Comments on: The 5 Environments: Where Do You Thrive?

By: Why Leave?

Why Leave? — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 03:36:02 +0000

[...] article led us to the familyhack.com site, where Michael Davis recently implored readers to “Find the Environment Where You Thrive.” A timely and interesting take that really amounts to “common sense” – [...]

By: Michael Davis

Michael Davis — Sat, 22 May 2010 18:57:22 +0000

Wow….great comments Dante. Thanks so much for sharing your experiences. I’ve been to or am interested in every city you mentioned (except Clarksville) so I loved seeing your take on them.

By: Dante Johnson

Dante Johnson — Sat, 22 May 2010 18:16:37 +0000

I’ve learned that City+Mountains+Ocean = paradise for me. Some observations:

San Francisco: My hometown. Culture, food, nature, a walking culture, mild weather (a bit too breezy at times). It’s makes me feel alive and it would be perfect, except for the cost of living means it’s a very transient place of “billionaires & beggars”. Also, there’s a certain provincial smugness in the people here that I find intolerable now that I’ve lived in other places. Now that I’m starting a family, I have to look at my options..

Los Angeles: I lived in West LA and never quite felt at home. The flat blandness of it, plus the phony, silly attitude of the beach crowd turned me off. I moved to near Pasadena and loved it. The San Gabriel mountains, mature trees, older architecture and laid back sophistication made me feel very at home. I would consider moving back.

Portland: A hip, urbane, leafy town and I loved it on my first visit. But somehow the smallness of it, not being a major port city and lacking diversity. The lack of jobs and major international companies. It just seems too sleepy and self satisfied. Not a place for big thinkers.

Seattle: Turned me off on the first visit. Seemed like San Diego North (a bland, mostly suburban city in a spectacular natural environment). On my second visit, I loved Seattle though. It has an impressive skyline, trees, mountains, walkable neighborhoods, a growing economy, no income tax, relatively affordable housing, and now decent public transportation with the light rail. My #1 choice for relocation at this point.

Vancouver: Another Pac NW city giving me mixed signals. Impressive at first glance: dense, modern condos, buzzing neighborhoods, mountains, oceans – what’s not to love? But on second glance, it has an extreme cost of living just like S.F. and it’s been panned as “not a city, but a resort”. There’s probably a grain of truth to that. A quick view of job listings came up fairly slim. But I still dream of living there from time to time

New York, NY: Not impressed. As far as megacities go, I found Tokyo, Moscow and Buenos Aires all left NY in the dust as far as the general feeling of big city buzz. Somehow NY thinks it’s the greatest but it doesn’t really have the best of anything at this point (film, high tech, architecture, beaches). Even in finance, London is a tie basically. I’d give it a second chance as I just visited on a weekend.

Asian cities (Tokyo, Hong Kong, etc): All the major Asian cities make American cities look run-down and backwards in comparision. However, I’m not Asian and Asian cultures tend to be homogenous and insular. I’d always be an outsider.

Milan: I somehow felt at home here. It’s Italy’s most diverse, international city so you don’t feel like you’re in a museum like other beautiful but staid cities (cough: Florence) in Italy. On the downside, it’s flat, industrial and terribly muggy in the summer.

Buenos Aires: Loved it, loved it. Buzz, sex appeal and urbane, 24-7 culture. Ocean is close and spectacular mountains are a day’s drive away. It’s also inexpensive for Americans. If I wasn’t married…

Clarksville, TN: A place I lived for a year (don’t ask). Hated it. It was pretty enough and people were friendly, but I found the middle South to be absolutely suffocating. It felt like a death trap for my soul.

By: BBC

BBC — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 22:26:34 +0000

First choice:
Mountains!! Not rolling hills that only climb to maybe 3000 ft…noooo the the bigger the better…and add a dash of H2O and then an easy drive to a multicultural city…sounds like the pacific northwest…Seattle is a very good choice….OOOOO really the only choice…live in that enviroment but just not Seattle! I live where its hot and dry in the Summer…I perfer the cooler climate of the puget sound area.

By: Amy G.

Amy G. — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 21:12:09 +0000

Yes, Dutch, Amarillo is much different now. The Air Base left in the late 60’s but we do have PANTEX and Bell Helicopter Textron and several buildings in downtown that are taller than three or four story’s tall. We are coming up on 2,000,000 population. The wind does still blow nearly every day and it is hotter than hell in the summer and when a Blue Norther comes through in the winter it can get below zero for a few days at a time. About 50 miles to the South West is Hereford, TX. where I came here from, and there are several million head of cattle in feed lots there, so when the wind is out of the SW, which it is most of the time, we can smell those feed lots here in AMA. But it is flat enough that you can see forever and the sunsets are spectacular. We do have the World Championship Ranch Rodeo coming up in November and that would be a great time for anyone to visit our fair city.

By: kim

kim — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 09:22:43 +0000

The place I feel most at home is home: Marin County, CA. I was born in San Francisco, and I can’t really get lost in SF.
but I also love Mendocino, CA, and Vancouver, BC, and Auckland, NZ.
I live south of SF now, and have since 1986, but I’ve never really felt at home here.
I lived in Colorado for a couple of years, but experienced culture shock there.
I couldn’t live anywhere where the weather is pernicious.

By: Jivix

Jivix — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 22:02:10 +0000

I do agree with people “clicking” into the right environment. However, I feel there are definitely more than five. What about icy tundra? Swamps? Forests? Not to mention variations between them such as grasslands, lakes, farms, etc. If your big 5 are the 5 most pure environments, then you must also include tundra or some other word for an icy territory.

By: tin0002

tin0002 — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:59:59 +0000

I think I truly can feel connected and energized in most of these places, if I pick the right representation of them.

I currently live in a City in the Mountains and the Desert. Vibrant, energetic, nature and people thriving together.

I grew up on the Plains and feel very comfortable in the wide open spaces.

I love the ocean, though I have to admit I prefer rugged shores to tropical Beaches. I think because I don’t live there now, this is my yearning.

By: Daria

Daria — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:27:16 +0000

I’m so happy that I read your informative blog and that I came across a mention of Patton’s speech. Reading it in full totally made me smile and brighten my day.

By: Mountain Gal

Mountain Gal — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 14:22:14 +0000

I’ve had the pleasure of living in several phenomenal places.
Small Town, Michigan: Where I grew up, too much dependence on cars didn’t feel right to me. No connection to nature, a certain amount of “unworldliness” in the people-too many R.L. ditto heads. Generic lifestyle.
Ketchikan, Alaska: Hardworking, self-sufficient people yet a thriving funky, arts community. Beautiful setting yet so isolated. Felt more involved in the community, more so than my hometown in MI, which was grounding. Yet, even in this setting still didn’t feel close enough to nature (confined indoors most of year).
Dordrecht, Netherlands: High population density, too flat, life was flat. In a places with that many people living together people tend to be more closed in. It was fun riding my bike a lot but everyone seemed so unhappy and in a sort of rush or a resignation to the flatness.
Small Town near Lucerne, Switzerland: 6 years in the mountains, glorious alps. Lots of hiking and skiing. This is the place I would live forever if I could. The only place I’ve felt wholly grounded and at peace. Locals were a little hard to get to know but somehow that didn’t matter so much, the slower, family orientated lifestyle suits me. (Americans think we are so family orientated but really could learn some lessons from Europeans).
Seattle, WA: Place I’ve chosen as home for now. Close enough to the mountains to get my needed dose to help center myself yet urban enough to have real jobs and cultural amenities. I chose a small- town-feeling neighborhood within the big city and feel fairly connected to my neighbors. Again, more community than my hometown in MI, WHY is that?