When I came back to Omaha in November one of the things that I tried to bring back with me is the idea of being a tourist no matter where I am.
I’ve lived in the Omaha area my entire life, but I always went to the same places. The same restaurants, coffee shops, events, museums, church etc… When you tend to frequent the same places, it becomes comfortable. There’s nothing wrong with a bit of comfort and stability. I needed a bit of stability in my life at the end of 2015.
But when you never venture out, you lose sight of the bigger picture. You think you have a grasp on how the world works, but really, you only have a grasp of how the world works in those spheres. Without intending to, the world has become about your world.
LA was an eye opening experience for many reasons, but the one I learned the most from was falling into these other worlds. There are so many different perspectives on life and different ways of doing things. Right or wrong, there are usually reasons why each of us do, believe, and care about certain things. We’re living in a bubble if we don’t get out there to understand how other people’s worlds work.
Travel and wandering are my favorite ways to get out of my comfortability. Those may sound like you need to leave home, but that’s not always the case. Go off the beaten path. Visit another church. Find a new restaurant (news flash, there are always new restaurants.). Drive home a different way. Go to a library in a different part of town. Volunteer for a random event. Dive into Yelp to find hidden gems. Take a class.
I’ve been working on a project that I can’t seem to work on at the house, so almost every weekend since I’ve been back, I find a coffee shop and work for a few hours. I watch the people. Chat with the baristas. Judge the coffee or tea. I have my favorites that I like to go back to, but I keep an eye on Yelp for new things or I’ll drive to a different part of town.
It reminds me that there are things going on outside of the house that I live in, the job that I spend so much time on or the church that I attend each week. In short always being a tourist is one of my ways to always continue growing and learning. Life gets really boring without it.