Poking at the Borders of "Mind Over Matter"

Approximately 18 years ago, I packed up my life and all my earthly possessions to move 2200 miles from the Central Texas area to the Seattle/Puget Sound, Washington area.

Although I had lived in Texas for 25 years, it was something I had been wanting to do for a very long time because the Pacific Northwest happened to be a favorite area of mine, and I moved here entirely "by choice," unencumbered by influences of work, family, friends, need or anything else.

Whenever I mentioned the move to well-meaning friends, I was almost always met with an assortment of laments and puzzlement:

"Oh God, you're gonna hate all that rain!"

"You'll be back here in no time at all. It gets so dark and miserable up there in the winter."

"You'll get really tired of being nice to all those airy-fairy liberal tree huggers and regret the day you left here!"

There were many more, mostly to do with "climates" of some kind... from meteorological, to political, to philosophical.

One of the things that puzzled me the most was that I seemed to get more negative feedback than encouragement.

My late mother was one of the biggest critics of my choice of where to move, but she was also someone who had "chased the sun" all her life and had been observed - quite literally, I kid you not - standing outside her back patio door, looking at the skies while chanting "Go away, horrible clouds!"

There was also a different (non-weather related) school of thought, namely that I was delusional if I thought I'd be any happier with my life as a result of living in Seattle, rather than Austin. That point of view generally belonged to people who subscribe to the paradigm that "We Create Happiness Wherever We Are."

A popular point of view, at the time, was that I was "running away" from my life, and "things" would be the same, no matter where I lived.

It is MY Life!

Over the years, I had sincerely tried really hard to get the "We Create Happiness Wherever We Are" paradigm to fit me, but had gradually come to the conclusion that it cannot be applied absolutely, without limitations.

In fact, I have come close to concluding that forcing yourself to try to be content with a situation you dislike is actually an expression of "voluntary self-abuse."

For example, I hate hot weather. And I like being outside. When the temperature gets in the 78-80 (and above) range, a thin film of sweat covers my entire body, and I cannot physically find a place/position in which I feel comfortable, and I feel listless and lacking in inspiration and energy. This is a physiological response. Where I previously lived, more than six months of the year had temperatures above that range... and during July and August it frequently didn't ever get below 78... even at 4 a.m.

Some may say "Well, that's why there's air conditioning."

My response to which is "Did you MISS the part where I said I like being outside?"

It may be that we can "create" happiness wherever we are, but doesn't agreeing to be in physical discomfort for six months out the year play more like "being a victim of one's circumstance" than anything else?

As for the comments about "tree huggers" and "liberals" and other general aspects of lifestyle in the upper left corner of the country... I happen to have values that would ostensibly make me a tree hugger and a liberal.

My general point here is that we typically have choices in life. It may be very "noble" to just "face and deal with" whatever life throws at us... but we also have a right to choose situations where what gets thrown at us by life is more likely to be something we want, rather than just something we "deal with."

In fact, I'd go so far as to say that some of those who are so enamored of the idea of "creating happiness wherever they are" may have more of a "victim of our circumstances" mentality in life than I do.

I, too, could "get used to" hitting myself in the head with a hammer every morning... but why should I? Where's the value?

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation! I do my best to answer comments, even if it sometimes takes a few days!

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Created at 2024-05-25 01:22 PDT
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