In my childhood, I lived in 5 different states and 9 different houses. As an adult, I stayed in the same state but still lived in 5 different homes. And now I’m 26 hours away from where I consider home and living in not just a new state, but a totally new environment. To say I was nervous to move would be an understatement. I was terrified. As somebody with pretty intense anxiety and a wildly negative imagination, I was able to come up with a ton of reasons why I would hate El Paso and why the move wouldn’t work out. When I got here, all of those feelings just kind of melted away. Not because El Paso was perfect, but because I realized how damn dramatic I was being. Life didn’t end because I moved. It just changed.
Now that I’m a couple weeks into living here, I’ve started to work on loving where I live. I read a book about this exact topic and it helped me to realize I was already doing a lot of what the book suggested. I started looking into what makes people love their cities and found ways that I could start loving this one. Apparently getting out there and experiencing local businesses, historical and cultural sites, and the natural beauties in your city is a great way to fall in love. Who would have thought? During the week, I’ve chosen to do this by visiting local coffee shops. On weekends, my boyfriend and I like to explore new parts of the city for food, drinks, shopping, and photo ops.
Another suggestion I have is to really get into self-development. When you move, your routine and habits are disrupted for at least a few days. Sure, at first you’re probably picking up habits like eating out 3 times a day and re-wearing the same 4 outfits that you didn’t pack up, but after that you’ve got a clean slate. It’s the perfect time to replace your old habits with new habits that better serve you. Figure out who you want to be and really work to become that person. And make sure it’s stuff that will make you happy! People who are happier in general tend to better like where they live.
The dry Texan weather helped me decide I really want to be better about taking care of my hair, skin, and nails. Within a day of being here, my skin was cracking and hurt. My nails had all broken off. And I don’t even want to talk about my hair. I’m still working on my nails and hair, but my skin is feeling a lot better. I used to see skincare as something I could put off, but now it’s my favorite part of my routine and I look forward to it each night. Followed by a cup of tea because I’m a tea person now. This is one of the little things that make me happy.
Okay, one more suggestion before I stop rambling. Treat every outing and every moment like something you want to remember. Get dressed up. Take photos. Write about it. Leave reviews. Really take in every detail. Every time I move, I regret that I didn’t do more and take more photos. Not this time.
If you have any advice for falling in love with where you live, even if it’s somewhere you’ve lived for a while, let me know! I want to really make the most of these couple of years we’re in El Paso. So far, I love all the coffee shops and I’ll never get tired of seeing the mountains. What do you love about where you live?
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