People do not appreciate their hometown.
This winter break (and my last winter break, sigh) I was visiting my dad in Tucson, Arizona.
I had lived in Arizona before and had visited multiple times but the beauty of this state has had a lasting impact on me. But, my dad was blind to the beauty that is Arizona.
In the early morning I would comment on the beauty of the sunrise peeking from behind the mountains making the sky look as if it was a watercolor painting with beautiful oranges and reds. During the day the I would be enamored with the cloudless skies all a consistent shade of blue, the truest sky blue one could probably ever experience. And during the night being able to look up in to the sky without light pollution and actually able to see the stars glimmering back at me, and coming to the realization that the night sky isn't actually a black mass but, has a little bit of a dark blue and purple tint.
When I would say to my dad how beautiful these things were, it allowed him to look at things from a visitors perspective of one who isn't surrounded by these things daily.
It made me think about all the places I have been for an extended period where I eventually took it for granted and eventually became numb to its beauty and original state of wonder I possessed when I had first arrived.
I am currently feeling that way about Ohio and would tell anyone who will listen how much I dislike it here and how ready I am to leave and move as far awaybas possible (its mostly my deep-seated aversion to cold and senioritis that spawns these feelings).
But, I am trying to change that.
Steps To Remembering the Beauty of Your Hometown:
- Be a tourist: Look up the top touristy things to do in your hometown. You may see some things on that list that you may not have even heard of before!
- Bring a friend home: New people always bring new and interesting point of views seeing your city through their eyes may allow you to see somethings you originally never paid attention to.
- Travel outside: Sometimes it takes traveling outside of your city for a while for you to come back and realize how much you miss home.
- Get out of routine: The monotony of day to day life and your routine can make you cynical. Switch it up, go out at night on a weekday, go to your local park, go to that restaurant you've always wanted to go to.
- Be a photographer: Whether it is the sunsetting across suburbia, a bird on the feeder, or people sitting on a bench, taking pictures allows you to look at things as if you were an artist. Don't just sit there and take pictures mindlessly actually analyze what you want to capture, find the angles, line up the shot, think about what makes it beautiful.
