When you live in Manhattan, you live in the center of the world. 

[You believe this.]

If you have the means, you can buy ANYTHING you want.  Movies are pre-released in Manhattan.  Restaurants offer the best cuisine from everywhere in the world.  The best bars are in New York.  The best parks.  The best museums.  The best comic books.  The best chess shops.  The best coffee.  The best clothing stores.  The best cheese shops. 

[You are entitled to this.]

I can remember running around lower Manhattan with Greta at 1 am one night, to find a copy of the next DVD in the 24 series.  I thought, “We’re in Manhattan, that means we have infinite choice and convenience and we’re going to find this disc.  I don’t care if it’s 1 am.”  On the fourth rental store (in a 3 block radius), we found a 24 hour Blockbuster with the disc we wanted.

Not only are the best products in Manhattan, but the best people. 

[You are one of them.]

All the winners of society, from all over the world, converge on this little island to engage and compete with each other.  When something goes well in Manhattan, you truly feel special, because you succeeded in the big pond where the big fish play.

[You earned it.]

Then you move out of the city.

[No, you don’t.]

At first, you look down on everything.  You go out to eat and you are amazed that these hokey people actually pay for this bland food in this plain setting.  You see advertisements for movies that you watched 2 months ago.  There is nothing worse than grocery stores, where obese old people flock with coupons to plan every depressing meal of their next week.  You are like an alien visiting an inferior world where people don’t seem to know any better.

You casually mention, in every conversation, that you just moved out of “the city.” 

[You do this every time you go home for Thanksgiving.]

But gradually, a change starts to happen.  It’s slow at first.  Your living space is dramatically larger.  You don’t knock your knees and elbows on the furniture.  When you go outside, you can wander off without constantly filing into a line and walking in a grid. 

You see stars at night.

[You do remember stars.  Don’t you?]

You stop eating out.  You have a real kitchen, and you use it.  You go to the grocery store and find an overwhelming selection of the finest ingredients in the world, at reasonable prices.  So you start to create meals.  You stock up on spices and rubs.  You cook with live fire.  Instead of trying to constantly buy the best experience, you create it yourself.

[You specialize.]

You build things.  You cut grass, you rake leaves, you shovel show, you stack wood.  You go to bed early.  You wake up early.  Crickets mate, birds chirp.

All of a sudden life is rewarding again.

[You believe this.]