By Living Room Realty, February 10, 2021
Wishing things were spicier in your monthly events? Do you lie awake at night wondering what your city is thinking about? Do you feel like you wish you could see other cities?
Try rekindling your love for our city by shaking up your lifestyle:
1: Curing a Food Slump
We all feel like we experiment with new restaurants when we’re feeling adventurous, but there are other ways to mix up your dining experience that you can take action on immediately. Switching up your food choices from your favorite restaurant’s menu can bring some mystery, but to the daring a bounty awaits. Try going vegan for a week, try eating only Thai food for a week, try only eating Southern Indian food… spend an entire month cycling through a multitude of cuisines for a couple days at a time.
If you eat differently, and enjoy the way the food makes you feel, that’s great! If you don’t enjoy the food you’ve found, then you’ve learned something new about the city and found appreciation for the restaurants and foods you already know and love.
2: Go Adventuring
So often we think about the things we used to see and the places that used to be, and it can engender deep sadness through attrition, if trying new restaurants hasn’t helped overcome the loss of Tasty and Sons getting to reacquaint with a business district will help you to see what new curiosities could be in the works.
Perhaps you’re like us, and you’re in all the neighborhoods enough to know what’s new and good, and you need something different. When was the last time you played disc golf? What was the last trail you hiked? What part of the coast have you never quite visited? Go get some discs, find a new trail, see some new beaches!
3: Shuffle your Calendar
Every day might seem the same because the places you go while you’re awake form the experience you’re having. Working late nights on projects can get you eating the same late-night menu, sleeping in every day can limit the number of brunch menus you can order from, you might not ever spend time in a park because you don’t like hiking after you’ve had lunch. Try waking up earlier… I know it sounds strange, but if you shift your schedule an hour or two in any direction (eat lunch at 11:30 AM instead of 12:30, get your dinner before 7 PM, etc) you will see that the people at the stores are different, the restaurants that are open are different, the foods you want to eat might even vary because of the amount of time you’ll have to prepare.
4: Open Your Circles
Meeting new people always brings a series of curiosities, who are they? why are they here? what do they like? Part of learning new things about people is a repositioning of perspective on the places they choose to live. Don’t be afraid to ask those questions directly, often enough the odd questions are the ones that create genuine connections. Imagine walking out to get your coffee and the neighbor politely asks you if they can chat, and opens up with “why are you here?… no I mean, why do YOU live here?”… hopefully they’re in a decent enough mood to bring some spark to your day.
5: Give Love
Showing love to a city is no different than the “love languages.” In acts of service you can walk the streets while picking up trash, look in to volunteer positions at an organization you feel aligned with, or simply offering t0 help your neighbors with any array of skills you feel proficient in. In complements, you could publish poems to the city you love on social media, write letters of gratitude to the organizations and businesses you adore, or leave a sign in your front yard expressing your feelings about what makes this city beautiful. Give a gift through contributing to local artists, creating artistic pieces portraying the city, or donating to your favorite organizations. Adventuring covers quality time and touch, so that’s already up on the board of ways to reignite your romance with the city.
We strongly believe that the city’s communities grow into what space we make available, with a resemblance of the intentions we held while interacting with strangers, family, and friends alike.
