The benefits of being a nomad

I have a childhood friend who is still living in the same city four decades later. I don't know if this is the norm or not, but staying where you're put always seemed like a strange thing to me. It's as if the world isn't worth exploring.

Every time I pick up and move there's a personal growth accelerated. The kind that can only come through disorientation, from losing the sense of familiar. A new zip code, a new house, an unfamiliar grocery store. I highly recommend people up and move to places they've never been before or have barely visited. I've done this multiple times over the years. If this sounds too much for the faint of heart, the same can also be accomplished to a certain (but lesser) degree by starting a new job.

The greatest pleasure in this state of dislocation is when you finally find sense of location. For me that has always come through music. Seeing a familiar band in a new city, in a new venue is the catalyst. From the opening chord of the first song, I become part of that city.