By Madison Flatman
A few years in the past, I visited the city I grew up in. As soon as the automotive wheels handed the state line, all the pieces started to really feel acquainted to me.
We handed locations I went for college discipline journeys to, native eating places I used to go to continuously, and playgrounds that my mates and I’d place our arms on 1000’s of instances.
A type of mates made plans with me to fulfill for dinner that evening.
She invited me to a recently-opened Mexican restaurant the place we sipped on margaritas and exchanged tales of what was happening in our lives. Halfway by means of the dialog, some random man runs into the restaurant and bodyslams a man at a close-by desk onto our desk.
My buddy appears at me, chuckles, and says, “Welcome again.”
As a child, I didn’t assume an excessive amount of of a world exterior of the place I grew up. I grew accustomed to the deserted homes with wood-covered home windows since I related them with locations I loved just like the native museum.
Once I wasn’t at these locations, issues would start to hit me, and I’d discover the pile of payments mendacity round the home. Then, I’d distract myself by imagining a world the place I may very well be something I needed.
As I grew older, I nonetheless had desires, however a lot of my friends began to lose sight of theirs. As a result of poor training system and poverty-stricken setting, many would drop out of college on account of a scarcity of motivation. Many would discover themselves in conditions resembling teenage being pregnant, gangs, and medicines.
I began to see the cracks in what I as soon as noticed by means of rose-colored glasses.
I began to see the anger within the eyes of these round me. Additionally, I noticed that life is simply too brief to reside a life you settled for. So by the age of 14, I began to examine a world exterior of the place I lived.
I keep in mind questioning why anybody would wish to stay in a city that restricted you out of your potential.
I used to be capable of get a style of bigger cities as I had household in cities resembling Chicago and Madison. My coronary heart started to crave the sensation of planting my toes right into a city the place one thing was at all times happening.
Ultimately, I fulfilled my dream by transferring to Madison, Wisconsin, only a few months after my seventeenth birthday.
Since transferring to an even bigger metropolis, I’ve enriched myself with totally different cultures and alternatives that wouldn’t have been doable in a city with lower than 40,000 individuals.
I’ve gotten to fulfill many unbelievable individuals who have all, in a method or one other, given me recollections that I’ll maintain in my coronary heart for a lifetime. I’ve gotten to dive deeper into myself and take a look at new issues that wouldn’t have been as simply accessible in a smaller city.
So in case you want an indication to go away your small city, that is it. Go for it.
Madison Flatman is a singer, drummer, and author from Wisconsin and a frequent contributor to Unwritten. Her work focuses on matters of wellness, relationships, and psychological well being.
This text was initially revealed at Unwritten. Reprinted with permission from the writer.
