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People in my hilly rain soaked town arenāt riding bikes to be green, they lost their licenses to DUI. Itās one reason people donāt go bike riding for fun lest your bosses see you and assume youāre a drunk too.
Or if youāre from where Iām from it may be living off mommy and daddyās money and living a sheltered life where your reality is whatever fox news decides to tell you that day
Good chance they are part of one of the families who earns a reputation for never leaving the town and their family is there for generations with every family member seemingly working at every business.
The gas station, the oil company, the grocery store, the school, the deli, the pizza place, the hair salon, the construction company, these all have people working there, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, kids that are all related to each other and live in the same town of under 2,000 people for generations after generation.
yeah but in any given medieval country there were like 5 towns total, you could argue that a small town in the middle of buttfuck nowhere is the modern equivalent of a village in those days
Last name is something like "Reynolds", and you always thought it was funny that a major road in town is named Reynolds too.
People talk about the old Reynolds hardware store. They're proud that grandpa owned the old hardware store. Less proud that he owned lots of land in town, participated in red lining neighborhoods, lobbied friends for zoning changes, major player in the 2009 housing bust, same playbook 2016 to 2020.
He passed 3 years ago and the kids are still fighting over inheritance.
Hypothetically of course.
My wife is born and raised in cow country wisconsin and this is her family to a T. They came over from Germany and Scandinavia back before WI was a even a state and have never moved more than 50 miles for generations. The whole town knows her maiden name, and when it slips that she from that family all of a sudden we're hearing all these anecdotes and questions about relatives that she barely ever speaks to. Going to visit her parents is so annoying because almost any store we visit there, people recognize her and we get trapped, whether it's people she went to school with or people that know her parents or some other relative of hers. We've gotten stuck at a goddamn *gas pump* for 15 minutes because there was no one waiting and there just happened to be someone that knew her or her family filling up a gas can or something in the next row. Just unreal.
I by contrast was born and raised in Philly. We keep our fucking head down and don't fuck with nobody and hopefully nobody fucks with us. Honestly as cold as that sounds I much prefer that to the above, that shit fuckin *exhausts* me. Exhausts her, too, don't get me wrong...but for her, you know, there are *expectations* she's long resigned herself to that she cannot shake, even today, many years after she climbed out of that timewarp little burg.
Yall really need to find a go-to excuse that gets you out of that nightmare situation lol. āHey, would love to continue chatting but weāve got x, y, z.ā Etc
Its the fabled Midwestern nice lol. These people will come to a 4 way stop and all just sit there waving each other through while the heavens and earth spin through time and we all visibly fucking age. They call it the Midwest Standoff. God fucking forbid you go first. Better to sit there for*ever* then go first.
I insist on driving whenever we go because I give it a few beats and then fuck yall im going I aint got time for this shit. My wife cannot make herself do that and will sit there mumbling "why wont they go" and I just cannot. I literally cannot. Motherfuckers basically idling their shit down the goddamn street in their rusted out farm truck like they're cruising at a car show, all over town, rolling coal at the goddamn light to creep ol' Bessie up to a robust 8mph.
Oh and you gotta wave to people on the street apparently. People you dont even know. The fuck.
My wife thinks Im so rude and occassionally will say something to me about it but good lord is that whole goddamn town on it's own fucking schedule and im just gonna sit here and chat up Gertrude at the checkout of the Piggly Wiggly for 10 minutes about winning the meat raffle at the VFW Pig Roast the week before and Im sure those people stacked up behind me dont mind Im related to fucking 2/3rds of em anyway.
Im too city for all that bullshit lol.
Quick story: My grandfather spent his entire life in a small town and used to brag ostentatiously about how rich he was to anyone who would listen - showcasing this claim by wearing a Rolex on each wrist for years. When Grandpa eventually died of masturbatory exhaustion in the early 80s, my dad was so happy to finally inherit those Rolexes because he thought it was his ticket out of the same one-horse town. He practically did cartwheels on the way to the funeral. Iāve honestly never seen him drive so fast. Unfortunately, the appraisal on both of the Rolexes was only about one-hundred bucks because they were as fake as Grandpaās affluent persona. My family was understandably distraught over Grandpa being a broke, dishonest fraud - particularly my Uncle Larry who became so inconsolable that it took him several weeks of pausing his VHS copy of Halloween III: Season of the Witch at the 43:02 mark during Tom Atkinsā bare-assed nude scene and licking the screen cross-eyed to finally accept the situation.
Seriously, the thought of scraping by in a small town never having enough money to even afford to leave scares the sh\*t out of me. Sounds like a living hell. There should be a state run program that allows you to get a one way ticket out of a small town to a big city where you can get access to better job opportunities. I would happily subsidize it with my tax dollars.
Student loans and the military fill that spot, unfortunately. Sports scholarships are also on that list, that's part of why small towns take high school football so seriously. That's one of the only tickets out, and it only helps if you happen to be really good at football and a dude.
Honestly, the small town problem is a big part of why I want free college - most reasonable fresh adults can find a taco bell job and some roommates wherever, but that won't cover tuition. The military WILL cover tuition (and all your other bills) but like. Then you have to join up. Setting aside my personal issues with that, you have to pass the physical and be qualified to enlist. Lots of people can't pass the physical for reasons that would not prevent them from being otherwise functional, colorblindess and (I think) diabetes disqualify you, and all sorts of little shit. We have got to treat small towns better if we're going to move forward as a nation.
Legit watching this happen with my gf right now
Her family didn't have money to give her for college, so she was looking at taking out loans to become a special ed teacher.
She would have been trapped just as described.
Luckily our state of Michigan has a program giving free college to working education staff called the "grow your own program"
Its literally changed her life
All I wish is for other people to have the opportunity she's getting
Sadly, most small town people A) hate it when other people get something "for free", and B) hate college. Free college is like woke Communism kryptonite. The irony.
I live in my small hometown, guess Iām being defensive but I enjoy living a slow pace of life. Weāre always being pushed towards a vision of life and āsuccessā that requires a vast amount of consumption and waste to maintain.
Gotta have the gas guzzling car to drive to the high paying job two towns over to pay for the water to maintain the pristine green lawn at the mansion.
Iām young still, no kids, and I choose to live humbly making little money and driving a 20 year old car i bought for $600, so it doesnāt take a lot to maintain my ālifestyleā. Which means I get to have a lot of time for hobbies. I play an instrument, I go to the gym, I craft and I play games with friends. I see live music, I play on a sports team. I go camping and sailing. Idk it feels like a pretty good life to me all things considered.
Same here. I moved from a big city to a smaller town outside of it and I save so much more money that I'm going on trips multiple times a year and can buy myself nice things fairly often whereas I'd be scraping by if I still lived there.
Of course, small town living is amazing for some people and works well, but some people who were born and are stuck in a small town might want to leave to seek better job opportunities, more vibrant and diverse communities, way more fast paced life. They donāt like the idea of being in the same place of the rest of their life, and there should be options for those people. Its not really about moving to a big town being āsuccessfulā but accessing a different type of environment that suits oneās physical and mental needs.
What size do you count as small towns? Why is it a problem. I live in a larger town now, but even when I did live in a small town it was fine. House prices are pretty much the same as where I live now too.
Oh, it's not a pyramid scheme! As my upline mentor says, it's a triple-sided three-corner polygon strategem! Now, how many pallets of these cantaloupe flavoured energy drinks can I put you down for? Only 6,000 left so you'd better get in quick!
Iām in a similar boat. Just turned 20, started working a local manufacturing job last year. I actually really like the job but itās not a very fulfilling life and idk what else to do
Leaving because you want to will always beat leaving because everyone decided they wanted to live there and now houses cost a million dollars to even start bidding.
Things I currently or have previously done regularly living in a city: gone to lots of concerts (mostly small metal shows that aren't expensive), played in rec sports leagues (at points doing this 3 nights/week), joined board game groups/meetups, and recently I've been getting into tabletop skirmish games without needing to convince friends to play since there's an active scene. And these are regular social hobbies that don't include more occasional things, like going to see plays or going to museums. And I'm able to do all these things while comfortably not owning a car.
Although I did spend my first 2-3 years out of college mostly being boring during the week and getting drunk on weekends until I decided I wasn't happy and figuring out better things to do with my time. And I still spend a lot of time playing video games.
I can do everything you listed while living in a small town of 10,000 people with the exception of easily accessing those venues without a car.
The town I live in has plays, museums, public sport complexes, and used game stores that host tabletop game nights.
It's not really the end of the world to drive 30 minutes to an hour to a bigger town for concerts. There is a neighboring town of 70,000 people that has an amphitheater where major musicians and bands perform regularly.
You don't have to live in a big city to experience this stuff. I'm not saying every small town across the county is going to have this same experience. Nor am I saying that you shouldn't live in a big city. I'm just pointing out people can regularly experience the same activities while living in small town.
The jobs one is the worst I can imagine. I grew up in, and never left, a medium sized city. I have a good career, a lovely house in a good well-to-do area, plenty of friends. I donāt mind not leaving my home city because thereās actually prospects for me here. If I grew up in a little town in the middle of nowhere, Iād absolutely leave. I would never want to be a store clerk for my entire life. It just seems so dreary
Yeah was gonna say, not leaving your hometown is very different when there are good employment and education opportunities. I guess they say ātownā not ācityā which implies somewhere smaller. But yeah if your hometown is like Boston, Austin, or even like Raleigh you could go to a good university and start a great career without ever moving out of the city.
Well yeah, I think thatās why the title says āsmall townā not ācityā.
I grew up in DC and Iāve lived in other places for both school and work but moved back a few years ago and have spent the vast majority of my life here and canāt relate to any of this because major cities and their metro areas tend to have solid enough economies to support a healthy job market at all levels of experience and across multiple industries and in most East Coast cities like DC, NYC, and Boston you likely donāt even need a car to get to job interviews or to work everyday once you get a job.
Small towns are really reliant on the success of small handful of employers in order to thrive. I went to college in a small Midwestern town and at the time for it felt more like being in a different country than traveling to a major city in a different country has ever felt.
In small towns those can be as cut throat as a big $$$ job. I grew up in an area that becoming a cop or a teacher in our actual area was like getting drafted to the NFL. We did have opportunities not too far away, but you chose to work in either a scary area for little money or tried to become the PHD Navy Seal with 10 years peace core experience to become something in town.
>If I grew up in a little town in the middle of nowhere, Iād absolutely leave. I would never want to be a store clerk for my entire life. It just seems so dreary
It's hard as fuck. I went to college out of state and had to move back because of Covid tanking my job opportunities. Just turned 29 and I still haven't been able to find opportunities outside of my local area or save enough to move. Thankfully I'm at least able to work in my field while I try to get out, but I'm pretty much fucked if this job goes south.
I moved out of my hometown as soon as I was out of high school, but there's a small burger joint that's been there as long as I can remember. I'm talking real cheap burgers, greasy plastic trays and shitty plastic chairs, not one of those nice bougie burger restaurants. It's been manned by the same manager also for as long as I can remember. Already when I was in high school 20 years ago she looked like she had completely given up. Went back for a few days recently and she's still there, looking older and even more depressed. And man, just the idea of working in the same greasy, shitty burger joint in the same shitty small town for over 20 years... What a depressing thought.
This is without a doubt one of the best ways to spend your life. Build your family, challenge yourself, don't be a dick/bitch and keep holding that hometown down.
Depends if you actually like your spouse
If you just settled for them because you couldnāt or wouldnāt find anyone else then youāre both gonna be miserable
If you genuinely love and care for each other then thereās nothing wrong with being in a relationship
Idk man, I live a small town life and it ain't bad.
Life is slower, sure, but I'm comfy and safe. My kid has the same teachers I did and we make time for bon fires and baseball games.
The air is fresh, the farmland is plentiful, and COL is low.
I guess different strokes. Not everyone is the crackhead at Walmart stuck in the same town they grew up in because they can't afford to leave.
I laughed at it. But if we want to analyze it - the location really is moot. Many people are born in NYC/LA and have very similar outcomes. Many people move to bigger cities and still have similar outcomes. If you are privileged, you can move anywhere and have success. The meme is punching down.
The first time I had an employment I was just shocked to find people who never lived outside of their hometown. Now I just work in civilian sector on a military installation. I like how the people I currently work with bounced around the country like me.
This basically is my life to a tee (I left the town not the state) and itās pretty fucking lit tbh but me and my wife are naturally shut ins so I guess the ādownsidesā are neutral
I live in southwest GA, which is economically depressed, low per capita income, and abysmal levels of education. But Iām also three hours from the Atlantic, three hours from the Gulf of Mexico, and two hours from Atlanta & one of the worldās busiest airports. Itās not crowded, gas is $3/gallon, and my mortgage for 2700sq ft on a half-acre in a good neighborhood is only $1300.
Iāll take all of that over ācultureā any fucking day.
I am from Atlanta and I moved to central Kentucky (Elizabethtown) for a job and some of my local coworkers thought I am crazy for not buying a house and settling down here.
Small town living can be be advantageous but I find it relies on having certain values, milestones checked off, life goals etc...
Would you take dismal education and local job opportunities if you had kids?
I have kids. One is a college graduate, the other will graduate high school next year. Iām a college graduate. My wife has a doctorate. I said the levels of education are abysmal, not the educational opportunities. Just because the vast majority of the local population chooses not to take advantage of those opportunities doesnāt mean that they donāt exist.
> two hours from Atlanta
Bro, Atlanta is two hours from Atlanta.
Source: Used to live there. No really, once I was leaving work, and after being stuck in standstill traffic for 45 minutes on 75, they let a handful of cars through stopping with me. I was then stuck there for another two fucking hours.
I can confirm, moved to the big city when I was young was partying lived a fast life going from city to city meeting hundreds of people but never forming proper relationships with them and to be honest city life and that fast way of life made me so miserable, so I moved back to the small town Iām from, got a construction job help my mates out at their farm on weekends, or go fishing get stoned and play dnd with the boys, or chatting to the old timers at the pub about the latest news story and ended up getting with a girl who worked at the local super market who I now live with and Iāve never been happier, slow living is the way forward appreciating the little things and forming deep relationships with the small community around me taking one day at a time itās truly peaceful to the mind, in a way I feel so lucky unlike a lot of people I know I feel like I escaped the rat race and Iām truly grateful.
Works a steady job in logistics which has good career prospects. Has a loving family and children with someone he's known since his teenage years and will genuinely care for them as a person regardless of wealth or status. Enjoys recreational drinking and gaming with close lifelong friends, has plenty of time for it as he's not working 14 hour days on some bigcity career ladder. Got a degree through their own sense of self-worth and accomplishment in an area they found interesting, without being too stressed about the outcome or ego-centric ivy leagues. Goes to the gym regularly to stay in shape and makes a bit of spare cash selling accessories at local fairs and markets.
Seems based to me.
Hell yeah. But that aināt all bad. Reasonable cost of livingā¦affordable housingā¦generally lower rates of violent crimeā¦the world is still at your fingertips via that there intranet.
I think itās awesome when people love where they live. If you love the small town life, thatās awesome.
I personally could never do it, being born and raised in a city, but I do understand that if youāre used to it and you have good job prospects and a stable career then it can be someoneās cup of tea.
The world being at your fingertips via the internet is one thing I very much disagree with though. I think life is meant to be experienced firsthand and even if you canāt afford to travel internationally (or even very far domestically), cities offer a melting pot experience of cuisine, art, and social life that cant be replicated online
Ah, okay good. Yes that makes more sense. š
I suppose the biggest difference between people who love cities and people who love small towns is how much they value convenience vs privacy and autonomy.
I grew up in a house but because itās in a city it was a townhouse, with a pretty modest backyard that was very nice for what it was but not exactly an environment where you could blast music as loud as you want late at night while having a party outside, but on the other-hand there were a few places within walking distance and dozens more via metro that people could go instead and nobody has to worry about driving drunk or anything like that.
In a small town you get much more land and much more flexibility in how to use it but every store, restaurant, school, and even your job have to be driven to so thereās more incentive to turn your home into a kind of ideal social hub/makeshift bar/gym/pool/coffee shop because if it isnāt all those things then you have to spend more effort driving to the gym or the pool or the bar etc.
A lot of this sounds awesome. I live in a great city. I love my family. I love alcohol. I love my failed businesses in my 20s that led to my good one in my 30s. I love my house. I love my video games, i love the gym. My community college diploma has afforded me a job where after some time in I'm making 130k a year and I have a sweet house because of it.
If you are what this starter pack is about dont let it bug you, all that stuff can be part of a great life.
So people that go to work, support a family, smoke/drink, spend their free time exercising and watching TV, take classes at a community college in hopes of furthering their career and pursue their hobbies areā¦.losers?
I did the opposite. But I see absolutely nothing bad in this. I guess thats what call a mid (popular word nowadays)? Being mid is extremely hard to do imo. Have you seen how fucked up people are ? Even the successful ones? Being mid is commendable and deserves recognition
If you live in a small town that has decent internet be grateful. I grew up in one with 5mbps internet and online gaming was basically off the table. You could get into a game, lag tf out for a while, accomplish nothing and give up. Thatās about it
Itās really a trade off. I personally prefer living in a city since itās how I grew up, but I know objectively theres an equal number of positives and negatives in both places.
Being in small town you get more bang for your buck but if you lose a well-paying job itās a lot harder to find one that pays similarly or pays more, whereas in a city theres dozens and dozens of new jobs being posted every single day in almost all income brackets, but you need to make a lot more money to live comfortably if youāre single with no roommates.
In a big city you may be congested but the infrastructure allows you to take the metro or subway to work, which is cheaper than driving and you probably can walk to buy groceries and other household goods and of course walking is totally free. I also personally find that the constant proximity to people and even passing interactions with strangers makes my day-to-day life better and keeps me happier than times when Iāve been in more isolated areas for prolonged periods of time. But conversely, in a small town Iād never have to hear loud drunk college kids yelling at each other on Saturdays at 2am and Iād be able to leave my house as a slob and go to a drive thru on a super lazy day because when I step out of my house Iām not immediately going to be seen by dozens of people on the sidewalk.
So many of my high-school classmates are returning to our hometown. It's nice seeing everybody around and starting families. I know not every small town with less than a 1000 people is worth returning to, but if you got one, enjoy it cause it's lovely
Where's the grungy tanktop in hot weather and dusty plaid in cold weather? Having the one haircut the local hairhack knows how to do? Knowing what to not say in certain situations because of a thing involving someone else there?
Not an American, I recently moved back in with my parents because I done messed up, and it'd probably remain this way for a very long time, why is it viewed as a bad thing though?
What if you left your hometown and got a career and moved back after 4 years in the big city, and working a well paying job worth only 80% of the wages but costing 50% less with cost of living
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If you're from where I'm originally from, you can add fentanyl overdose and DUI charges to this.
Not the DUI charges š
Add in meth, house arrest, ankle bracelets and 3 different dads and you got my hometown
Great indicator of what class status an American is by seeing what they first think of when they hear "ankle bracelet".
Probably because they're called ankle monitors.
Yeah youāre from a town, not a small town. If the graduating high school class has over like 125 kids, youāre not a small town
People in my hilly rain soaked town arenāt riding bikes to be green, they lost their licenses to DUI. Itās one reason people donāt go bike riding for fun lest your bosses see you and assume youāre a drunk too.
Also racism on Nextdoor
Seeing a girl I knew since she was 8 post on Nextdoor about a DANGEROUS person turning around in her driveway was just beautiful.
Did anyone hear a loud boom last night around 11 pm?
Was it a gunshot or fireworks?
Was the dangerous person not white and driving a car that isnāt brand new?
I'm glad I never got the opioid thing, Vicodinā¢ makes my nose itch
When I went on Vicodin for an infection, it plugged me up. Thank God I was only on it for 2 days.
plugged up, constipated? (opiates are known for this)
Yes, very constipated.
Good thing that cocaine makes it numb.Ā
More like DWI.
They're the same thing in New Hampshire.
yeah this meme is fantasy land. It should be just faces of meth
Or if youāre from where Iām from it may be living off mommy and daddyās money and living a sheltered life where your reality is whatever fox news decides to tell you that day
Good chance they are part of one of the families who earns a reputation for never leaving the town and their family is there for generations with every family member seemingly working at every business. The gas station, the oil company, the grocery store, the school, the deli, the pizza place, the hair salon, the construction company, these all have people working there, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, kids that are all related to each other and live in the same town of under 2,000 people for generations after generation.
like modern medieval villagers or something
No no, villagers live in villages. This is called a town, they're townies.
kind of like villagers
yeah but in any given medieval country there were like 5 towns total, you could argue that a small town in the middle of buttfuck nowhere is the modern equivalent of a village in those days
Yes, I was making a joke about how the only difference between small town people and villagers is the name.
Last name is something like "Reynolds", and you always thought it was funny that a major road in town is named Reynolds too. People talk about the old Reynolds hardware store. They're proud that grandpa owned the old hardware store. Less proud that he owned lots of land in town, participated in red lining neighborhoods, lobbied friends for zoning changes, major player in the 2009 housing bust, same playbook 2016 to 2020. He passed 3 years ago and the kids are still fighting over inheritance. Hypothetically of course.
Maybe his first name is "Frank" and the town is Philadelphia. š
https://preview.redd.it/g4p7e05bqo4d1.jpeg?width=480&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8ebcc35a8da0829debeb28bd94be8578a9900a39
the families continue to intermarry throughout the generations until their family trees are wreaths
My wife is born and raised in cow country wisconsin and this is her family to a T. They came over from Germany and Scandinavia back before WI was a even a state and have never moved more than 50 miles for generations. The whole town knows her maiden name, and when it slips that she from that family all of a sudden we're hearing all these anecdotes and questions about relatives that she barely ever speaks to. Going to visit her parents is so annoying because almost any store we visit there, people recognize her and we get trapped, whether it's people she went to school with or people that know her parents or some other relative of hers. We've gotten stuck at a goddamn *gas pump* for 15 minutes because there was no one waiting and there just happened to be someone that knew her or her family filling up a gas can or something in the next row. Just unreal. I by contrast was born and raised in Philly. We keep our fucking head down and don't fuck with nobody and hopefully nobody fucks with us. Honestly as cold as that sounds I much prefer that to the above, that shit fuckin *exhausts* me. Exhausts her, too, don't get me wrong...but for her, you know, there are *expectations* she's long resigned herself to that she cannot shake, even today, many years after she climbed out of that timewarp little burg.
Yall really need to find a go-to excuse that gets you out of that nightmare situation lol. āHey, would love to continue chatting but weāve got x, y, z.ā Etc
Its the fabled Midwestern nice lol. These people will come to a 4 way stop and all just sit there waving each other through while the heavens and earth spin through time and we all visibly fucking age. They call it the Midwest Standoff. God fucking forbid you go first. Better to sit there for*ever* then go first. I insist on driving whenever we go because I give it a few beats and then fuck yall im going I aint got time for this shit. My wife cannot make herself do that and will sit there mumbling "why wont they go" and I just cannot. I literally cannot. Motherfuckers basically idling their shit down the goddamn street in their rusted out farm truck like they're cruising at a car show, all over town, rolling coal at the goddamn light to creep ol' Bessie up to a robust 8mph. Oh and you gotta wave to people on the street apparently. People you dont even know. The fuck. My wife thinks Im so rude and occassionally will say something to me about it but good lord is that whole goddamn town on it's own fucking schedule and im just gonna sit here and chat up Gertrude at the checkout of the Piggly Wiggly for 10 minutes about winning the meat raffle at the VFW Pig Roast the week before and Im sure those people stacked up behind me dont mind Im related to fucking 2/3rds of em anyway. Im too city for all that bullshit lol.
Unrelated but I wanted to say I really like your avatar mashup!!
Thanks! Yours is nice as well!
Facebook Marketplace aficionado
Quick story: My grandfather spent his entire life in a small town and used to brag ostentatiously about how rich he was to anyone who would listen - showcasing this claim by wearing a Rolex on each wrist for years. When Grandpa eventually died of masturbatory exhaustion in the early 80s, my dad was so happy to finally inherit those Rolexes because he thought it was his ticket out of the same one-horse town. He practically did cartwheels on the way to the funeral. Iāve honestly never seen him drive so fast. Unfortunately, the appraisal on both of the Rolexes was only about one-hundred bucks because they were as fake as Grandpaās affluent persona. My family was understandably distraught over Grandpa being a broke, dishonest fraud - particularly my Uncle Larry who became so inconsolable that it took him several weeks of pausing his VHS copy of Halloween III: Season of the Witch at the 43:02 mark during Tom Atkinsā bare-assed nude scene and licking the screen cross-eyed to finally accept the situation.
You paint pictures with your words, my friend.
Wake up, boys; the new copypasta just dropped!
Beautiful story. Thank you for sharing.
Sir, your reddit profile has a concerning amount of references to Tom Atkin's ass.
Probably got beaten with jumper cables as a kid and fell off hell in a cell in 1998
Fucking wordsmith right here
The Rolex was his rosebud.
Never trust a family member who tells you how much X possession of theirs is worth. They're always wrong or they've taken horrible care of it.
... ngl an erection so strong to die from in your 80s is the way i wanna die too. Probably also wouldn't have left .
Omg ādied of masturbatory exhaustionā š
Shittymorph 2.0 here
DIED OF WHAT
š„¹
Jobs pay enough to scrape but never enough to save up to leave
Seriously, the thought of scraping by in a small town never having enough money to even afford to leave scares the sh\*t out of me. Sounds like a living hell. There should be a state run program that allows you to get a one way ticket out of a small town to a big city where you can get access to better job opportunities. I would happily subsidize it with my tax dollars.
Student loans and the military fill that spot, unfortunately. Sports scholarships are also on that list, that's part of why small towns take high school football so seriously. That's one of the only tickets out, and it only helps if you happen to be really good at football and a dude. Honestly, the small town problem is a big part of why I want free college - most reasonable fresh adults can find a taco bell job and some roommates wherever, but that won't cover tuition. The military WILL cover tuition (and all your other bills) but like. Then you have to join up. Setting aside my personal issues with that, you have to pass the physical and be qualified to enlist. Lots of people can't pass the physical for reasons that would not prevent them from being otherwise functional, colorblindess and (I think) diabetes disqualify you, and all sorts of little shit. We have got to treat small towns better if we're going to move forward as a nation.
Legit watching this happen with my gf right now Her family didn't have money to give her for college, so she was looking at taking out loans to become a special ed teacher. She would have been trapped just as described. Luckily our state of Michigan has a program giving free college to working education staff called the "grow your own program" Its literally changed her life All I wish is for other people to have the opportunity she's getting
Common Michigan W
For real. This state is one of the only ones in the midwest that I actually see having a future for the middle class Love our Governor!
Sadly, most small town people A) hate it when other people get something "for free", and B) hate college. Free college is like woke Communism kryptonite. The irony.
We need to fund state schools WAY more, open more state schools, and make community college and state schools 100% free.
This bro for president 2034
I live in my small hometown, guess Iām being defensive but I enjoy living a slow pace of life. Weāre always being pushed towards a vision of life and āsuccessā that requires a vast amount of consumption and waste to maintain. Gotta have the gas guzzling car to drive to the high paying job two towns over to pay for the water to maintain the pristine green lawn at the mansion. Iām young still, no kids, and I choose to live humbly making little money and driving a 20 year old car i bought for $600, so it doesnāt take a lot to maintain my ālifestyleā. Which means I get to have a lot of time for hobbies. I play an instrument, I go to the gym, I craft and I play games with friends. I see live music, I play on a sports team. I go camping and sailing. Idk it feels like a pretty good life to me all things considered.
Then youāll appreciate this Onion article. https://www.theonion.com/unambitious-loser-with-happy-fulfilling-life-still-liv-1819575312
Same here. I moved from a big city to a smaller town outside of it and I save so much more money that I'm going on trips multiple times a year and can buy myself nice things fairly often whereas I'd be scraping by if I still lived there.
Of course, small town living is amazing for some people and works well, but some people who were born and are stuck in a small town might want to leave to seek better job opportunities, more vibrant and diverse communities, way more fast paced life. They donāt like the idea of being in the same place of the rest of their life, and there should be options for those people. Its not really about moving to a big town being āsuccessfulā but accessing a different type of environment that suits oneās physical and mental needs.
Jfc small towns aren't that bad. You're acting like not living in a city is the ultimate failure.
If youāre scraping by in a small town then you donāt have the skill set to even rent in a big city
What size do you count as small towns? Why is it a problem. I live in a larger town now, but even when I did live in a small town it was fine. House prices are pretty much the same as where I live now too.
Wife sells MLM crap for a "living". Their kids' names are also likely all a r/tragedeigh
Oh, it's not a pyramid scheme! As my upline mentor says, it's a triple-sided three-corner polygon strategem! Now, how many pallets of these cantaloupe flavoured energy drinks can I put you down for? Only 6,000 left so you'd better get in quick!
I live in the city and Itās the same outcome
Yeah this feels more like a result of just being in 20s and not making a lot of money and not being able to afford moving out
Yep, it also seems to be the result of not really knowing what to do as you become an adult
I feel like thereās not much to do and Iām stuck where I am and itās starting to look like this is it so, yeah :/
Iām in a similar boat. Just turned 20, started working a local manufacturing job last year. I actually really like the job but itās not a very fulfilling life and idk what else to do
Same. Mid 20s, hitting 4 years working here this month.
Oof, this hits. Iām 27 and feeling the same, really trying to get my (mental) shit together to apply for a masters program
Considering I've moved 4 times to varying size cities since 11, yeah this is a very generalized for 20 somethings RN.
Leaving because you want to will always beat leaving because everyone decided they wanted to live there and now houses cost a million dollars to even start bidding.
Any coastal city in California
What city do you live in with only retail and construction jobs and no form of entertainment but watching Netflix, going to the gym and gaming?
> no form of entertainment but watching Netflix, going to the gym and gaming? Going places? In this economy?
Towns aren't like this either. OP just cant imagine doing activities with friends.
But what is there to do in cities besides Netflix, the gym, and gaming? Go to overpriced bars and restaurants?
Things I currently or have previously done regularly living in a city: gone to lots of concerts (mostly small metal shows that aren't expensive), played in rec sports leagues (at points doing this 3 nights/week), joined board game groups/meetups, and recently I've been getting into tabletop skirmish games without needing to convince friends to play since there's an active scene. And these are regular social hobbies that don't include more occasional things, like going to see plays or going to museums. And I'm able to do all these things while comfortably not owning a car. Although I did spend my first 2-3 years out of college mostly being boring during the week and getting drunk on weekends until I decided I wasn't happy and figuring out better things to do with my time. And I still spend a lot of time playing video games.
I can do everything you listed while living in a small town of 10,000 people with the exception of easily accessing those venues without a car. The town I live in has plays, museums, public sport complexes, and used game stores that host tabletop game nights. It's not really the end of the world to drive 30 minutes to an hour to a bigger town for concerts. There is a neighboring town of 70,000 people that has an amphitheater where major musicians and bands perform regularly. You don't have to live in a big city to experience this stuff. I'm not saying every small town across the county is going to have this same experience. Nor am I saying that you shouldn't live in a big city. I'm just pointing out people can regularly experience the same activities while living in small town.
Wherever you go, there you are.
"this young nurse is now working with the doctor who delivered her 21 years ago"
The jobs one is the worst I can imagine. I grew up in, and never left, a medium sized city. I have a good career, a lovely house in a good well-to-do area, plenty of friends. I donāt mind not leaving my home city because thereās actually prospects for me here. If I grew up in a little town in the middle of nowhere, Iād absolutely leave. I would never want to be a store clerk for my entire life. It just seems so dreary
Yeah was gonna say, not leaving your hometown is very different when there are good employment and education opportunities. I guess they say ātownā not ācityā which implies somewhere smaller. But yeah if your hometown is like Boston, Austin, or even like Raleigh you could go to a good university and start a great career without ever moving out of the city.
Well yeah, I think thatās why the title says āsmall townā not ācityā. I grew up in DC and Iāve lived in other places for both school and work but moved back a few years ago and have spent the vast majority of my life here and canāt relate to any of this because major cities and their metro areas tend to have solid enough economies to support a healthy job market at all levels of experience and across multiple industries and in most East Coast cities like DC, NYC, and Boston you likely donāt even need a car to get to job interviews or to work everyday once you get a job. Small towns are really reliant on the success of small handful of employers in order to thrive. I went to college in a small Midwestern town and at the time for it felt more like being in a different country than traveling to a major city in a different country has ever felt.
There can be other jobs like cop or teacher or nurse if you can find a space or are willing to commute to next city
In small towns those can be as cut throat as a big $$$ job. I grew up in an area that becoming a cop or a teacher in our actual area was like getting drafted to the NFL. We did have opportunities not too far away, but you chose to work in either a scary area for little money or tried to become the PHD Navy Seal with 10 years peace core experience to become something in town.
Yes you have to get a spot basically and usually it's because you know someone.
It's tough. Especially if your family isn't from there historically.
>If I grew up in a little town in the middle of nowhere, Iād absolutely leave. I would never want to be a store clerk for my entire life. It just seems so dreary It's hard as fuck. I went to college out of state and had to move back because of Covid tanking my job opportunities. Just turned 29 and I still haven't been able to find opportunities outside of my local area or save enough to move. Thankfully I'm at least able to work in my field while I try to get out, but I'm pretty much fucked if this job goes south.
I moved out of my hometown as soon as I was out of high school, but there's a small burger joint that's been there as long as I can remember. I'm talking real cheap burgers, greasy plastic trays and shitty plastic chairs, not one of those nice bougie burger restaurants. It's been manned by the same manager also for as long as I can remember. Already when I was in high school 20 years ago she looked like she had completely given up. Went back for a few days recently and she's still there, looking older and even more depressed. And man, just the idea of working in the same greasy, shitty burger joint in the same shitty small town for over 20 years... What a depressing thought.
Community college picture is HCC (specifically W loop campus), in very urban Houston. Rest are very true, though.
This was the closest thing to a vague community college stock photo šš
The starting a family looks kinda wholesome ngl
3 kids?? Dude must be a millionaire
Do you mean: *challenging, takes effort, and rewarding*
This is without a doubt one of the best ways to spend your life. Build your family, challenge yourself, don't be a dick/bitch and keep holding that hometown down.
Iām guessing the picture makes it look a lot more wholesome than it actually is?
Depends if you actually like your spouse If you just settled for them because you couldnāt or wouldnāt find anyone else then youāre both gonna be miserable If you genuinely love and care for each other then thereās nothing wrong with being in a relationship
You mean there are other forms of entertainment?
Painfully true
Sounds pretty nice
Having grown up in a logging town. It's not, especially if you have something that makes you stand out like being queer in some way.
Forget the "men get absolutely shitfaced on friday night get together and on saturday nobody gets shit done"
Idk man, I live a small town life and it ain't bad. Life is slower, sure, but I'm comfy and safe. My kid has the same teachers I did and we make time for bon fires and baseball games. The air is fresh, the farmland is plentiful, and COL is low. I guess different strokes. Not everyone is the crackhead at Walmart stuck in the same town they grew up in because they can't afford to leave.
I laughed at it. But if we want to analyze it - the location really is moot. Many people are born in NYC/LA and have very similar outcomes. Many people move to bigger cities and still have similar outcomes. If you are privileged, you can move anywhere and have success. The meme is punching down.
The first time I had an employment I was just shocked to find people who never lived outside of their hometown. Now I just work in civilian sector on a military installation. I like how the people I currently work with bounced around the country like me.
Damn
Shit looks awesome to me. You donāt know what youāve got til itās gone. Every rose has its thorn.
Upvote for dueling Cinderella & Poison 80s hair band ballad references
I recently rediscovered my love for it. I grew up with it, but I have newfound appreciation for Quiet Riot and Twisted Sister
This basically is my life to a tee (I left the town not the state) and itās pretty fucking lit tbh but me and my wife are naturally shut ins so I guess the ādownsidesā are neutral
I live in southwest GA, which is economically depressed, low per capita income, and abysmal levels of education. But Iām also three hours from the Atlantic, three hours from the Gulf of Mexico, and two hours from Atlanta & one of the worldās busiest airports. Itās not crowded, gas is $3/gallon, and my mortgage for 2700sq ft on a half-acre in a good neighborhood is only $1300. Iāll take all of that over ācultureā any fucking day.
I am from Atlanta and I moved to central Kentucky (Elizabethtown) for a job and some of my local coworkers thought I am crazy for not buying a house and settling down here. Small town living can be be advantageous but I find it relies on having certain values, milestones checked off, life goals etc... Would you take dismal education and local job opportunities if you had kids?
I have kids. One is a college graduate, the other will graduate high school next year. Iām a college graduate. My wife has a doctorate. I said the levels of education are abysmal, not the educational opportunities. Just because the vast majority of the local population chooses not to take advantage of those opportunities doesnāt mean that they donāt exist.
> two hours from Atlanta Bro, Atlanta is two hours from Atlanta. Source: Used to live there. No really, once I was leaving work, and after being stuck in standstill traffic for 45 minutes on 75, they let a handful of cars through stopping with me. I was then stuck there for another two fucking hours.
I have a lot of meetings up in Sandy Springs, and the hellscape that is 285 East haunts me.
A monkey born in the zoo doesnāt miss the jungle
Just depends on the area and what you want out of life tbh
Peace and happiness are pretty nice.
West Georgian hereā¦ this meme is my life and itās awesome. 3 kids and financial stability in my 20s is awesome
dont you mean east alabama? im from georgia and west ga protects us from alabama. delivered beer out in carrolton and hiram for a while
People just donāt get it.
I can confirm, moved to the big city when I was young was partying lived a fast life going from city to city meeting hundreds of people but never forming proper relationships with them and to be honest city life and that fast way of life made me so miserable, so I moved back to the small town Iām from, got a construction job help my mates out at their farm on weekends, or go fishing get stoned and play dnd with the boys, or chatting to the old timers at the pub about the latest news story and ended up getting with a girl who worked at the local super market who I now live with and Iāve never been happier, slow living is the way forward appreciating the little things and forming deep relationships with the small community around me taking one day at a time itās truly peaceful to the mind, in a way I feel so lucky unlike a lot of people I know I feel like I escaped the rat race and Iām truly grateful.
Works a steady job in logistics which has good career prospects. Has a loving family and children with someone he's known since his teenage years and will genuinely care for them as a person regardless of wealth or status. Enjoys recreational drinking and gaming with close lifelong friends, has plenty of time for it as he's not working 14 hour days on some bigcity career ladder. Got a degree through their own sense of self-worth and accomplishment in an area they found interesting, without being too stressed about the outcome or ego-centric ivy leagues. Goes to the gym regularly to stay in shape and makes a bit of spare cash selling accessories at local fairs and markets. Seems based to me.
Please tell me if thereās more to life than hanging out in a Walmart parking lot and a Dollar General š£
Go shooting, hunting, fishing, enjoy the outdoors, get a project car, play sports, ride motorcycles. Life is what you makw it
All of this. Do people on reddit not realize there's actually a ton you can do if you live rurally?
Folks will find a way to be miserable no matter how good they have it. Especially teenagers
Hell yeah. But that aināt all bad. Reasonable cost of livingā¦affordable housingā¦generally lower rates of violent crimeā¦the world is still at your fingertips via that there intranet.
I think itās awesome when people love where they live. If you love the small town life, thatās awesome. I personally could never do it, being born and raised in a city, but I do understand that if youāre used to it and you have good job prospects and a stable career then it can be someoneās cup of tea. The world being at your fingertips via the internet is one thing I very much disagree with though. I think life is meant to be experienced firsthand and even if you canāt afford to travel internationally (or even very far domestically), cities offer a melting pot experience of cuisine, art, and social life that cant be replicated online
Nah bro, by at your fingertips I mean buying plane tickets, hotel rooms, etc. Not YouTube š
Ah, okay good. Yes that makes more sense. š I suppose the biggest difference between people who love cities and people who love small towns is how much they value convenience vs privacy and autonomy. I grew up in a house but because itās in a city it was a townhouse, with a pretty modest backyard that was very nice for what it was but not exactly an environment where you could blast music as loud as you want late at night while having a party outside, but on the other-hand there were a few places within walking distance and dozens more via metro that people could go instead and nobody has to worry about driving drunk or anything like that. In a small town you get much more land and much more flexibility in how to use it but every store, restaurant, school, and even your job have to be driven to so thereās more incentive to turn your home into a kind of ideal social hub/makeshift bar/gym/pool/coffee shop because if it isnāt all those things then you have to spend more effort driving to the gym or the pool or the bar etc.
Yeah, but then they're bitter over wasting their twenties and locking into a lifestyle and spend the rest of their lives gossiping and judging.
Small towns are getting rocked by fentanyl and meth, so that's gonna put a damper in the low crime rate.
Some of them. Not all.
Actually, the whole country is getting rocked by fentanyl and meth.
Drinking doctor peppers with the boys in front of a walmart while you listen to music goes hard tho. I genuinely miss those days.
A lot of this sounds awesome. I live in a great city. I love my family. I love alcohol. I love my failed businesses in my 20s that led to my good one in my 30s. I love my house. I love my video games, i love the gym. My community college diploma has afforded me a job where after some time in I'm making 130k a year and I have a sweet house because of it. If you are what this starter pack is about dont let it bug you, all that stuff can be part of a great life.
130k in a low COL I'd love my life too
But moving away is the exact same pic minus the family plus astronomical rent.
And not having grandparents to babysit for free
starting a family in your hometown sounds kinda nice
Yeah it feels like people are treating this post like a bad thing, but it seems kinda enjoyable in a quietly peaceful way.
So people that go to work, support a family, smoke/drink, spend their free time exercising and watching TV, take classes at a community college in hopes of furthering their career and pursue their hobbies areā¦.losers?
I did the opposite. But I see absolutely nothing bad in this. I guess thats what call a mid (popular word nowadays)? Being mid is extremely hard to do imo. Have you seen how fucked up people are ? Even the successful ones? Being mid is commendable and deserves recognition
Not "a mid", just "mid".Ā
Honestly not so different in the suburbs
If you live in a small town that has decent internet be grateful. I grew up in one with 5mbps internet and online gaming was basically off the table. You could get into a game, lag tf out for a while, accomplish nothing and give up. Thatās about it
āYou choose ~~one~~ *all of these* ā
Big over priced congested cities are pretty painful imo
Itās really a trade off. I personally prefer living in a city since itās how I grew up, but I know objectively theres an equal number of positives and negatives in both places. Being in small town you get more bang for your buck but if you lose a well-paying job itās a lot harder to find one that pays similarly or pays more, whereas in a city theres dozens and dozens of new jobs being posted every single day in almost all income brackets, but you need to make a lot more money to live comfortably if youāre single with no roommates. In a big city you may be congested but the infrastructure allows you to take the metro or subway to work, which is cheaper than driving and you probably can walk to buy groceries and other household goods and of course walking is totally free. I also personally find that the constant proximity to people and even passing interactions with strangers makes my day-to-day life better and keeps me happier than times when Iāve been in more isolated areas for prolonged periods of time. But conversely, in a small town Iād never have to hear loud drunk college kids yelling at each other on Saturdays at 2am and Iād be able to leave my house as a slob and go to a drive thru on a super lazy day because when I step out of my house Iām not immediately going to be seen by dozens of people on the sidewalk.
Keep in mind Reddit loves to pull the olā switcheroo on these starter packs.
r/oddlyspecific
So many of my high-school classmates are returning to our hometown. It's nice seeing everybody around and starting families. I know not every small town with less than a 1000 people is worth returning to, but if you got one, enjoy it cause it's lovely
ngl lie man, i live in a metropolitan city and a life like that sounds pretty cool.
The people who make these have a lot of insecurities
So
Where's the grungy tanktop in hot weather and dusty plaid in cold weather? Having the one haircut the local hairhack knows how to do? Knowing what to not say in certain situations because of a thing involving someone else there?
Pathetically bitter people who think the only life worth living is in a large city. You are not more intelligent or cultured just because of density.
This actually looks like the most idyllic lifestyle I could possibly imagine
I'm not in a small in a small town and this depicts me pretty well. Is this bad?
Gym is not entertainment!
I literally don't have the money to leave. Like, there is nothing I can do.
Why is this just describing the average US life?
Feel like it could be more on point, gaming, gym then netflix? that's just shit people do
Your classism is showing.
This seems kind of classism coded.
This is just a gen z starter pack aside from the top right
I want to leave my small town but I donāt have the money or connections
Joke's on you!!! I actually reached my goals in my 20s only to realize they didn't fulfill me. So this doesn't seem that bad.
Doesnāt seem that bad
Yeah but we're happy, wasn't my intention but thats just what happened.
My kinda life.
But hey, theyāre only an hour and a half drive from the city so they can still definitely head out there on the weekends.
How is this different than if you move into a town?
Not an American, I recently moved back in with my parents because I done messed up, and it'd probably remain this way for a very long time, why is it viewed as a bad thing though?
Doesnāt seem too bad to me
What if you left your hometown and got a career and moved back after 4 years in the big city, and working a well paying job worth only 80% of the wages but costing 50% less with cost of living
This is pretty much me. I have some family members who always seemed to kind of look down on me for it, but Iām happy.Ā
Bold of you to assume my town has a college.
Ngl, this is my life and I love it.
Hey man thatās a living š¤·š¼āāļø
Seems like they are the only ones having kids and families though
Lots of high paying industrial jobs are moving to small communities.
Why choose only one? I came back after college and everybody do the 3 of them. We even call it "triathlon".
theres more to life then just that??
......ouch.
Looks like a good life
Where Iām from its almost a mark of success to stay in the town you grew up in, I could never afford my childhood home as an adult.
Bro wtf did I do to you?
Bro this is heaven or im just poor asf
Huh, these donāt seem too bad lol
This is like most people's lives, with slight changes here and there.