Houston, Texas 4.5 Months In - Some Thoughts

[Ugly Bastard]

Houston, Texas 4.5 Months In - Some Thoughts

After graduating college in December, I started making steps to fullfill my desire to move out of Indiana. Sometime in March a priceless friend in Houston, Texas offered me a chance to move into his spare bedroom. I went ahead and seized the opportunity. In early April I drove 18 straight hours, through the night, with a puppy in a cage in my backseat, out of the state I grew up in, to Houston, Texas, where I had spent a mere 6 days of my whole life, in quest for something greater than the boredom and repetitiveness I had encountered in Indiana. Consider this post a collection of random thoughts that are currently scrambling through my brain 4.5 months after making a major change in my life:

A.) I'll get the most important thing out of the way: The decision to leave Indiana and move somewhere else, while knowing just one person, scared shitless, and out of money; was the best thing I've done in my short 22 years on this Earth. To those of you reading this who find themselves in Indiana, where you have been for the majority of your life; I cannot encourage you enough to take a stab at living somewhere else as soon as reasonably possible. Life is an adventure. This isn't a fucking dress rehearsal. This is your life. You're only getting older. Capitalize this very fucking minute and leave everything on the playing field. You're not going to get another chance.

B.) I have learned more in the past 4.5 months than I did in the entire 3.5 years I was in undergrad. Granted a large portion on this is a product of living with a fucking genius whose friends are also geniuses, but I feel that even if I was living with total dumbasses, I still would have learned a ton about life just by moving away from my roots. Noticing a theme? Move away. You can always come back. It's America.

C.) You'd be surprised how fast you bond with your new location. For example, I moved down here as a hard-core Cubs fan. Ask my close college friends; I allocated a large portion of my energy to Chicago Cubs baseball. That in mind, I shit you not, it took me no less than 2 months to care about the Houston Astros as I ever cared about the Cubs. Before moving down here, I would have never considered this a possibility, but after arriving here, I took to my habitat like a duck in the water and now find myself unsure of who to root for while attending a Cubs-Astros game. Look to the big-picture in this example; while it might seem zany to embrace a different region than that which is current, I speak from experience when I say that, chances are, you'll really come to love your new location, especially if it's better than your previous dwelling.

I could go on, but in the interest of increasing the chance that y'all will actually read this post after scrolling through to see how long it is, I will wrap things up.

I live in Houston right now. When focusing entirely on evalutating Houston, Texas, from an objective standpoint, I would tell you this: It is very standard. It's a huge city with a nice amount of things to occupy your time with, but the city itself is far from being a topic of conversation for people all around the world.

I am thrilled with the time I have spent, and am yet to spend, in Houston. It's a great city that I have bonded with enough to say that I have "lived" here at some point in my life. All of that in mind, I doubt I will live here for more than 1-2 years in my life. Just as equally as my heart yearned to leave Indiana, it yearns to make sure I do not live in Houston for much longer than another several months.

So what's next? I want to see more of the world. I want to live in California. I want to live in New York City. I'd even consider moving to Europe for a while if it seemed practical.

The point of me saying all of this is; life is an adventure. Leave it all on the playing field. You have nothing to gain by staying in the secure little bubble you currently find yourself in. I'm sure some part of your soul, even if it's just the very deepest part, is saying to your brain upon reading this post, "YES! listen to what this guy is saying," All I ask is that you lend more attention to that voice. I like you guys. I don't want you to wake up in 20 years and realize that you should have heeded the slightly disorganized words of your adventurous friend on some random internet messageboard. Live your life how YOU want to lead it. You answer to none. This is your life. What am I asking? That you lead YOUR life exactly how you REALLY want to lead it. In the end, we all die alone. Make sure you're happy with yourself when that day comes.

-Your Friend