By Claudette Oduor

This is one of the hardest decisions you may yet have to make. Uprooting yourself from your friends and family is not for the faint hearted. And truth be told, separation from loved ones is not the only thing that would make moving so dreadful. You wonder, will the pizza taste the same? Or worse, what if they have no pizza? Before you scoff at this, replace it with your pet convenience and then imagine the possibility- the inconvenience- of not having that accessible to you. Imagine no thrift stores for your cheap but extremely glamorous –if you say so yourself- items of clothing. Or the bittersweet tragedy of street vendors not knowing the value of the books they sell for just fifty shillings in the street alleys; imagine that gone. Or even something as simple as vegetables; imagine moving from a place you used to have to tear your garments from the clutches of hundreds of Mama Mbogas desperate to have you buy their kales and tomatoes, to a place where kales are just as mystical as mermaids and centaurs. Imagine having to make new friends, or having to increase your phone bills just to keep in touch with the old ones. Imagine having to learn the geography of the area. The worse for you if you move from a bustling metropolis to a town you could fit in your fist: you find things ridiculous. You ask, really? Is this their shopping mall? And this, is this their town center? And is this where the cool people hang –this backwater hole in the wall with swarms of mosquitoes? On the other hand, you may come to the realization that the metropolis is the most overrated place to live. So what if you can’t go to as many concerts and open mics and bloggers’ happy hours? So what if you ate a little less of kales and a little more of the locally available lentils? So what if you pushed yourself to be more accepting of other cultures? So what if you opened your mind a little more? Perhaps this move could change your life. Look at it positively.

 

 

Photo Credits: elisabethingram.com