Writing today from Nashville, TN, a wonderfully vibrant city, and perhaps one that only gets passing thought from some of us as anything other than a country music citadel. My initial impression is this city seems closer to being an American version of an urban European quality-of-life-focused town than some other American cities. Having been in the somewhat culturally constrained state of Utah, beautiful as it is, just seeing a neon-lit “BAR” sign here is a novelty. I am not sure that there is a single piece of neon in the entirety of Utah as that may be too culturally deviant for the powers that be. Nice mountains, though; and I still very much like being there.
What I think is important is to have varied cultural experiences, and to soak in the specific energy of each. No doubt if I spent a few years in any single place, I would be itching to have a go at somewhere new, no matter how initially amazing it may have been. There is an energy that can fuel one’s imagination simply from basking in the novelty of a place — we call this “new place energy.” There is also a lot to be said for familiarity. New places give off new energy, but they also consume it. One thing I have learned from the last three years is that nomadism is highly overrated. Even nomads don’t like the hassle of packing up the yurt every few months.
This initial puppy love that I am currently experiencing with Nashville, I could probably also experience in hundreds of places. It is simply the shot of newness that we all need from time to time. We humans have evolved as uniquely wide-ranging omnivores, meaning the varieties of foods we enjoy eating is unmatched in other species. It may be a bit of a leap, but it seems there is a parallel adaption we have: the desire for similarly wide-ranging experiences. It is for each of us to decide exactly what the guardrails on these experiences are — one person’s mind-blowing African safari is another person’s mortal terror. So I am not suggesting we all take up sky diving or deep sea diving, only that our lives are enriched by varying our experiences within the spheres we can tolerate. Pro tip: the boundaries of those spheres may be much wider than you had imagined.
Onward and upward,
David
