I can’t really explain it. The feeling of clarity being in an entirely new place. Maybe it’s because you can’t simply pick up the phone to call (text!) someone familiar to instantly meet up. Or that everything is new and we don’t have any mental mapping available for us to make comparisons for what we’ll experience. What ever it is, I’m totally overtaken again with wanderlust.
As I sit in a co-working space in Mexico City, I’m surrounded by an office full of people working on their laptops, all working on problems and stresses completely unbeknownst to me. But I am excited, rejuvenated, and overjoyed mostly for the opportunity that lies ahead. Every day in a new city is unique. No routine has been established, meaning each day is an opportunity to experience something new and unexpected.
Let’s get back to my example of being home where our friends, family, and basically our life, is a phone call away. That creates an actual mental safety net for me, a complacency that my life is a part of this bigger decision making social net. And simple to complex decisions I make filter through all of their minds until a consensus is reached. To make this less abstract, here’s an example from today:
Overcome with excitement to plan out these activities ranging from cooking tacos Al Pastor, learning to make my own Mexican salsas, to going to a Diablos Rojos beisbol game. While living in the big bad NYC I can count on my left hand how many times I leveraged digital communities and event sites to do things outside my comfort zone.
Decision making: Home vs Abroad
- What to do this weekend?
- Home: Text my friends to see what they’re doing. Zero independent research done
- Abroad: Whelp you’re going to be alone so you best put yourself out there and join a group to go to a local monument, walking city tour, or go drink the local cerveza in the city.
- What to eat for dinner?
- Home: I’ll ask my friends or wait for mom to make dinner 🙂
- Abroad: Let’s check what’s new and exciting around me
Complacency and comfortability is what I believe to be at the heart of being in our home environments. It’s very tough to hustle when we have what we need and are surrounded by those we care about.
So this trip to Mexico City is very much about making myself uncomfortable. Going and working somewhere completely new and thriving while doing so. I lived at home for 8 months and didn’t write one freaking blog post!! But on day 3 here I want to get my thoughts out there. I’m hopeful to create a successful routine working abroad that’s transferrable to living anywhere.
Glad to be traveling again, glad to be writing again, and glad to have a regained sense of focus on what I want to accomplish out of this life 🙂
Until next time, which is hopefully a few days,
B