Staying put

There are a lot of people who seem to be content just staying in one place their entire life. I see it happening all around me, and if so many people seem to find this pleasant, it must be 'normal'. I am interested to know the reasons behind this desire, because personally I don't feel a close bond with my home town at all, and frankly the thought of living there my entire life repulses me, assaults my sensibilities as wrong, even. The world is so incredibly big, and these days it is so easy to go practically anywhere you want, that it seems ridiculous to stay in one place with so much to see and so many different places to experience. I understand moving to a different country - even for a few years - would be a bridge too far for most people, and I'm not sure I would want that myself (though I like to keep my options open), but moving to a different town in your home country, at least, should not pose too much of a barrier, I think. In a different country you would (in most cases) have to speak a different language (which may unable you to do your work properly, for instance) and your friends and family would not be there, except if you took your wife or something. These obstacles do not exist (or only to a far lesser degree) if you don't move too far away from your home town. But still most people stay put, and seem to like, or even revel in, their staying in one place. Is it because they feel comforted by the familiarity of their environment? Would a new environment (even if it is just 70 km away, which is 'far' by Dutch standards) be scary somehow? Or is it that it is mainly a matter of convenience: having your work place, tennis club, library, optician, etc. near you, as well as (probably) most of your friends and family?

"Is convenience loved more than boredom is hated?"

But I think that even though this is convenient, it is boring. And boredom has become one of my greatest enemies. That is why living in the area I was born repulses me so; it is more of the same, and even more of the same. There are hardly any alleys in my home town I don't yet know, and the salespeople in the shops there all have faces familiar to me. I recognise people in the streets and some recognise me. But I don't want to be recognised and perhaps forced into mundane conversation ("How are you? Good. You? I'm good too. How is work? Fine, been busy, you? Yeah me too. You know, same old..." AAAARGH!!). I like it better when no one I see in the streets knows me, and I can just go about my way without having to pay attention to other people (because if you know one but don't say hi because you didn't notice them, they will resent it) or running into people I knew when I was a kid, stirring up memories from what feels like 8 lifetimes ago.

One of the reasons my ex and I split up was that I went crazy seeing the very same environment each day while she felt comforted by its familiary. More than a year later, she is now looking to buy a house in the neighbourhood she grew up in. She is even looking at houses a few streets removed from her parents' house. Because that is convenient when you have babies and you can drop them off with grandma in a flash. But doesn't this convenience have the down side of being boring as hell?

When I moved away from my home town, I enjoyed finding out where the post office and supermarket were, among other things. Finally there were things I didn't know, and it wasn't all predictable and boring! That was quite a relief. I can't explain how good it felt to do something as simple as asking 'the locals' where the town hall was, since before, in my home town, it was practically inconceivable to not know where something was. But discovering new things only takes so long, of course, as after a while I knew where to find most places, and if I had lived there for years and years, the same problem as before would have arisen: everything would be familiar and dull. So, as long as I feel this way, I will continue to move around and discover new places, fleeing boredom, I guess. Which brings me back to my initial question: why are people content just staying in one place all their lives? Don't they find that boring? Don't they have a sense of adventure, of discovering new things and new places?

Well, I can't figure it out. My guess it they value convenience more than adventure, and somehow don't feel the boredom I do (or not as much). But if so many people prefer to live this way, apparently it is me who is 'strange'. Otherwise the majority of people would be moving around all the time, instead of choosing one place and improving it bit by bit until they have the 'perfect' garden and the 'perfect' .....ah, who am I fooling... they are never satisfied with the material things they accumulate. Just as it seems I will never be satisfied with the place I live. But fortunately, life will always hold surprises. If I knew the future as well as I do my home town, the world would be so boring that life would be futile. So I say: let fate hit me with a few surprises to keep life interesting!

It didn't necessarily have to be a busted knee though ;).