Tuesday, January 13, 2015

5 things I enjoyed in a location-flexible life !




I move to a place, learn things, make friends, bids adieu with everyone I knew to take off to a new city quite quickly and start it all over again! This has been happening ever since I remember. It’s nice to recall my life in 6 schools, four different cultures and quite a handful of places, though not as easy as it sounds. Every three year we move to a city because of my dad’s job and I would be preparing myself to get used to the environment, school and will start making friends in no time because I knew I only had three more years to experience all these before I could take off. Yes! It was quite scary to be part of the mystical maze of meeting new faces, learning the culture, leaping over the linguistic barriers in mastering the art of being a local in the new place. But, the scariest part is letting go! Leaving a place you have lived in and loved, that gave you the best memories and taught you the things that you never had or made you a person that you never were.  Packing my stuffs, changing where I walk, finding a friendly soul, waking up in a slightly different place once in every three years was indeed tough. But every cloud has a silver lining! I loved the hidden benefit of moving. Somewhere a new you will start-over all again, from becoming a better friend or reforming yourself to better shape or who you want to be in the current chapter of your move. Gradually I began to experience the blessing in disguise.  Hence, I made a promise, promise to myself that whenever I leave I take a little of everyone and everything with me and leave something of myself behind!!


Photo courtesy : www.freedigitalphotos.net
And, here it goes ….

Out of your comfort zone
A comfort zone is a heavenly place, it feels great and you feel the happiest but unfortunately nothing grows there! We need to come out of it to see how accommodating we are to the circumstances around us. It feels awful when life is stuck in a rut and those who are resistant to change loses the opportunity to experience how big the world is. Expanding your comfort zone gives the guts to break the artificial self-image that you have built for yourself and for the things around you, opening your mind to handle unfamiliar situations and things out of your safety net. Moving to a new city requires us to push our limits giving greater insights on who you are and what you want. Go that extra mile to learn the language and culture. The excitement of finding a friendly face, experimenting the local cuisine, locating a suburban train route had never been boring!

Learn and grow
Re-invent and revive yourself! A life-changing leap gives you abundant opportunity to widen your horizon and opens you up to new perspective of life. Creativity is unleashed with the exposure to new customs, culture and people. Joining a language class will now be on your ‘To-do’ list rather than the ‘wish-list’. Learn an authentic recipe from a local yokel and try it with your twist. For better or for worse, you are always considered as an outsider which allows you to escape from the traditional inhibitions and do things that you always wanted to do. After all, as a newcomer your actions are never considered absurd. Well, that I call the trick of the trade!

Make Friends
I cannot imagine where I will be today without those bunch of friends who had given me joy and made my life easier. Moving places will get you super friends everywhere. What more can feed your networking skills? Don’t fret about loneliness or hide in the corner. You could wake up and bask in the spotlight with those huge number of loyal friends you have made in each step of your move. Let’s face it, either you get to enjoy a lifelong friendship or you can regret for the wrong choices. Lose that extra baggage by letting go of the wrong people and pick on the ones that are worth carrying along for the rest of the life. Getting hold of the most important people will assure you a life-changing friendship.

Memories
It’s never been this cheap to travel! You reap the benefits of travelling while you have the unique privilege to create your own travel memories in each of the place you move. Planning trips in and around the city or town you stay gives you nice stories to tell people afterwards. The face of your friendly neighbour, your favourite restaurant, the street you choose every time you come back from work, those countless local festivals you enjoyed being of part are some of the captured moments to treasure. The moment one of your old friend calls, you turn nostalgic and start conversing in the language you once learnt. That’s how strong your memory stays. 

Live and love
A decision to take the plunge will let you follow your dreams – work or personal front. Such a change will offer you a unique chance to live the wonderful chapter of your life. It will direct you to a world of opportunity, right from finding your dream job, falling in love and settling decisions. And believe me, there are wrong turns too which ultimately make you come back to where you began. After all, there is no place like home!!



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