I think, like many people during the pandemic, there was a need to shake things up, try something new, and ultimately flip the script on life. Perhaps it was too much time spent on Zillow searching houses, mixed with the lack of in-person interactions, that caused you to dream a bit as you were disconnected from reality.
So, for a brief period in the summer of 2021, we started dreaming about what a move to Chicago would look like.
Now, you may be asking yourself, "Why, Chicago Scott, do you have family there? The answer is no.
You may be thinking, "Chicago feels random based on what I know about Scott," and my response would be yes.
You also might be saying, "Wait, did you move to Dubai in 2022?" The answer to that is also yes.
Listen, people, it was a wild time in the world. We were coming out of a global lockdown, trying to figure out how to live life!
For the sake of this story, though, I want you to be on this little mid-west journey that was rattling around in my household at the time.
We even booked a trip to spend a week in the city, we had houses we wanted to look at, and I even spoke to a real estate agent. We were pretty serious about this notion of packing up and leaving Seattle and trying something new, not knowing what could live on the other side of that life change.
So we started to have some dialogue with friends and family on the idea of moving. Some friends were giving us the green light and the "why not, go try something new!" While some family members were certainly unsure of us moving two time zones away.
The moment and the life lesson in this whole experience came during a wedding that summer. We were catching up with some distant friends while sitting at a table, while ABBA's Dancing Queen played in the background. One of these individuals, we'll call him Ben for the sake of the conversation here, approached our table and wanted to know how life was going. We exchanged pleasantries, and then the real moment happened.
"We've been thinking about maybe moving to Chicago, in fact, we're going to visit next month for a week and see if we think it's a fit," I said out loud to Ben.
"Chicago?!?! Crime and corruption!!!" Ben shouted back at me. He then went on to explain to me all the reasons why Chicago sucked.
I paused, defended the notion, and then I later laughed. It's been almost five years since that wedding event, and I still laugh.
The reason I laugh is simple. Ben's point of view was that of fear. You see, Ben is a guy who lives in a small town, lives a simple life, and couldn't fathom the idea of taking a risk at anything new. To Ben, he focused on something that his small mind couldn't consider, which was that someone would be willing to take a risk to try something new, in a whole new city, with a new adventure in tow. Rather, Ben was focused on his own fears, what he saw on TV, read in the news, and or the story he had built up in his own head as to why Chicago wouldn't be for him.
Fuck Ben.
And fuck small-minded people who hold you back.
The story of Ben is all about sharing your dreams and visions with the wrong people. The wrong people answer, calculate, and think about your dreams through their lens, but the issue here is that their lens isn't your lens. Their lens could be that of fear, of anxiety, or of different dreams. So when you start sharing your goals with the wrong people, the wrong people give you bad advice that ultimately holds you back.
I would never live Ben's life, and Ben shouldn't attempt to live mine either.
So the story of crime and corruption will forever live on in my house. You can't mention Chicago without this statement being repeated.
We did not, however, move to Chicago that summer; instead, we moved to the Middle East less than one year from the day of that wedding.
Who needed Chicago when we could move to Dubai?