Adjusting to Life in the City

Mary Youlden
Authored by Mary Youlden
Posted: Wednesday, January 25, 2023 - 22:09

People often have different preferences as to the kind of location that they prefer living in. There’s no right answer, and whether you prefer to live out in the country, or right in the heart of the city, there are pros and cons to be found. However, if you have recently decided on the latter, either for work or for personal reasons, it might be worth looking into how you can adjust efficiently and painlessly, to make the most of your new surroundings.

When your familiar comforts are suddenly taken away from you, it can be easy to look at the new circumstances negatively, but sticking the landing and making your move a positive one can help you to get settled in faster.

Finding the Right Place

The idea of where you live being important might sound quite obvious, but it’s also important to break down what that might mean. It can mean both the quality of the actual residence that you rent or buy while you live in any given city, and it also means the wider area around you. For the former, looking into the right people to help you find what you need in your city of choice, such as Bristol letting agents, can help you to whittle down your options, clarify what you’re looking for, and find a place that suits you perfectly. It might take some trial-and-error, some viewings, and some time, but having a source to get your options from is important here.

However, when it comes to the latter factor, the wider location, some research into the city and asking around online communities can help you to get a sense of what each place can offer you. Some might be more residential, and some might be closer to the various centres, which could get expensive, in which case looking for homes nearer to train stations or bus links could be a good alternative. If you’re worried about accidentally finding yourself in an area that’s less safe than you’re hoping for, you can use tools such as crime maps to get a sense as to which areas have higher rates of crime, and in which case, could be avoided.

A Different Pace

One of the biggest differences between life in the country and life in the city is how different the pace is. This isn’t a difference of quality, but once again, one of subjective taste. The country is slower, giving you time to appreciate the stillness and quietness around you in certain areas, while city life generally is much busier, louder, and faster, with a lot more going on, with people generally in much more of a rush. These might not even present you with a situation where you flatly prefer one to the other, and you could find that different moods have you leaning more towards one than the other.

If you’re not used to it, walking around in a lot of busy cities might take some getting used to, as simply strolling into town might not be as relaxing as it once was elsewhere due to the influx of people. However, that doesn’t mean that relaxing walks are off the table completely, just that you might have to go elsewhere to find them. With greater access to public transport than you generally find in the country, identifying nearby natural areas and then planning a route accordingly should be relatively simple, and can help you to incorporate a healthy amount of outdoor exercise into your schedule, even if you would rather venture outside of the more urban areas you find yourself typically presented with.

Embracing What’s Available

However, if you do feel like turning your attention back towards these more urban areas, it might be enlightening in regards to what you find out is available. One of the main draws for cities for many people is simply the sheer abundance of choice when it comes to choosing what to do with your day, where to go to eat, and where to go out for drinks, and embracing this quickly might have you quickly find out what people love so much about these spaces. Now, that’s not to say that you should spend all of your time eating out and spending as much as possible, as that might not be feasible and could quickly get very expensive. However, knowing that you have such choices could help to make your social occasions much more varied, as well as encourage you to try new places each time you do go out, broadening your horizons each time.