Moving Around: The New Normal
How we overestimate the short-term stability of our place of residence
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How Long Will You Stay in One Place?
We humans have many tendencies, and one of them is to overestimate the short term and underestimate the long term. This habit affects many aspects of our lives, from public policy to personal decisions.
Today, I am going to talk about one of these aspects: the place or city of residence. We often think of it as a long-term thing, but it usually turns out to be a short-term thing.
I realized this when I was out with two of my colleagues who have become good friends over time. While being out and feeling the buzz, I realized that this might be one of our very last outings ever. One of us is moving to a different city soon, and we don't know when we will meet again.
This is not an isolated case. In the last three years alone, my peer circle has completely changed. One big reason for that is I changed city, but even after living in one city for the last 1.5 years, the circle has changed significantly.
I also remember my cousin who was looking for her groom through an arranged marriage setup. She wanted to stay in her hometown, but 10 years later, she has lived in two countries and four or five cities.
We live in an open world (mostly), and in this era, we are likely to get a better offer from a different city unless we are government employees. Even government employees get transfer notices from time to time. However, we tend to underestimate this possibility and think of ourselves as residents of one particular city. This is where we underestimate the long term, and we don't even realize it.
Of course, there are some constraints that make it hard to move around, such as having a kid of a certain age or old parents. In that case, the place of residence becomes a priority. But other than that, it should not be a hard constraint.
I hope one understands and internalizes this idea, especially before making big decisions.
How long do you think you will stay in your current place? Have you ever moved to a different city or country? How did it affect your life? Please share your thoughts.
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