What is Digg?72 Comments
- Error601, on 10/13/2007, -13/+44I think everyone should have to spend some time living outside the US so they realize how good they have it and stop being little cry baby victims.
- douggmc, on 10/13/2007, -3/+27So let me get this straight ... this person moves 90 minutes away and it is some life changing event!? Gimme a break ... I've travelled and lived in 6 cities across the US and Europe in the past 15 years. I think he is being a little melodramatic.
- mynickel, on 10/10/2007, -1/+21 5 Things I learned about Personal Growth by Moving
2 Oct, 2007 Self Development, Personal Growth
Did you ever have a learning experience after a major change in your life that made you realize you could have learned that same lesson without having gone through the major change?
Obviously the change was a necessary catalyst for the lesson, but it still gives you the opportunity to slap yourself in the forehead and say, "I could have learned this years ago!".
5 Things I learned about Personal Growth by MovingAfter moving to Port Orange, FL this past weekend, I've had several of those moments. In an effort to keep you from needing to bop yourself in the head over similar lessons, I'll share what I have learned over the past few days.
1) You don't realize how much your surroundings are a part of your state of mind until you experience the contrast of going through your daily routine in a strange environment.
There were a lot of things about my previous daily routine that were not "ideal," and as I got ready to move, I certainly looked forward to making some positive changes in that regard. However, when it came down to unloading the last box and saying a final goodbye to my previous lifestyle, I was suddenly very aware of the fact that I was all alone in a brand-new world.
Logistically I was prepared for that, but this was the first time in many years that I was going to be geographically cut off from the environment and the people that I had grown so accustomed to having as part of my life. It was a bit scary, to be honest, and more than just a little sad.
The Lesson: Don't take your surroundings and your circle of influence for granted. If you don't enjoy certain aspects of your life, then get out of your comfort zone for awhile so you can experience the contrast of what your life looks like from a different point of view. Make a list of everything and everyone that is part of your daily routine, and then take 2 or 3 days and remove it all. Leave town if you have to. While trying not to have any ties to your "previous life," you might be surprised how much your normal surroundings and the people around you were part of your security and comfort level.
2) Try being healthy in a way that you normally wouldn't - you might like it!
I used to be a personal trainer, so I am certainly familiar with the ins and outs of proper diet and exercise habits. Whenever I am doing something healthy or unhealthy, I am always acutely aware of it.
Nonetheless, like anyone else, I have certain routines that I tend to stick to, even if they aren't the most healthy habits in the world. Two of my vices are coffee and diet soda. I don't take the sugared version of either one, but instead opt for using flavored creamer and Splenda for my coffee, and whatever chemically-stuffed ingredients are in the diet soda that I buy. I know those habits aren't good for me, but I do them anyway.
Well, grocery shopping still hasn't happened since the move, so although I have coffee and coffee creamer, I do not have any Splenda or any diet soda yet. Imagine my surprise when I realized that my coffee was just as good with only the creamer in it, and in less than 3 days of drinking water, I have almost completely curbed my desire to drink soda of any kind.
The Lesson: Healthy habits don't just look good on paper! Even if you may have resistance to healthy habits as part of your normal routine, just give yourself a few days of doing things in a manner different than what you are used to. Who knows? You might even end up with radically fewer chemicals in your system every day like I did!
3) If you push yourself to the limit, no matter how much it hurts, you'll be glad you did it.
One of the reasons why I moved to Port Orange is because of it's proximity to the Atlantic Ocean. I love the beach and the energy that is always available at the water's edge, so getting over to the coast was one of the first things that I did once the boxes were all unloaded.
There is a causeway that separates the "mainland" from the peninsula where the actual coastline is, and that causeway is about a mile and a half from my house. It was a beautiful, sunny day, so I hopped on my bike and away I went.
Well, in addition to being beautiful and sunny, it was also very windy, and the causeway itself is a fairly steep incline - probably at least 30-degrees up or more, and about a quarter of a mile from the bottom to the top. Now, between the recent launching of PDP, and the administrative issues of finding and securing the house that I moved into, it has been about 3 weeks since I have gotten any consistent cardiovascular exercise. Let me tell you that getting up that causeway was literally the hardest physical thing that I can remember doing in years!
I wasn't wearing my heart rate monitor, so I don't know what my beats per minute were, but I can tell you that I was well outside of the safety zone! However, in addition to the incredible view of the ocean and the beach that I had as soon as I got to the top of the causeway, the sense of accomplishment that I felt was unbelievable. I felt like I was on top of the world, and that it was all downhill from there!
The Lesson: Don't wait until you find yourself in an unexpectedly difficult situation to push yourself to the limits. Find ways to take it to the max - every day if you can. Not only will you feel wonderful for having made the effort, but your confidence in what you are capable of will grow by leaps and bounds!
4) You really don't need all of that junk
This move for me was to a location that was only about 90 minutes south of where I was before, so the physical part of the move was actually done in chunks. In fact, some of my stuff is still back where I used to live because it just wasn't a priority to get it moved right away.
During the process of moving everything that I own over the course of several different trips, I had to make some hard decisions about what needed to stay or go on any given trip, and what could be left behind for the final low priority trip later on.
Imagine my surprise when I realized that almost 90% of the things that I owned were really not that important to me!
With the exception of my computer, my clothes, the minimum necessary furnishings, and a few other necessary or high priority items, almost everything I own is not used on a daily basis.
Sure, I like having a TV, I would cry if something happened to my iPod, and there are many things that have sentimental value for me. However, most of my belongings are just things that I use because they are there. I have very little attachment to them, nor a strong desire to keep them close to me. Even as I type this, there are things in the garage that I could bring into the house, but I'm simply not in a very big hurry to do so!
The Lesson: Don't be too attached to the material possessions in your life. Ask yourself how many of the things that you own are actually important to you. If they aren't, then why not clear out the physical and the mental clutter by getting rid of them?
5) True friendship will show itself when needed.
I saved this one for last because I felt it was the most important thought for you to be left with.
As I went through the process of planning for and preparing for this move, to say that my life was chaotic would not even begin to cover it. Between the work that I do online, and the logistics that went into this entire process, I have been running crazy for months.
Through it all, there was one person who bent over backwards for me on every occasion, although at the same time she maintained her own integrity by not bending so far that she didn't tend to her own needs in the process.
I am an active social person, and I have a lot of friends from all over the U.S., most of which I see at least semi-frequently during annual get-togethers that we have planned. However, I could count the people who would do for me what this person did on less than one hand.
The person in question knows who she is, so I won't call her out by name, except of course to say Thank You for all that you did! I'm quite sure I haven't expressed that sentiment as much as I should have.
The Lesson: You may have an address book full of names, a contact list a mile long, or even a database of the hundreds of people that you know all over the world, and that is a wonderful thing. However, how many fingers and toes would it take for you to count the number of people who would truly jump through fire for you? Once you have that figure, pick up the phone and call them right now just to say "Thanks for being my friend".
As I indicated at the beginning of this post, each of these lessons can be learned without having to actually go through major changes in your life. Just stop the presses long enough to actually look around and take stock of your life. Then start doing whatever it takes to live your life to the fullest, constantly pushing yourself to achieve bigger and better levels of success, happiness, and fulfillment! - elcaminos, on 10/10/2007, -1/+21Life lesson #6: WordPress Sucks.
- samnmax, on 10/10/2007, -6/+23Leaving the U.S. for another country isn't necessarily a step down, as you seem to imply.
- Ramble, on 10/10/2007, -0/+14I've moved 12+ times, sometimes to different countries and your surroundings don't have that much of an effect on you. It's more the people you're around.
- mrjit, on 10/10/2007, -0/+14What I learned in my ridiculous number of moves to a ridiculous number of different cities;
*Floridas job market is a joke (especially IT). You really do just come here to get married or die.
*The grass is ALWAYS greener on the other side.
*And savings accounts are wonderful things.
Someone help me escape this place, please. - Wargalas, on 10/10/2007, -0/+12You're my new best friend.
- satanatnmtedu, on 10/10/2007, -3/+13Love the lame cliches.
- vofuse, on 10/10/2007, -2/+12Is Digg's userbase primarily female now?
- SocialPoison, on 10/10/2007, -1/+10Haha... dugmirror got the 503 error
http://72.14.209.104/search?hs=sUq&hl=en&lr=&c2cof ...
Google Cash worked though - scatfly, on 10/10/2007, -2/+10as long as you can make friends everything will be alright.
- alpha94, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8I'm sorry I can't join the band wagon, this is pretty lame. I mean, Captain Obvious called and wants his title back. Has this guy never left the house or what?
- kamikaze87, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8Wow, I'm so in touch with my feelings now.
- mrjit, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7Interesting, I've lived all over Europe and found the quality of living to be... oh my gosh, exactly the same. Not to mention I was born in Germany.
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7No kidding. I could move 90 minutes away and still be living in Atlanta.
- Ozzimo, on 10/10/2007, -1/+7I dunno man, I've had to move about 6 times in as many years and this all seems way too "crunchy" for me. My ***** is important because its useful not because I have some emotional attachment to it. Sure surroundings effect you but you are also in control of your immediate surroundings so if you feel sucky its probably your fault.
Anyway, good for this guy but I hope he gets his head out of the clouds before too long. (PS get this crap off the front page) - inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6"Once you have that figure, pick up the phone and call them right now just to say "Thanks for being my friend"."
AGH, Golden Girls theme, GTFO my head! - hockey, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6Depends on the country.
It would have been better to say leaving a 1st world country for a non 1st world country. - mrjit, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6I didn't even realize he only moved a city over... Damn, someone seems to have lived a sheltered life.
- rgaino, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Yeah. I was reading it imagining that he moved from DC to San Francisco or to Europe and then he says he moved only 90 minutes away. I used to commute 90 minutes to work everyday a few years ago. Buried as LAME.
- BridgeBurner, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Sounds like this was from a Tony Robbins ***** book....and....it's not news....buried...
- dan8302, on 10/10/2007, -2/+5Google got it http://72.14.209.104/search?hs=sUq&hl=en&lr=&c2cof ...
- KiwiHopeful, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4I'm typing this from New Zealand and let me tell you, moving here hasn't made me pine for the US of A at all. In fact, life is pretty much better here, even without the tons of cheap plastic crap from Wal-Mart. Very little crime, clean water and air, parks and playgrounds literally on every corner, very few type-A personalities, excellent healthcare ... I could go on and on, but I don't want anyone else getting the idea to come here and ruin it.
On second thought, you're right. Life in the US is better. Don't come to NZ. Stay away. For the love of god, STAY AWAY. - KiwiHopeful, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3We've recently moved overseas and so had to consolidate all of our stuff to fit into a 20' shipping container. It was a worthwhile experience going through everything we owned and deciding if it was worth keeping or not. Plus, it was really great to give away things that we no longer needed to people who genuinely needed them. For example, through Craig's List we gave away a crib, some baby clothing, and other items to a woman whose boyfriend ran out on her *and* took the baby's crib because he bought it. The gratitude she expressed for getting something we had kept beyond its useful life for us was absolutely amazing, and in itself made the whole process worthwhile.
- bassfanatik, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4Couldn't agree more with this. I just moved overseas to study, and had to sell almost everything I had to do it. Looking back, I don't regret it one bit. I've only been gone two months, but I have learned quite a bit. I really miss my old lifestyle, especially my friends. Like someone commented earlier, it's not the surroundings that effect you, it is the people around you. I really do miss the good old US of A, Americans take what they have for granted. Americans have no idea how good they have it!
- riaanc, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3I moved places over the weekend and its been a life-altering experience. We had to leave all our stuff in a garage because the previous tenant wasn't done moving. When we finally got back to move our stuff into the apartment, everything had been stolen. Clothes, electronics, everything. That night, they came back to steal the rest of the stuff in the garage and my brother's car. The insurance does not cover the items in the garage and since the car wasn't in a garage, they may not pay out for the car. So I got quite a few life-lessons from my moving experience. My best advice: stay out of South Africa.
- krebcycle, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4We live in a nation of children. Clearly this person has never had anything hard to do if moving 90 miles is some massive change. Even something as normal and everyday as having a kid or getting fired is obviously out of his realm of experience.
- IHaveIssues, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4gsmaster - the power is within you!
- flycatcher, on 10/10/2007, -2/+4Your comment just made me vomit in my mouth. I dunno why.
- kamikaze87, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I do. Is it supplied with no charge?
- mrjit, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3Well, now that I've read his mirrored page -- am I the only one who doesn't think moving is even remotely a big deal? Albeit I am single and in my lower 20s. The worst thing about moving to me is gathering deposit money and getting all of the accounts straightened. I'd have no problem landing a new job next week, in some far off state, packing my car full of necessities, shipping my items, and driving out -- assuming I actually /want/ to live in the area the job is in, of course. I suppose it just comes with being a military brat and growing accustomed (even excited) with the constant change. I can't live anywhere for too long. I believe 2 years has been my max, and that felt like 10 years.
- netade, on 10/10/2007, -4/+6Very well written. Glad the author kept it easy to skim.
- gsmaster, on 10/10/2007, -7/+9so true... things always happen for a reason and that is individual for every being
- essellewohc, on 10/10/2007, -5/+6Sometimes, little things in our life can be a interesting and insightful learning experience. See what moving has taught Aaron and you'll probably pick up some great tips about life. My favourite's lesson 4. Yes, we can do without a lot of junk in our life. Not just material possession but the wasteful and stagnant thoughts. Ruffle them a bit like you do in a move, it probably stir up some creativity juices!
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2You want a hug?
- justdan, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Hey qjgayv how about I let you eat my ass for 10 bucks and we call it even?
- Butros, on 10/10/2007, -3/+499% of the time it is
- MindTrigger, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2I think this is a good lesson. I personally believe people should reconnect with the outdoors more as well. Getting away from your routine can have a huge affect on your mind and beliefs about yourself and others. Since I got back into the outdoors more (camping, backpacking, adventuring, etc) I have felt a strange desire to simplify my life and surroundings when I am back home.
- Wargalas, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Well I welcome you to my country. If you obey the law, pay your taxes and are friendly, you will almost never run into idiots like you see on here.
- DarkKnight209, on 10/10/2007, -4/+5wow, made me tear up some. Respect for him sharing this, alot of people can learn from him ... it's really making me think some things over.
- krebcycle, on 10/10/2007, -2/+3Things do not happen 'for a reason' in the conventional-wisdom sense, although it is true that every event has a cause.
- samnmax, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Done... I'm Canadian. Thanks for playing.
- geodescent, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Until I moved to Florida, I didn't think people actually advertised plumber and carpenter jobs in the newspaper. How wrong I was.
- KMartSheriff, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I envy you. I've been living in the same city for my whole life (20 years). Granted I travel a lot but still. Fortunately I'll be moving moving soon about 500 miles away from here.
- kamikaze87, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1BLOW IT OUT YOUR ASS.
- keruha, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Not everybody is on the same level of growth as everyone else. Sounds like he learned a lot from this experience. Perhaps a year or so down the road he'll take on something greater. What matters is not the achievements themselves but the rate of change a person undergoes. Looks like he is going in the right direction.
- tizz66, on 10/10/2007, -2/+3You're a *****. How much experience do you have of living in other countries?
I love the US and I'm moving there to live in a few weeks time, but the ***** arrogance pouring out of many Americans is sickening sometimes. - Ninjaneer, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2While I consider the author quite the crybaby for complaining about a 90 mile move, but I can relate with others who've moved. I moved from the Carolinas up to New York City just over 2 years ago and I still hate it. I have no idea what people see in this place.
- raid517, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1"She bent over backwards for me..."
Why that's the best kind of friend you can have! -
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