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Lifestyles

Posted by Stuart at 11:43 AM on November 05, 2003

We interrupt the regularly scheduled picture posting for this brief introspection:

I always hated the word "lifestyle", as in "you and your (fill in your demographic here) lifestyle". Many times when I heard this phrase about my life, I felt a little defensive, as if my lifestyle was abnormal enough to merit a special lifestyle category.

But then last night, I made the observation that my lifestyle now is radically different than it was in San Francisco. In San Francisco, life was all about living in a big city, working, going to the gym on the way home, cooking and eating dinner at home, drinking a glass of wine, watching Ally McBeal, watering the plants on the condo balcony, working on the personal (family) relationships with those I was living with...

But now I live alone in an even bigger city. The important things in my life are working and going to the gym (ok, so those things are the same) studying Thai language, and eating every single meal outside my home. The big difference is that the only time I am ever in my condo is to sleep and to dress in the morning. I don't have a garden or a wine collection or a "home" with family. I just have an apartment in the city where I sleep. Seems like a small difference perhaps, but "finding comfort and purpose" is a big deal.

Even though I am very much enjoying my life these days, I did miss the old life a bit last night. I wonder when/if I will ever go back to that "domestic lifestyle". More importantly, I realized that as with everything, there are good and bad aspects of all lifestyles, whether you are a stressed-out executive with all the money and no time, or you are a laid-back rice farmer with all the time and no money.

So perhaps being put in a completely new environment has taught me that "lifestyle" is not such a bad word after all. Perhaps it has taught me to not be so defensive about the lifestyle I have chosen and instead be thankful that I am able to choose at all.