5 Reasons Why You Should Move to Another City

The most important relationship in your life is the relationship you have with yourself. Because no matter what happens, you will always be with yourself
                                                                                           ABHIJEET KRITAN 

1. You get to know yourself better.

Nothing can bring you closer to building an intimate relationship with yourself and getting to know yourself better than moving away from home and living in another city. You have the freedom to discover who you are, what you truly want and don't want without any distractions or influences from people close to you  --  whether it's close friends, family or just familiar surroundings as well as the societal and cultural norms you grew up in and were taught to believe.

Living in another city is an eye opener especially if the place is far removed from where you're originally from. You observe things from an outsider's perspective. You see things from the outside in which makes you re-think the way you understand your own culture and your own self from the inside out.

This process makes you re-think about who you are as a person and start questioning your original beliefs, attitudes and values which were influenced by your upbringing.

Questioning this over and over with different perspectives coming in back, front, left, right, you now have a chance to shape yourself to be who you truly want to be and find your purpose in life with fewer biases (as you would have if you lived in your own culture all your life).

2. You become independent.

Being independent takes courage  --  the courage to get over your internal fear to face unfamiliarity on your own.

When you move to a new city, everything is new; everything is unfamiliar. Unfamiliarity can make you feel insecure and scared at first. Getting to know the unfamiliar environment which soon becomes familiar teaches you to get over fear -- fear of discovering the new streets alone, talking to new people, trying out new foods, or fear of people in general because you do not know the intentions of others and the streets look scary at night.

Moving to another city, you learn to build up the courage -- over and over -- to be independent and face fear on your own. You will reach a point where facing fear and getting to know the unfamiliar alone are no longer scary.

You become independent.

And how rewarding does it feel to know that you can finally run on your own without having to have someone holding your hand all the time or watching over you?

3.  You become adaptable and open-minded.

Probably nothing is ever what you're accustomed to in a new city  --  from road rules, choices to choose from in day-to-day life, to people's attitudes and common behaviors. As a result of this, you have to keep an open mind and continue to learn new things. It's like going back to school again where you learn social etiquettes, the education system, healthcare system, the country's history and cultural beliefs etc.

The next you know you are no longer scared of change. In fact, you learn to embrace change. You thrive on change. Stagnancy and complacency become your worst enemy.

You become addicted to the excitement of discovering new things and adapting yourself to and trying to understand the new surroundings. Then all of a sudden, you feel the urge to move again because you simply don't want to lose that feeling of excitement (which makes you feel alive and gives you joy).

4. You can build a new identity.

You are a new brand here, not a rebrand. There's no better way to start fresh than moving to another city.

But the art here lies in getting to know yourself and the ability to be able to become who you truly want to be without influences or distractions from others.

People don't know who you are, where you're from, who your parents are, what schools you went to. They probably couldn't care less about your background. You now have a chance to embrace this new blank canvas to draw a picture of yourself. Whatever you want to be and do, you now have all the chances to explore and create without any influences from people you grew up with like family or childhood friends.

In a new city, you build a whole new ecosystem around you -- be it new friends, a new job, a new apartment and new flatmates. You have to find the place and people you feel belong. You get to really follow your heart, your instinct, and your true identity at present without having to compromise with past relationships. You don't have to hang out with childhood friends whom you no longer feel connected to because you both have grown apart mentally and intellectually. You don't have to slightly change who you really are to please your parents.

5. You start to wonder where home is.

When you move to another in your 20s, it's when life starts to become real life. You've just finished school. You're starting your first real job. You are over the teenage period and start to become an adult. There's a whole lot of psychological changes going on in your head and your mind. You start to self-reflect more and question your being .  What was I born to do? What am I really good at? What is my purpose in life? What is my true passion? How can I be truly happy? What's the meaning of life?

Discovering answers to all of these questions when you're far away from home, you have all the freedom to genuinely answer these without biases. The next thing you know, traveling and living overseas have become a part of who you are. You become emotionally connected to this new city you moved to only just a few years ago. You start to wonder where home really is. They say home is where the heart is, but where is my heart at?

We talk about falling in love as in falling in love with someone. But for a traveller, you fall in love with another city. The city has become your new love affair.

And here you wonder... where will I fall in love with next?