You gotta work on yourself FIRST, because “no matter where you go, there you are.”
There will always be an element of truth in this, and there will always be an element of truth in the idea that we are not actually separate from everything else. Why not try to balance these two extreme perspectives?
The whole does not exist without the parts, and the parts do not exist without the whole.
Last edited by daylen on Fri Dec 21, 2018 6:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
My n=1 advice...
It's about climate and people.
I could be happy in any number of cities and places, but the things that have actively killed cities for me have been climate (hello Pacific NW) and people (couldn't really find my 'tribe'). So if you're pretty left leaning, don't waste your time in the SE USA with few exceptions. Those aren't your people. Look up citydata and see what people say about the culture in that town. What do people do for fun? What would you do for fun? What types of meetups are in that city?
Might help you narrow down your list.
@OP: You're in FL? Done the keys? Get a kayak and paddle around, the whole state has tons of water trails (maybe some pictures herehttps://www.floridarambler.com/florida- ... k-florida/ are inspiring?). Everglades are gorgeous. Learn to sail? Take a small craft from Key West out to Cuba, Hemingway-style (manly af). Or to dry tortugas. Or wherever else in the Carribean. If you insist on flying, consider Mexico?
My advice in general would be to 'go outside.' It wasn't my thing until I made it my thing in my early 20s. The best things to do in cities are all expensive. The best things to do outside are cheap or free. Lodging can be a tent. Paddling through the mangroves in the keys >> $25 drinks in sobe. Outdoorsy people that you will meet will, in my experience, have a mindset that is a bit of a break from the weekday cubicle types also.
if I were to move to a small, eco-conscious hippy commune in Utah
Dunno about those, but you will find a lot of depressed mormons!* No, I kid. But no, I would never ever in a million years consider it likely to find a "small, eco-conscoius hippy commune" in UT. In VT? Hell yes, like in every other town**. In UT? Can't picture it.
*Allegedly. FWIW I remember at one point that I'd heard when I lived there in early 2000s that Utah had the highest prozac prescriptions per capita.
**I had a coworker who quit his job to join an organic farming school in VT.
