Do you love the city you live in? Does it have everything you ever wanted? Do you feel you could live your whole life there and never yearn for anything different? If you’re like most people, you didn’t answer with a resounding YES to all of the above. But even if you did, you would still be wise to consider a move to a new city. Here are the reasons why.
Step Outside your Comfort Zone
Moving to a new city is daunting, which is precisely why you should do it. When you step out of your comfort zone, you rediscover yourself. Taking risks makes you realize how much stronger you are than you thought; it allows you to grow into your full potential. Staying in one place might feel safe but at the same time stagnant. When you break through the layer of false security, you start seeing life in a new light, and your heart opens up to all it has to offer.
Clear Default Settings
Belongings are easy to move, put into self-storage or replace, but what about your habits? Starting over in a new city will put them to the test. Your brain will get a lot of exercise trying to learn new street names, social codes and local lingo. You will find yourself doing a lot of new things for the first time. You will turn off the auto-pilot and start steering your life in new directions. This might not be easy, but it is an important part of growing as a person. When you start living by choice and not by default, you will feel empowered, and your new frame of mind will allow you to move through life more freely and wholeheartedly.
Clean Slate
Imagine all the things you could do if you weren’t inhibited by other’s beliefs about what you can, should or mustn’t do. You can literally be whoever you choose and be free of people’s prejudice and preconceptions about you. Even people who love us dearly can unintentionally stifle us with their old notions of who we are and their expectations of us. Sometimes this freedom is like an inner stoplight turning a sudden green. Living in a new city allows you to wipe clean the slate of your identity and frees you from constant contact with people’s ideas about you.
You Only Live Once
It might sound corny, but it’s true. You were given one lifetime to spend on this vast earth, and you won’t get another chance to do all that you can do and be all that you can be. Moving to a new city is like throwing your arms around life, agreeing to dance an adventurous dance, discovering new places and people and rediscovering yourself.
Make Friends with Yourself
You might feel lonely, at first. Loneliness is hard, but it teaches you something invaluable- how to form a friendship with yourself. When you’re just starting your life in a new city, you simply have to learn to enjoy your own company. When new people start appearing in your life you might notice a positive change in the way you interact with them- when we learn to be good friends with ourselves it usually translates into becoming better friends for others.
Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder
Your existing relationships can benefit a lot from some distance. Anger, judgement and criticism don’t travel well and tend to lose their edge when someone we love isn’t so readily available anymore. A little bit of distance makes us appreciate the people in our lives, miss them and cherish them more. As the old adage goes, absence does make the heart grow fonder.
Meet New People
Making new friends can be very challenging, especially after reaching a certain age. When you relocate to a new city, making new friends is inevitable. It’s scary alright, but the more proactive you are about it, the easier it will get. Friendships are one of life’s greatest gifts, and meeting the right person at the right time might just change your life.
Discover a New Culture
You don’t have to move to a fishermen’s village in South-East Asia to get to know a new culture. You don’t even have to cross state lines, in some cases. Each city as its unique vibe, its food (or its local take on well-known dishes), its slang, its watering holes, its sense of style, its artists and bands, the list goes on and on. It’s a big and fascinating world out there, and you only live once.
Advance your Career
Changing residence might give your career a real boost. Different places have different needs, and maybe your profession and skills can be more highly appreciated in a different locality. Moving can also afford you the opportunity to turn your passion into a source of income and start a new career. Make good use of the winds of change when you start to plan your move to a new city. They might be taking you to greater heights than you imagined.
Have you ever moved to a new city? Would you recommend it to everyone? Tell us in the comments!
