Place Matters

Every now and then I see a poster/advertisement on the T or in the station that makes me think. Like this one here at the Copley Outbound station. "Where people live can affect how well, or even how long they live." This made me think about my health and life. I’ve had a rough time with my health since moving here. First, an abusive relationship, numerous doctor’s visits and a procedure, depression, anxiety, mold growing in the walls of my current apartment, numerous tests to figure out why I’m have these allergy-like symptoms. I live in a city; of course it’s going to be harder on my health than living in the country. Throw in the mass of people I come in contact with on public transportation, no wonder I’m sick and having a hard time. Granted, I know this PSA is talking about rent control (or lack of it), urbanization, how families can’t afford food b/c of the high rent, etc. But it still got me thinking about my life and health. I pay 64% of my monthly take home pay to live where I live. So instead of exploring the city and foreign lands, I’m stressing over how the hell I’m going to be able to buy Christmas presents for the babies or do the things I moved to Boston to do (Football games for example). I’m not complaining by any means, but I feel like I lost myself, lost the fire…the reason I moved to Boston to begin with. I moved to Boston for Tom Brady and the Patriots. Hands down, number one reason I ever set foot in Boston. I also came here b/c I wanted winter weather. Granted, Denver could provide this for me as well, but they don't have the Patriots... just the snow. I came here to meet boys with Boston accents, and yet I've failed at that. Just like I've failed to find a boy who actually enjoys sports more than I do (and that's not hard to do considering a 13 year old was pulling facts out left and right at Sunday’s game). I moved here to enjoy football, the snow, and everything Boston has to offer. Instead, I’m burning out, stuck in this routine, which is making me unhappy. So, now it’s time to change and get back to the old me… the part of me who put myself out there when I knew only 2 people in this city, who did stuff on my own because I refused to sit and not do something I wanted just because I had no one to do it with. I need to get out there and meet new people, even if that means signing myself up for a bowling team where I don’t know any of the teammates…because, I didn’t move to Boston to be comfortable. I moved to Boston because it was something new, exciting and an adventure for me. Now that I’ve put this out in the universe, lets see what actually happens.