“If you think you are enlightened, spend a week with your parents”, this quote popped into my head during the first few lines.
One of my favorite things to do is to spend time in different realities long enough to have an idea what life is actually like for people I’m far removed from. It feels like you did the same here.
People really live in completely different realities.
Another fun thing to do is to try and blend these different realities, letting the country or a small city slow you down and staying slow when you get back to the big city.
I think Midwest you is still a little too NYC though 😉
I was literally just talking to my friend over dinner last night about the unexpectedly lovely experience I had going back to Ithaca to visit my dad after spending a few weeks in the city with my mom (all this on a month-long vacation/visit back to the US after living in Buenos Aires for almost a year). Up until that point, I was totally unwilling to admit that the city is so overwhelming! There's just so much to do and people to see etc. etc., and I started to think of this decision paralysis + wallowing in self-loathing for staying in/scrolling/whatever as an inevitable condition of life, when it's totally not!! Ithaca was evidence of a more relaxed lifestyle, where you don't have to compete with random people to assert your presence in a space, like you describe with finding a seat in cafés, or otherwise have to focus so intently on optimizing your attention and justifying your existence.
I'm so glad I came across your piece as I work through my thoughts on this — I'm back in Argentina now, amid the hustle and bustle of the city, but I'm trying to carve out space to breathe. You might like my piece "Being Human" that I published a few months ago. Anyway, I'm looking forward to reading more of your stuff! :)
This was great. :)
glad I discovered your page. I definitely see how a midwestern city can feel much slower than a super busy NYC as I used to live in Minneapolis:)
“If you think you are enlightened, spend a week with your parents”, this quote popped into my head during the first few lines.
One of my favorite things to do is to spend time in different realities long enough to have an idea what life is actually like for people I’m far removed from. It feels like you did the same here.
People really live in completely different realities.
Another fun thing to do is to try and blend these different realities, letting the country or a small city slow you down and staying slow when you get back to the big city.
I think Midwest you is still a little too NYC though 😉
I was literally just talking to my friend over dinner last night about the unexpectedly lovely experience I had going back to Ithaca to visit my dad after spending a few weeks in the city with my mom (all this on a month-long vacation/visit back to the US after living in Buenos Aires for almost a year). Up until that point, I was totally unwilling to admit that the city is so overwhelming! There's just so much to do and people to see etc. etc., and I started to think of this decision paralysis + wallowing in self-loathing for staying in/scrolling/whatever as an inevitable condition of life, when it's totally not!! Ithaca was evidence of a more relaxed lifestyle, where you don't have to compete with random people to assert your presence in a space, like you describe with finding a seat in cafés, or otherwise have to focus so intently on optimizing your attention and justifying your existence.
I'm so glad I came across your piece as I work through my thoughts on this — I'm back in Argentina now, amid the hustle and bustle of the city, but I'm trying to carve out space to breathe. You might like my piece "Being Human" that I published a few months ago. Anyway, I'm looking forward to reading more of your stuff! :)