We're never far away from the things we love in the modern era. Technology has made it so that even if you live on the opposite side of the world, you can reach your loved ones with a phone call or email, and you can fly to them in a matter of hours. This is especially true of family. People no longer have to worry as much about leaving behind parents or family since it's so easy to stay in touch. Still, if you ever go back to your hometown, no matter how much you've stayed in contact, there's always going to be something strange and different from when you left.
1. Proportions
Quick, think of your self image. How do you see yourself? If you could draw a picture, what would it look like? That's important, because when you return home, everything seems smaller. The shelves in your old house are lower, the hill you used to bike over is no longer a mammoth expedition, and everyone you used to know seems to have lost a couple of inches. YOu might have gotten taller, yes, but that's not all of it. You see yourself as something when you leave home, and when you come back, you've just grown as a person.
2. The New Normal
How long do you think it takes for a routine to change? When did you stop brushing your teeth 3 times a day? When did you go from a slob to a 2 mile a day runner? Can you pinpoint an exact day and date? Changes happen gradually, and without constant observation of the changing processes, the changes that happen over time can seem jarring. IT seems blink of an eye because there's always something else going on in life. From a month to a decade, if you ever go back, it won't be the same place as when you left.
3. Gone, Baby, Gone
As you grow up, you navigate your environment by landscapes. Distance and street names don't matter after a while, you go entirely by milestones in your area. The corner store, the library, the school, the pizza place. Staples of guidance and internal cartography. So it's a shock when you come back, and find that all your guideposts are gone or different. The corner store is now a yoga studio. The pool hall you loved as a kid is now a 7/11. The town you knew is now just a memory.
4. Here to stay
There is a shiny mirror to the absent places, however. Some places in your life never seem to change. We all have a store or restaurant that we love, and never seems to go out of business, despite how much or how little business it actually gets. t may get a paint job or some new faces, but it's the same burger and fries you ate as a kid. The catch is, even if the recipes haven't changed, or they still make great hand-carved furniture, it's not the same. The reason lies with you. You've changed in your time away, and you don't see the same things you used to.
5. The Outsider
The biggest thing is it isn't you going home again; it's a new you. The longer you're away on your own, the more you shape your world around you. It's not the same world you built as part of your family, it's not the same world you share with your friends, it's not the same world that anyone else lives in. It's entirely within you. So when you take the world you've spent so much time shaping and living in and bring it to the new version of the world you used to know, there's a clash. It causes a sort of shift in plates, and it's hard to find the same sturdy footing.
6. Dawn of the Next Day
There's a very bright side to all of this. Your world building never stops. You and your world are ever-changing. If you take the life you've built and transplant it, it's going to grow roots. No amount of change or growing pains can ever extinguish something as exciting as a new adventure. There's the cliche phrase of home is where the heart is, so if you believe that, take your heart with you. It's not like you only have so much love or passion to give to a place or a way of life. If you find yourself in a strange new version of your old home, then embrace the strange.
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