I recently started a new job in a new city. So I have gone through this process of gradually relocating myself and eventually my family to a brand-new environment. One of the things we decided to do is to move from the house we have lived for many years into an apartment in the new city.
Obviously this is not very ideal. Once you get used to have your own house – in our case a brand new house – to an much smaller, much more restrictive apartment – in this case also a much older apartment, you would feel a little shock and disappointment. I remembered many many years ago when we were still students living in small apartment, some visitor made a comment that he would go crazy living in such a small apartment. We laughed about that comment and that person for years. Now, today, I suddenly felt that I can somewhat relate to that comment now.
Obviously I can do better than that. Being adaptive to new environment has always been a strength and an advantage. If I pride myself in being able to adapt to bigger, better environment, then I should be able to adapt to smaller, sometimes worse situations equally well. When I put myself into that right mindset, I can now view the new environment as a set of interesting challenges instead of the “what did I get myself into?” type of negative thoughts.
OK, I’m ready. After the initial shock, things can only turn better from here.