the road to non-road recovery

In my last post, I discussed how some people (myself included) are obsessed with "the journey" and can't seem to settle down when they reach their destination, even when that destination is near perfect. So is there a cure?

Is there some way that we can re-train our minds into slowing down, appreciating what we have, and ignoring the allure of the open road? Or is it too dangerous to simply go "cold turkey" and does it make more sense to allow ourselves a hefty travel budget to cure those late night (and long weekend) cravings? But what keeps us from eyeing every new travel destination as a potential living destination? I am guilty of this - very much so.

The last dozen or so travel trips that I took were not only vacations - they were more like hometown scouting reports. What did I think of the town? Could I see my family living there? How does it compare with where we are at right now? would we be happy there? The last question, obviously is a trick question, as we would be happy anywhere that is new, for a short period of time. Then, it would get old to me, and that open road would be "curling up like smoke" above my shoulder. It was even worse when I was traveling frequently for work - alone in a car, driving thousands of miles with nothing but my thoughts to keep me company.

So what is the cure? That is, if it is truly a problem in the first place...

Maybe there is nothing wrong with having a desire to travel, and see new places, and want to live in them. Like any fantasy, I suppose that thinking about it doesn't hurt - dwelling on it or acting on it would, though. I don't want to uproot my children from their friends and school every time I feel like moving. It's not fair - I hated it as a child, so I know that they would, too.

Aha!! A Freudian moment! Did you hear that last sentence? It's not fair - I hated it as a child, so I know that they would, too. Perhaps that really is the defining reason for my condition. I secretly want to torment my children by moving around often because that's what I grew up with. LOL. Just kidding. But I am sure that moving around often as a child has something to do with it. I left my hometown before I felt established enough to call it my hometown, and my second hometown never accepted me for who I was - a Southern boy, tried and true. Every town that I have lived in since has been a predetermined "temporary" thing.

Sometimes I am convinced that we would be happy living in Europe somewhere. A small town in the South of France, perhaps. It's all very dreamy and idealistic, but we do find that the qualities that we look for in potential "hometowns" are its small-town European self-sustaining type qualities. Meanwhile, rural youth are knocking down doors to get into the big cities so they can get their hands on technology jobs. Small towns are left with nothing but "silver-stranders" who have no skills (or interest) in computer technology.

There is a movement of young people (or at least younger than the boomers) who are simplifying their lives and moving back to smaller communities, but are they doing it to truly simplify and live better lives, or because it offers a more affordable glimpse of what suburban and "new urban" communities promised, but failed to deliver?

Perhaps we are just part of a target market - more "numbers" to fit into these "movements". Or perhaps there really is something wrong with this country, and I'm just way ahead of my time with the disenchantment that I feel.