For me, it was the construction that finally did it.
Organs are rejected when the body identifies an object as foreign, and thus attempts to eliminate it.
Then theres the jackhammering, which by my calculation lasts 36 hours a day for 120 years.
You drop your bags in disbelief.No.
Maybe I could have moved to another apartment.
Maybe I could have invested in auditory removal surgery.
Maybe I could have dug in harder.
This was the last straw.
In some ways, its nice.
Why did I feel like this, and what could I do about it?
What does it even mean to be rejected from a city?
Seattle is like the trifecta of places to live.
But as the years passed, more and more tech companies started to move in.
Still, the idea of leaving sounded tiring.
But all that changed one day as she was headed back after a trip to Nepal.
Accompanying the text was a video, which showed a deluge of water raining upon her things.
She was going to have to move anyway.
Why keep trying to stay?
At that moment, Gill knew it was time to go.
She loved Argentina, but in the four years she lived there, the economy took a nosedive.
But coupled with that, Harrison also found that the byzantine bureaucracy of the place was draining her.
Harrison is luckyunlike many people, she had the option to leave.
I got out of there and I was just like, I need to leave.
I dont want to be the kind of person who gets angry in a bank, she recalled thinking.
Okay, but is this really rejection?
But he also explained theres a difference between lack of value, and lack of fit.
Maybe it was your financial situation.
So its not anybodys fault.
Some (me) would argue that if rejection requires an antagonist, capitalism fills the role nicely.
But in other instances, lack of belonging is more accurate.
The concept youre describing is a real thing.
Essentially I felt like an outsider because I wasnt making six figures.
Maybe, maybe not.
Money cant necessarily pad out nebulous feelings of not fitting in.
But it sure can help.
), she wrote in a Facebook message.
Could Gill have stayed in Seattle if shed changed her lifestyle?
Could I have stayed in New York if Id had my ears removed?
Some people will give it a few months; others will hang on for years.
Ultimately, Leary said everyone has a different threshold for what theyre willing to put up with.
Theres a critical component that everybody needs.
We have to feel accepted.
We have to feel like we fit with our environment and we have to feel a sense of belonging.
And if you dont have those, then some fundamental social motives are not being satisfied.
Its very much like having a bad job or a bad relationship, he points out.
Youre in something thats not making you happy.
Its just not gonna work, but you work on it awhile.
And then you have a go at decide how to move forward after that.
But sometimes, feeling unwelcome in one place is an opportunity to find another that actually works for you.
For Gill, having her apartment flood opened the door for what she really wanted to do.
For her, Baja has everything she loved about Seattlethe ocean, nature, good cultureminus the prohibitive expense.
Had the city allowed it, she might have stuck around.
But I felt like it wasnt friendly.
And finally I was like Alright, Seattle doesnt want to be friends with me anymore.
Its hard, but nothing compared to what wed dealt with.
Curran gave Boston a year before she called it quits and moved back to Virginia, where shes from.
But despite it not working out, Curran said shes glad she gave Boston a shot.
I learned that sometimes the fantasies we create about living in different cities just arent realistic.
But that doesnt mean I dont still have my eye on New York, plotting my eventual return.
