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Sunday, June 22, 2014

Small Town Mindset Can Kill Big Dreams

One of the biggest mistakes people from small towns do after being exposed to big city life is to go back home and adapt to the small mindset of locals once again. 

After months or even years of broadening one's horizons, far too many individuals relocate back home and accept ignorance.  From negative comments about big cities, lifestyles, and cultures (that most small minds have never encountered personally) to what they think they know about a neighborhood because they "read somewhere...heard about...my cousin use to live there..." so this makes someone knowledgeable?  How about living and staying in the big city rather than running into the arms of worry and fear?  What about walking the streets, riding the buses, attending events, and lending your service to that new community rather than finding solace in the ever-popular statement, "I just want to be close to family..."?  Aren't those the people you needed to get away from in the first place in an effort to grow up? 

I simply have little patience for the little know-it-all mind who spreads his or her limited view of the world.  Then later, he or she wants to go back home and act as if this individual is the authority to speak on big issues in a big city that he or she ran away from.  Is anyone paying attention to that kind of action?  It wasn't about family, it was about survival.  The mind could no longer handle big city life coupled with the fact that a loved one or friend whispered repeatedly over the years, "Why don't you come back home?"  Think of the many people who did relocate only to later wish they had never returned home.  Now they are nothing more than a problem to the family since returning, because they are filled with so much regret.

I have sat with those who came from backgrounds that were mainly decorated in white or in black.  These people chose to live that way, not because it was necessary, but because they enjoyed the comfort of dealing with their "own people" or "own kind."  I didn't argue or persuade these folks to "...think out of the box" because I could tell from their conversations that it just wasn't an option.  They were either "too old to change...was afraid...liked their simple life..."  For a few, they went so far to say that they "didn't want drama in their lives..."  I didn't know that opening one's heart and mind to other people outside of one's ethnicity was "drama."

Anyway, since living in various cities and talking with many people, I recognize that a leopard just isn't going to change its spots.  It doesn't matter where he moves, who he meets, or what he does, underneath all of the smiles and so-called "open to all" conversation, is still an ignorant, angry or fearful person who just doesn't like the idea of living in a world with people who aren't staying up late at night contemplating on how to hurt him.  Some just look for fights that were never there in the first place--good riddens, the small-minded should go back to their small towns and while there, tell the locals the truth, "I thought it was for me, but it really wasn't...I couldn't handle it."

May today be the day that those readers who happen to stumble on this blog entry, awaken or reawaken to the life you know you are expected to live--not being governed by the ignorance of the small mindset, the fearful or the worried. 

Live your best life now for you are not promised tomorrow!

Nicholl McGuire author of Laboring to Love Myself on Amazon.com