One thing has to change — your environment or you.

We can terraform or leave our physical landscape. It's either that or change our perspective.

It's not always easy to know which to change. Say you're unhappy where you live. Maybe you move somewhere else only to realize your previous living situation was better than realized. You learned that it wasn't your environment, it was you.

It could also be that you are indeed not the problem. The convergence between you and your environment may be a mismatch. You might find that moving somewhere else solves your unhappiness with where you live.

I've been thinking about moving a lot lately. My living circumstance is what many would dream to have. I have two rooms in a large, shared living space with a garage to myself. I live in a peaceful neighborhood, a 5 minute walk to one of the most beautiful parks in SF. I don't pay much for rent.

I've been drained by a rotating cast of roommates. The current set isn't insufferable (other characters who've come through have been), but I've come to believe that the convergence between me and this place no longer works. I am tired of living in a shared place.

Maybe this is part of what happens when you mature into your 30s. It may also be because I don't go out as much as a used to since the pandemic started, so I value privacy and safety to completely unwind much more than I did before.

I've made many attempts to shift my mindset, to be grateful and appreciative of all the benefits this place affords me. After nearly 2 years of trying, I no longer think it's about changing my perspective — or at least I'm not able to. I think I need a change of scenery.

I dream of a sunnier place than SF. I think of my father, who waited till his late 60s to move somewhere where the weather agreed with him. I do not want to wait so long to wake up each day smiling at the sunny warm weather.

Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Southern California, or coastal Florida seem to be the primary weather fits for what I'm looking for. Mexico and Costa Rica have been on my radar too. I would even consider SE Asia if the world were more open (and if my working schedule allowed it).

It's sometimes scary to move. So much stuff in one place, so much history after years of being in the same home. But I really feel compelled — I feel that I genuinely need to move to clear myself out. I have so many memories in the place I currently live. I am not persistently reminded or bothered by those memories, but I am ready to release myself from the space where so much happened.

I am ready for the next chapter.