7 ways to love the city you live in again

Living in one city for a long time, we get used to it: the landscape around is no longer so bright and pretty, nothing new seems to be happening. And it seems that this place is, if not the worst on Earth, then definitely not the most acceptable for life. Although some time ago, you might have thought quite differently.

So what to do if the move option is not suitable for you, but you still want to love the place where you live?

1. Help the city

You can start with a banal subbotnik. The nearest street will become cleaner and tidier, and you will look at it differently, simply because you made it so by your work.

Another option is to sign up as a volunteer at local hospitals, orphanages and nursing homes.

When you see that there are people who need your support, strength and inspiration come from somewhere.

2. Do what you love

Unless, of course, you are still not doing it. Where you live is not so important as long as you do what brings you genuine joy. The pleasure of doing what you love will improve your mood so much that worries about the sight outside the window will not be so significant.

You can do something like a hobby: cross-stitch, sing, breed iguanas, bake cakes. Or you can go further and make this activity a lifelong affair: open an atelier, bakery, terrarium, gather a group or start a solo project. Fortunately, there is the Internet, so resources and like-minded people can be found regardless of where you live.

3. Study history

Almost every city is the birthplace of at least a couple of outstanding personalities in various fields. Even in a small village, a genius of literature or a talented artist could live. And often poets wrote almost whole odes about their native places, and artists created their most beautiful canvases.

Explore local history and see which greats lived in your area centuries ago and who passed by. It may turn out that you have the same views and love the same places. Or maybe, on the contrary, you will discover something that you have never paid attention to before.

4. Study the latest history and plans for the transformation of the city

City activists can sometimes be very invisible: they do something, come up with some projects, discuss them and gradually implement their plans. It's not that this is classified information, it's just that they usually speak loudly about this after the fact, when everything planned is already ready.

Having studied the activities of local initiative groups, you can find out that in six months, somewhere on the outskirts of the old factory, an art cluster will be made, and in two years the transport scheme will be completely changed.

5. Find like-minded people

It may seem that we alone see and understand everything, while the rest are satisfied with everything. But surely there are many people in your city who are worried about something similar. They worry and don't tell anyone.

It might be worth starting a more active social life and finally finding someone like that.

Problems that are divided into two are easier to solve, but upon closer examination, they may not turn out to be problems at all.

6. Take new routes

If nothing helps at all, then the imposed feeling that you are somewhere else will help to distract yourself. It's trite, but it works. The most effective way is to find a street with an unfamiliar name on the map and go there. Even if there is a vacant lot or dugouts with rickety fences, it doesn't matter. You haven’t seen this here before, which means that you have changed the scenery and were distracted.

7. Remember what connects you with this place

Relive in your memory something bright from your childhood or the story of your move - something good was sure to happen, you liked some places in the city. Even in the warm season, when everything was overgrown with greenery and was a priori beautiful. Or have you met wonderful people here with whom you are connected or have a warm relationship. Not somewhere in the place of your dream, but here, in such an imperfect, but significant city for you.