4 years in Florida and counting
As of this month I've officially be living in Florida for four years. Here are some things that spring to mind concerning this milestone of mine.
No more state-hopping
In the northeast corner of Connecticut I was roughly 15 minutes from either Massachusetts or Rhode Island. Here in Florida the closest neighboring state from where I am is Georgia. If I wanted to go there for whatever reason, that's a 3.5 hour trek out of Tampa northbound up I-75 before I hit the state line.
Do I miss state-hopping? Yes and no. Yes because it's cool to be able to experience different state/town cultures when you want. No because at the stomping grounds you're forced to state-hop to get anything done, so it's not like you have a choice.
Snow is not something I think about much anymore
In my first 2 years here I would literally feel cold in November and December for no other reason other than I expected it to be. Yes, it was all in my head, but it didn't bother me because I knew it was going to take a while to shake feelings like that during winter months.
The 3rd year of living here was when that psychological "I'm supposed to feel cold during the winter season" stuff finally started to go away.
Snow to me now is nothing but a distant memory. As time goes on, my take on it now is, "Yes, it's supposed to be room temperature outside all year long. Anything else is just weird."
And yeah, I really do have that mindset because I'm acclimated to the environment.
Time is moving faster
My perception of time is different because of two reasons.
The first is because I'm older now. The older you get, the more you ask the question, "Where did the time go?" Happens to everybody.
The second is because Florida has a lot of routine to it, but it's a routine with a much more positive spin to it.
New England routine is a living version of Murphy's Law , or at least that's what everyone there considers it to be. The routine can be summed up as such that you will be screwed, so you might as well drop your draws, bend over and wait for it because it's a-gonna happen.
Florida's routine on the other hand to a native New Englander like myself is more like a Birthday paradox. Imagine a good event is like a birthday each time it occurs. Your mind is trained that everything's going to turn out all wrong, yet good things keep happening. And the more things you do, the more good stuff happens - so much so that it's just weird.
I'm not saying that Tampa Bay is Happy Fun Land where everything always goes the way you want, but good things happen often enough to where your stress level drops significantly. Significant enough to where you're not always paying attention to the clock or calendar. And that's why time passes faster here.
On to year #5..
