind of screwed all of this up. I'm a pretty weird guy and have a very difficult time finding people I really connect with, but this girl and I seem to have an incredible amount in common... She's unlike any of the 50+ girls I've gone out with, and it was evident pretty early on that she was someone I could talk about anything with, be my "true self," something I can't do around 99% of people. She also seems to like me pretty well and seems to be thinking the same thing that I am. It's like, "Holy crap. Is this really happening?"
The reason all this is a problem for me is that she's very tied down to her job and our current town, and I honestly didn't plan to live here much longer (I can move for my job and was planning to), and I can't really see my wandering and self-focused lifestyle jiving with a serious relationship. I also wanted to date around and keep things light for a year or two. I wanted to go back to school and possibly study abroad. I probably can't do this if I'm with her, but at the same time, I think passing up on a girl who seems to be a better match for me than any other girl I've ever met (and there have been a lot of them) could be quite foolish. I'm very conflicted.
Sorry that I'm kind of rambling, but I'd like to hear from people here and if they have any advice or input. I'd especially appreciate input from some older guys since younger people typically lack perspective when it comes to relationships. I'm 27 FWIW and didn't really see myself getting married until my early to mid 30s, if at all.