I lived in a small town in the Urals just 3 weeks ago, and now I am writing this article from the three-storey cottage in Moscow. There are 11 people living in the house. Each of them is a personality. We are all entrepreneurs, we are growing our businesses and want to do something really great. Guys, I feel I am alive. It's incredible to feel so complete. I feel like a pioneer set out on a grand adventure!
I had the same feeling when I entered the university, moved to another city and changed the environment. It was a completely different territory and total haze of uncertainty. Everything was different: people, rules. For me it was very important to feel familiar with that haze. I needed to find the way to control the new environment, understand how things are there and stop being a guest.
I was walking around the centre of Moscow and realized it's been a while since my thoughts were so clear and distinct. It is as if I woke up and started accepting reality differently. I began paying attention to the details which I didn't care about before: what people wear, expressions on their faces, people around me, trees, flower beds, buildings, smell from a bakery, warm rays of the sun falling on my face, millions of sounds filling up the city. Now, for me, the world is shining in new splendor, and my brain is greedily learning new information.
Why do we have so many emotions when we travel and why does it feel like time lasts longer? It seems that a day is twice longer. Because in the new environment we SAVOR every second of life, we pay attention to everything new.
If you stay for a long time in one place, talk to the same people, you do not come in contact with new things, and it makes you fall into sleep. The bottom line is that when you are surrounded by something new, you have a lot of questions just as a child. And when you reach adulthood, you have answers, but not the questions. You think that you understand and know everything, but that's an illusion leading to stagnation and degradation. Having stopped dealing with new information and new challenges, you brain falls asleep. Home - work - home – the entire life moves in this circle. To go forward you should be a strong-willed person perfectly knowing what to do, and that's very hard.
When you change a place and get surrounded by new people, you do not have to choose between development and degradation. Context, different conditions and the right environment make you do better. I'm in the environment which helps me to grow. There is no point to try swimming against the stream or floundering in a bog. It's much easier to jump into the raging river that flows in the right direction. Having problems with finding the raging stream? Leave the comfort zone and immerse yourself in a new context.